Most companies still treat their oldest employees as a problem to manage down. Ergonomic tweaks, phased retirement, quiet buyout packages, all built on the same assumption: experience is a cost, not a capability.
Cedric Bryant, CEO of the American Council on Exercise, just made an argument in the fitness world that lands just as hard in yours. He wants the industry to retire “anti-aging” and adopt “pro-aging” instead. Aging isn’t something you resist, it’ssomething you design for, using seven measurable drivers: movement, nutrition, sleep, stress recovery, safer choices, social connection, and purpose.
I helped build ACE’s business strategy years ago, back when we could all see this age wave building. The math has caught up. Workers 55 and older made up 24 percent of the labor force in 2022, more than double their share in 1994.
Land O’Lakes is already designing around it. Their mentorship program runs in both directions: newer employees mentor tenured colleagues, and tenured colleagues mentor newer ones. Institutional knowledge and fresh energy move through the same room instead of past each other.
Bank of America built something similar into its benefits strategy, creating its first director of financial gerontology to lead work on hybrid schedules, financial planning support, and sabbaticals for older employees.
Neither company is managing decline. They’re designing for longevity.
Three moves worth making, in order:
- Start by auditing your age design: hold your talent, benefits, and workforce policies against those seven drivers, and flag every assumption that quietly targets an employee under 40.
- Then build a two-way mentorship loop like Land O’Lakes did, so knowledge and fresh perspective move in both directions instead of one.
- Finally, measure age-based capability directly. As AI takes over more routine work, judgment and institutional memory become the scarce resource, and most companies still have no way to see it, let alone value it.
This Week
Audit your age design. Build a two-way mentorship loop. Measure age-based capability.
Which policy on that list still quietly assumes your best employee is under 40? Start there.
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