Six Generations, One Workplace: Why Ageism Cuts Both Ways

I ran my first pub at twenty years old. On my own. I led the team, managed the finances, handled the regulars, kept the business safe and made the company a lot of money - and not once did anyone question whether I was too young.

Looking back, that feels extraordinary. I was completely trusted, was allowed to make mistakes, to learn, and grow. Nobody asked for credentials or leadership training because they just believed I could do it.

Thirty years on, I see something different. I work with people in their twenties who are told they “need more experience” before they can lead. And people in their fifties who are told they’re “not the right fit anymore.”

It makes me wonder: what’s changed?

We’ve professionalised trust

Thirty years ago, especially in hospitality, if you were capable, you were promoted. Now, everything is risk-assessed and process-driven. Before giving someone a chance, we want proof - qualifications, frameworks, the corporate nod of approval. It’s not all bad of course. It’s made workplaces fairer and safer, but it’s also made them less human.

Where once potential and grit was enough, now we want certainty. And in chasing certainty, we’ve made trust something to be earned through paperwork, not presence.

Careers have stretched, and crowded

People are working longer, which means six generations are now sharing the same workspace. That’s a wonderful thing of course, and yet it’s also created a bit of a squeeze.
A 25-year-old and a 55-year-old might both be applying for the same middle manager role, and that overlap has bred a friction. Older workers worry about being pushed out. Younger workers worry about never being allowed in, and the space between them can start to feel competitive, rather than collaborative.

What happened to informal mentoring?

When I started out, learning happened in motion. You didn’t wait for permission or a training module; you learned by watching, trying, and doing. The people around you became your teachers, whether they knew it or not. A quiet word from the chef on a busy night, a quick fix from the area manager, a customer you couldn’t win over - every moment carried a lesson. It was messy, but it made you resourceful.

These days, learning is more structured, and I sometimes wonder if we’ve lost some of that immediacy, the kind that teaches us judgement as well as knowledge.

Mistakes were part of the deal, because you learned by doing. Now, with tighter regulations, social media, and a culture of public scrutiny, the stakes feel higher, and leaders are more cautious.
We hold responsibility closer to our chest and say, “they’re not ready yet,” when what we really mean is, I’m not sure I’m ready to take that risk.

Six generations, one workplace

The result of all this is that we now have more age diversity than ever before, and yet more tension too.

Older workers are told they’re “stuck in their ways” or “not digital enough.”
Younger ones are told they “lack resilience” or “need to toughen up.”

Both are untrue. Both are unfair. And both chip away at confidence and trust.

According to the CIPD, over a third of workers aged 55 and over feel disadvantaged when applying for jobs.
Meanwhile, Aviva’s 2024 Working Lives report found that more than one in three Gen Z employees had experienced age-based discrimination, often being told they were “too young” for leadership roles.

Different ends of the same stick.

Reciprocal mentoring: not teaching, but trading

One of the most powerful antidotes to age bias is reciprocal mentoring - the idea that everyone has something to teach and something to learn.

It’s not “older teaching younger” or “younger showing older how to use tech.” It’s an equal exchange.

I once worked with a team where a 26-year-old financial manager and a 58-year-old operations manager were paired together. She taught him how to use AI tools to speed up reports. He taught her how to handle a challenging boss and lead with calm under pressure.

By the end, they weren’t talking about age at all - just ideas, lessons, and stories. That’s what happens when curiosity replaces judgement.

The moment we start trading wisdom both ways, age stops being a barrier and becomes a bridge.

If we want age inclusion, we need courage

You can start small:

• Mix age groups on projects.

• It’s worth checking the language we use in job ads - some words quietly hint at who we think belongs.

• Ask, Who do I usually go to for advice? Who don’t I?

• Share your own story - the wins, and the challenges.

We can’t build cultures of belonging if we quietly decide who belongs based on age.

A closing reflection

The world I started in, a 20-year-old trusted to run a pub, wasn’t perfect. But it was brave enough to let people try.

Maybe what’s changed isn’t our capability, but our confidence in each other. Maybe the challenge now is to bring that trust back - to build workplaces where wisdom and energy, experience and imagination all sit comfortably at the same table.

Because the real issue isn’t how old we are. It’s whether we’re still willing to believe in one another.