All In How To Session – Action 6: Combatting Ageism

Today All In held its How-To Session on Action 6: to improve the experience & representation of Older Talent. 

Action 6 is to implement the Shared Experiences policy to help tackle the ageism which currently exists at both ends of the age spectrum. This Action has been developed as a response to the data from the All In Census, which showed the underrepresentation of those over 45 in our industry and an over-reliance on graduates.

Here are some key takeaways from the session:

1. 64% of those aged +55 are in senior manager roles or above.
2. Only 2% of over 55s are in junior-level roles.
3. Women outnumber men in our industry’s workforce until ages 45-54 when it then reverses.

Our fantastic panel comprised  Karen Buchanan – CEO, McCann Manchester -, Nicky Bullard – CCO, MullenLowe -, Ally Owen – Creator, Brixton  Finishing School & Hoxton United – and Charlotte Read – Director, PRcentric and Founding Partner, 40 Over Forty.  They discussed their personal experiences and how they have been combatting both their internal – unconscious – and external biases toward Older talent.  They also talked about how Older talent can help solve the Talent Crisis that our industry is currently facing. Panellists agreed on the barriers faced by Older talent when trying to access a creative role, and how age does not necessarily need to mean seniority.

This session clearly highlights the need for our industry to celebrate career longevity and work harder toward talent retention.

Here are some inspirational quotes from our panellists:

On founding “40 Over Forty”, Charlotte Read said: “We need to have difficult conversations, we need to provide a safe space just so we know the extent of the problem we are dealing with”. 

On our need to celebrate Older talent, Ally Owen said: “There’s no talent crisis, it is just that talent doesn’t look like you wanted it to look.” 

On celebrating career longevity, Nicki Bullard said: “I can’t remember anyone celebrating career longevity, only success. Having a 30 year career in this industry should be celebrated”.

On combatting the bias, Karen Buchanan said: “We need to start embracing a different narrative about older people”.

A big thank you  to all the speakers and attendees, you can watch all of our “How To” sessions on demand here or head to our All In Hub for more information.