Wall Street’s last form of ‘acceptable’ discrimination

I recall asking a question at a NYC big bank in 2005, the year I turned 50, we were on a mandatory diversity call which included HR describing new initiatives. After listening to extensive discussion about gender, physical handicaps, race, sexual orientation it was question time and I asked "What about people over 40 or 50? What are we doing to ensure that our workforce looks like our society so that capable but older workers are valued and treated like anyone else?" The answer was..."We don't really track age and of course we are an inclusive hirer...blah blah blah"

No answer at all, a punt. Five years later at another large international bank I was working for someone just 5 years younger than me, ergo over 50, who was a toupee wearer and who with a straight face informed me "I have heard some feedback from people that you're a bit old-fashioned." Well, nothing leaps out and says "Young and vibrant" like a toupee I guess.

That guy was clearly insecure about his age/image and obsessed with pretending to be young. The irony is that all the people running these firms are well into their 40's and 50's which is fine as it goes but you can't have 5-10 year people everywhere in charge. It's fine to have a healthy employee population of "young people" but since you're only as old as you feel and carry yourself, what's the magic number there? 28? Its not baseball or football or track and field. In a knowledge business, experience and savvy should matter and not the second hand overpriced kind often peddled by consultancies.

If you think experience doesn't matter, next time you have a heart attack or get wheeled into an emergency room, make sure you specifically request the newest resident doctor that's working 20 hours a day but who is young and just a couple years out of med school.

As for the cost factor, someone should run the numbers on the average age of all the people who ran the securitization desks which ended up cratering the industry and blowing a hole in the economy, who rigged FX, LIBOR, who "rogue traded" etc. I'll wager they were closer to 30 than 50 on average. I'd wager those "costs" dwarf the total comp saved by throwing experienced people overboard to keep reinflating the bonus pool.

There is no substitute for experience though it's fair to say some people do age performance wise, but not all. Many of us still have fire in the belly, don't mind Millenials one bit and have very steady hands to help drive change and deliver better operating results in this tough environment. I have been around the world delivering results for years and have seen multiple market structure changes, major reg mandates and much more and remained aware, engaged and interested. That kind of knowledge and toolkit doesn't come from an MBA and cannot be synthesized thru the combination of technology and youthful ambition.

Wake up HR...you do get what you pay for and as more fines and failures are chalked up costing millions upon millions, perhaps you might seek out safer, steadier and wiser hands to help banks turn the corner.