My last live attendance at SHRM national was 2019. This year it is the same scene of the crime, but this year is also very different. Four years ago I peppered the CEO of SHRM and his Chief of Staff on Ageism in the blogger lounge. Yes that is Johnny and Emily with about 18 bloggers answering questions during a 45 minute impromptu fly by. Johnny acknowledged Ageism had not been addressed to the level it needed. And then COVID hit and basically derailed conferences for the past 3 yrs. Yes we had a virtual/hybrid national HR conference in 2021 and live in 2022 but this is truly the first year back to some level of normalness and SHRM has pulled out all the stops with Bill Clinton headlining Monday and Janet Jackson taking the entertainment to a whole new level on Tuesday night.
But the important discussion for today is Mitch Albom, the NY Times best selling author of Tuesdays with Maury, speaking on Tuesday morning. The seminal novel on ageing and how to live a full life. Ageism is finally getting the attention it deserves at the conference. By chance I am speaking on Ageism too at a breakout on Wednesday morning. My program has evolved from a local SHRM breakfast presentation in February of 2020 just before COVID changed our world. My research and presentation have been on ice for three years and I finally get to dish on a topic that is meaningful to not only the HR community but to me as I am now an AARP member closing in on retirement (not quite yet, I still have some tread on my tires).
I have watched family and friends impacted directly by Ageism over the past few yrs. with an acceleration over the past year. A surprising occurrence given that employers are estimated to have a shortage of qualified workers well into the future and older Americans are a perfect solution to many organizations challenges if they would just drop the bias. I will share lots of data and detail at my presentation. Lets just say I have my ducks in a row to make my case. Unfortunately Mitch and I speaking on the big and secondary stages at the world’s largest gathering of HR professionals is barely a drop in a bucket. We need Ageism to become a central DEI initiative along with addressing bias towards individuals with disabilities.
I am going to do my part and hope you will join me in addressing and overcoming Ageism in America.
If your at the conference please join me Wednesday morning and catch me before or after too!
I will be back soon to share how it went and to continue my goal of raising awareness….
HumanCapital3 