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\u201cWhen are you looking to retire?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It may seem like a harmless question for a boss to pose to an employee, but for older workers, it can come with a coded message\u2014it\u2019s time for you to end your career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere could be insinuations, like, \u2018What are you looking to do after this?\u2019 Or, \u2018how long do you anticipate being here?\u2019\u201d says\u00a0New York-based employment lawyer Mahir Nasir, who\u2019s had multiple older clients come to him with scenarios of getting nudged towards retirement. He\u2019s seen this play out in various ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For instance, say an employee\u2019s been working at a bank for 20 years, during which they\u2019ve established strong relationships in the specific territory they\u2019ve been serving. \u201cBecause [the employer] can\u2019t really find any performance issues, but they\u2019re concerned about the cost\u201d of that long-time employee\u2019s salary, Nasir\u00a0says, \u201cthey\u00a0will move that person out into another territory where they don\u2019t know anybody.\u201d Then, their performance will suffer\u2014giving the employer an excuse to let them go.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This type of ageist discrimination is technically illegal, but that hasn\u2019t stopped employers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0survey results AARP published<\/a>\u00a0in January, nearly a quarter of respondents ages 50 and older felt like they were being \u201cpushed out of their jobs,\u201d while 60% reported experiencing \u201csubtle forms\u201d of ageism, such as assumptions that they aren\u2019t knowledgeable about technology or getting passed over for new training opportunities. Making matters worse for older employees who plan to keep working is that employers often believe nudging these workers toward retirement is in their best interests.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this assumption that when you hit 60 or 65, you\u2019re looking to retire,\u201d says Colleen Paulson, founder of Ageless Careers, where she provides career consulting to baby boomers and Gen X. However, per a\u00a0poll she conducted last year on LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0that garnered 2,472 responses, 26% of respondents said they didn\u2019t ever plan to retire, suggesting that assumption no longer reflects employees\u2019 realities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n