Grey Hair Rising. Fire The Old(er) At Your Peril.

Lisa LaFlamme has the perfect name for the firebomb she just threw into the corporate ageism debate. A 35-year, award-winning veteran anchor at Canada’s CTV News, LaFlamme was summarily fired from her illustrious job. CTV’s news programme was one of the country’s most popular evening shows, and ratings were at their peak. With professional performance measurably not at stake, explanations for the sudden dismissal veered quickly to the most visible of sins: grey hair. On a woman.

Grey Power

LaFlamme had, like many women across the world, stopped dying her hair during Covid, and let her natural grey shine (attractively) through. This seemed to have been objectionable to Michael Melling, vice-president of news for BELL Media. He was reported wondering about who had allowed LaFlamme to ‘let her hair go grey’ and then complained about it looking purple under the lights. He certainly hadn’t anticipated that this would lead to a twitter storm asking for his own (perhaps not yet greying) head (see #FireMichaelMelling). He just announced a leave of absence from his job.

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Gendered ageism, a well-researched double whammy for women, seems suspiciously afoot. LaFlamme’s predecessor, the much admired, silver-haired Lloyd Robertson retired at the distinguished age of 77, with a carefully produced send-off. LaFlamme is 58 and took to twitter to say her elegant, if heart-broken, goodbyes. Her missive has more than 4.5 million views. The reality of what went on behind the scenes may be more about cost-cutting and corporate priorities than about grey hair, but if anyone should know about optics, you think it would be a media company. “Could her termination rank as the all-time greatest tone-deaf, ham-handed, thick-skinned, short-sighted, cold-hearted, pig-headed, lily-livered, wrong-footed, brain-dead corporate decision of all time?” asks the Toronto Sun.

Smart Companies Go Age-Inclusive

It’s a valuable lesson for companies in 2022. In reactions reminiscent of the #MeToo movement, the country united in uproarious, online disapproval of the treatment of a respected national figure. As societies and workforces age fast, and the talent pool of younger people continues to shrink, age will be to the 21^st century what gender was to the 20^th century – a key global talent and market shift. Half the workforce is now female. Almost 40% of the US workforce is over 50 (and rising). Companies will want to learn how to retain and develop older employees. Providing them with visible, inspiring role models – like LaFlamme – is a good place to start.

Smart companies are already adapting. Unilever, a company that has been preparing longevity strategies for some time, jumped on Bell Media’s crisis bandwagon with glee. What better way to differentiate policies that get the global demographic shift? Their beauty brand, Dove, launched a #keepthegrey campaign, celebrating the worth of older women. It will be interesting to see what other beauty companies do around the issue. Hair colour is a $21.4 billion market, projected to rise to over $36 billion by 2027. Will media celebrations of the new grey, like the New Yorker cover Silver Linings, applauding women’s Covid-era liberation from hair dye, crash the colouring? Wendy’s Canada, a fast-food chain, piled in on Dove’s gone-grey move by quickly greying (if not maturing) its trademark young woman mascot.

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But the broader issue of the many shades of ageism in the corporate world continues to ignore the massive trends underway. For years, companies have designed organisational systems around the pyramid shapes of yesterday’s demographics. Lots of cheaper younger people at the bottom of the hierarchy, and a few more expensive, older people at the top. Currently, companies are in a mad scramble to recruit younger workers, while still trying to rid themselves of their older and more expensive counterparts. This is probably how LaFlamme’s ouster was enabled. Not only are these decisions outdated and miss the boat on the need to upskill, leverage and develop older workers. They bring an increasing level of reputational and litigation risks.

Brands and Bottom Lines Face Rising Risks of Ageism

The twitter storm around LaFlamme illustrates the growing power of anti-ageism movements – across all age groups. The reputational hit to brands that remain visibly ageist in their people management or in their marketing approaches will rise swiftly. The over-50s are alive and well on social media, and will discover their collective power through stories like this one.

The risks of litigation costs are also on the increase, reflected in the rise in age discrimination cases. PWC and any consulting firm are based on a pyramidal age premise that embeds ageism deeply into its operating principles. But that got the firm hauled into court for discriminating against recruiting over-40 employees. IBM has an on-going class action suit about nine employees over-50 claiming ageism. Eli Lilly got into trouble for announcing quotas for millennial hires. Citigroup is currently in litigation over the firing of an over-50 Managing Director while Mattel is in the middle of a nasty story of ageist attacks on an older employee.

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How to get your company started on developing a robust longevity strategy?

1. Get the data: Measure how many of your employees are over and under-50. Do the same for high-potential pools, succession planning lists, and management development programs. Peter Drucker predicted that workforces would split into these two age groups over 20 years ago. They have different needs, motivations and strengths. Embrace the differences rather than ignore them. Generational balance delivers the same sort of value that gender balance does. Use it.

2. Get flexible: Prepare people management strategies integrating flexibility and development opportunities. Just like millennials and young parents, older people will be interested in more flexible working options. Update compensation policies, retirement plans and work scheduling to people with lots of skills but a different set of motivations and financial requirements.

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3. Upskill, reskill & value: Don’t stop investing and developing people over 50. They may become a key part of corporate workforces. Leverage their expertise, knowledge and networks while recognising they still want regular development and learning. Recognise that ageing customer segments are becoming massive market opportunities. Ensure you have the talent inside to reflect the market you seek to serve.

On its website, Bell Media, the company behind the CTV news debacle, proudly announces its goal to get women in production parity by 2025. They had a ‘Gender Parity Action Plan.’ They obviously didn’t understand that some of women’s best career decades are those where their hair may go grey – the over-50 years. Or the many intersections between age and gender issues. In LaFlamme, they had a seemingly perfect poster child for their plans. They underestimated the value she could bring – and the cost her now-famous departure would wreak.

May their loss be other companies’ lesson. Get prepared for the era of longevity. Or it may turn your hair grey.