Does Respect For Your Elders Have Any Standing in Your Place of Business

Respect for your elders once was a siné qua non. Whether at home, at school, or on the job, it was accepted in many societies, including our own, that age called for a degree of deference. In the workplace, when combined with experience, age merited some consideration, even status. 

In short, if you had older folks in your household, they deserved a degree of esteem. If you met older folks on the street, a degree of solicitousness was called for, especially if they needed assistance in any way. This carried over to the workplace as well.

Some cultures still observe this practice; others either not so much or, in some cases, quite the opposite.

Our last post discussed the weight seniority can play in the pecking order of a workplace. Seniority may or may not intersect with elder. For example, someone can have greater seniority on the job than someone younger, i.e., a more recently hired employee. We're not concerned here with seniority. Our focus is on those older than us, a/k/a our "elders." By "elders" we mean that these folks are likely of a previous generation (or even two). And we'll stick with the workplace, rather than our families or society in general.

Right off the bat, we've likely all witnessed older colleagues be nudged (or worse) out the door, based on age and the fact that the company typically pays less for a younger replacement. Now, there are some jobs that are so demanding - either physically, mentally, or emotionally - where an age limit might be imposed as a general rule. But aside from these, why get rid of older workers who can still do a good job?

Okay, there's the issue of saving on salary for younger workers. But has anyone done a study to determine whether there's a net loss in productivity or quality when you sack the older worker with polished skills and experience in favor of someone right out of school, or still a green shoot? Perhaps, but I've never seen this issue specifically addressed. What I have seen, especially in public companies, is cleaning house of older higher-paid hands in order to reduce the salary line in an income and expense report. 

(Sure, I get it that public companies do this and other cost-cutting measures to boost the bottom line and please shareholders, perhaps driving up the price of their stock. But that's a whole other subject that deserves its own treatment.)

Then there's the steadiness that experience, typically bundled with age, lends to the workplace. You can certainly make the argument that having a solid crew of "go-to" folks who can help bring along the younger workers would lend stability to the workplace - our ongoing theme.

The Rule of St. Benedict addresses elders, and the emphasis here is a personal one. Let's read this entry and see if it might provide some value to our own workplace:

"The juniors, therefore, shall honour their seniors, and the seniors love their juniors. In addressing one another let them never use the bare name; but let a senior call his junior "Brother", and a junior call his senior "Nonnus", which signifies "Reverend Father". But let the abbot, since he is believed to hold the place of Christ, be called Lord and Abbot, not for any pretensions of his own, but for the honour and love of Christ. Let he abhor himself be mindful of this, and behave so that he may be worthy of such honour. Wherever the brethren meet one another, let the junior ask the senior for his blessing. When a senior passes by, let the junior rise and make room for him to seat himself; for let the junior presume to sit down, unless his senior bid him, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: Be eager to give one another precedence. (Rom. 12:10)..."

There's no clear economic benefit for the secular workplace here. But can't we imagine that the attitude and behavior extolled here would bring a degree of cooperation and respect all around? Many folks still understand that elders deserve special treatment. And smart workers should easily understand that someone with years more experience, who's willing to share that experience, can be an ideal source of knowledge that could help the younger worker advance more quickly in competence. Seniors, for their part, especially when given the respect they deserve, would likely see their juniors not as a threat but rather as people that could use their help, for the common good of the business.

Seems rather simple and obvious, doesn't it?