Grandmothers Out and About

GRANDMOTHERS OUT AND ABOUT
Aka: Granny, Nana, and Babushka

Grandmothers are getting younger and younger. Today’s workforce is infused with grandmothers who want to work, to be out and about and in charge of their destinies.

Why would grandmothers want to work? Today’s nanas are younger than our grandmothers were. They already had a career that they had built as they were raising their own children. They found that being out in the public, doing their time in the workforce was satisfying and allowed them a certain amount of freedom. This freedom gets them away from the day-to-day chores that once was believed to be the “woman’s place” in the home. Today’s grandmother has a life outside the home and is not tied to traditional beliefs where she is the “keeper of the home.” She sees the benefits that being self-sacrificing, self-employed and giving back can bring to one’s life. She understands and appreciates the opportunity to be able to create a place for herself in the workforce. She is tuned in to the employer’s expectations perhaps more so than a younger employee. She knows that if she doesn’t do the job well; she is going to be excused from her job.

A grandmother wants to be useful. She has raised her children and now wants to contribute to the employer, the neighborhood and sees a need for the experience she has gathered over the years of learning by doing. She wants to share her knowledge. She is not a sit-at-home lady twiddling her thumbs, crocheting, sewing or many other tasks at hand. She knows these are skills she has gained over the years but wants to participate in the outside world now that she may be widowed, children are gone or just because she likes having adult conversations with co-workers on the job scene. Today’s grandmothers are doers, planners, and spirit-filled women who want to access their energies and use them to enhance their lives and focus on living; not on preparing for old age, letting other do or death.

Grandmothers attend college and are getting that degree now that they have the time to devote to their studies. They have fewer obligations at home and finding college to be a rewarding and meaningful way to expend their energies. Just because a woman has reached an older age, does not mean she is done and all used up.

When a business hires a babushka (German for grandmother), they are getting experience that has been tried and tested. Mature ladies have “stick-to-it-ness” that perhaps is lacking in some of the younger generation. They see the value of being on the job and doing the work. Their mindset is getting the job done, doing it well, and not wasting time which belong to the employer.

So companies should never look at a woman’s age and think she has nothing left to contribute to their business. She just might be the driving force behind expansion and creativity for the future of their company’s welfare. Experience speaks for itself.