[hkrgl]

> age correlates with inflated expectations: salary, paid vacation, benefits, etc. This alone has been our hurdle to hiring people 40+.

I am curious why you wouldn't offer market-rate salary with paid vacation and benefits to all employees. What does age have to do with it?

[caboteria]

> > age correlates with inflated expectations: salary, paid vacation, benefits, etc.

> What does age have to do with it?

I'll translate: "Age correlates with an unwillingness to be exploited and the experience to recognize when that's about to happen."

[bequanna]

Our comp is above market.

And I would call it entitlement vs. “not wanting to be exploited”.

You don’t bring your needs to the market, you bring skills. The market pays you appropriately for those skills.

[quantified]

The market pays the least it can among the alternatives. If the younger were smarter, they wouldn't undercut the elder on price, and therefore maximize their value.

[sokoloff]

Exactly. Age has no place being passed to the proposed compensation function. Experience and other correlated parameters are valid, but age itself is not.

If a candidate and the employer can’t reach an agreement, so be it. If that is because the candidate inflates their expectations because of their age [or wisdom], well, see previous sentence.

[xtracto]

I think the point is that people who are older usually fall in the "more expensive" side of the compensation curve: We expect a higher salary, we want more paid vacation and we are looking for more expensive benefits (paid family health plan instead of only personal).

I turn 40 this December; 20 years ago I got bought with just being able to get into a programming job (in the small town in La Paz, BCS Mexico), the fact that I was paid OK was good Vacations and all that extra stuff was just icing on the cake. I didn't care about the "retirement" things (in Mexico by law everyone gets "poor mans" version of 401k). 20 years later, darn I am sure I am WAY more picky than then.

[beebeepka]

They have to treat older people with respect, and pay them accordingly. Apparently, they don't want to.

[bequanna]

I get what you are saying and appreciate it.

But when you are in a position to hire and there is no apparent benefit to hiring someone who wants more money vs someone with the same skills and relevant experience, why would you hire the person who wants more money?

[jpindar]

How do you know they want more money if you don't interview them?

[bequanna]

Please read my original comment. We discuss salary expectations during the initial interview.

[xtracto]

We don't deserve a higher salary because we are older. "Respect your elders" is a very cultural thing. We should "respect" all people the same. We should "respect" (acknowledge) people that do things worthy of respect.

[beebeepka]

Presumptuous response.

I responded to someone who literally said older guys ask for too much and that's why they don't hire them

[bequanna]

Ugh, cmon. You are really straining to be outraged here.

That is not at all what I said. In my experience, older people almost always ask for above market compensation regardless of experience. We don’t hire people that ask for too much money regardless of age.

[beebeepka]

Why would I be outraged?

Who you pick is entirely up to your company. If you don't super expensive people, that's fine. Maybe you already have those?