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Maybe this CEO really is biased against older people, but the evidence provided is pretty slim. If you reduce everything that Lyons is saying that that one quo

Maybe this CEO really is biased against older people, but the evidence provided is pretty slim. If you reduce everything that Lyons is saying that that one quote from the CEO, perhaps the evidence is slim. But if you take the observations he's making together, as a whole, a different picture emerges: The place was like a frat house, with refrigerators stocked with cases of beer and telemarketing sales “bros” drinking at their desks while hammering away on the phones. Thirty-something employees were considered “old people.” And of course the quote about HubSpot “trying to build a culture specifically to attract and retain Gen Y’ers,” also attributed to the CEO.

jlebar 11y ago
If you reduce everything that Lyons is saying that that one quote from the CEO, perhaps the evidence is slim. But if you take the observations he's making together, as a whole, a different picture emerges I guess I don't see the fact that there's beer in the fridge or that people drink at work as evidence of the CEO's ageism. It seems to be evidence of a relaxed attitude towards alcohol. Similarly, calling thirty-somethings "old" is...maybe insensitive? I dunno, maybe it's ageist. I'd think it would be hard to say without being there. Clearly the author feels discriminated against, because his CEO doesn't see how amazing he is at his job. It's definitely his right to feel that way, and who knows, maybe he's right, but in any case I'm not inclined to take his observations as direct evidence of discrimination.
- jazzdog 11y ago
  Maybe just track the employees and their ages? Objective enough?
- kafkaesq 11y ago
  Similarly, calling thirty-somethings "old" is...maybe insensitive? I dunno, maybe it's ageist. I don't know if I'd want to dignify it by calling it "ageist." But it's definitely a very callow, naive thing to say.
  - jlebar 11y ago
    > But it's definitely a very callow, naive thing to say. Agreed. Doesn't sound like the kind of place I'd want to work. Possibly a bad business strategy. I'm merely disagreeing with the author's explicit claim that the CEO's attitude is morally equivalent to saying "this is a whites-only workplace". I find that pretty offensive, frankly.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]

jlebar 11y ago

If you reduce everything that Lyons is saying that that one quote from the CEO, perhaps the evidence is slim. But if you take the observations he's making together, as a whole, a different picture emerges I guess I don't see the fact that there's beer in the fridge or that people drink at work as evidence of the CEO's ageism. It seems to be evidence of a relaxed attitude towards alcohol. Similarly, calling thirty-somethings "old" is...maybe insensitive? I dunno, maybe it's ageist. I'd think it would be hard to say without being there. Clearly the author feels discriminated against, because his CEO doesn't see how amazing he is at his job. It's definitely his right to feel that way, and who knows, maybe he's right, but in any case I'm not inclined to take his observations as direct evidence of discrimination.

jazzdog 11y ago
Maybe just track the employees and their ages? Objective enough?
kafkaesq 11y ago
Similarly, calling thirty-somethings "old" is...maybe insensitive? I dunno, maybe it's ageist. I don't know if I'd want to dignify it by calling it "ageist." But it's definitely a very callow, naive thing to say.
- jlebar 11y ago
  > But it's definitely a very callow, naive thing to say. Agreed. Doesn't sound like the kind of place I'd want to work. Possibly a bad business strategy. I'm merely disagreeing with the author's explicit claim that the CEO's attitude is morally equivalent to saying "this is a whites-only workplace". I find that pretty offensive, frankly.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]