To dye or not to dye, that is the question

Older workers more reliable
While quantifying the effect of gray hair may be impossible, there’s been no big dropoff in a statistical category closely linked to ageism. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 17,837 age discrimination complaints in 2004 — down slightly from the previous two years but higher than any other year in the past decade.

Butler, whose research and educational organization combats ageism in the workplace and elsewhere, says data bear out that older workers are among the most reliable in the work force because “they learn, they are dependable, they have a low absentee rate.” But he fully understands why workers dye their grays to improve their self-esteem or their job chances.

Karl Pillemer, a professor of human development and gerontology at Cornell University, says Americans clearly are ambivalent about gray hair in the workplace.

“On the one hand, there are some companies eager to hire the gray-haired. On the other hand, in some other areas there is extreme discrimination” against older workers, he said.

Such discrimination has always been the fear of Vnuk, whose long-time salt-and-pepper hair has lately turned to mostly salt, at job interviews. The Milwaukee marketing administrator admits to wrestling periodically with the gray-or-dye dilemma for years.

“At some point you always think to yourself when you have an interview, ’Gosh, should I make myself look younger?”’ he said.

Even his son encouraged a coverup when Vnuk interviewed with a 30-something employer who was about the son’s age. He told his dad: “Face it, nobody wants to hire their father” — a telling if “brutal” comment, Vnuk recounted with a laugh.

Vnuk spurned the advice and got the job anyway. But a few months later he dyed his hair chestnut brown in an attempt to fit in better with younger co-workers, a decision he quickly regretted as “really dumb” after enduring ridicule for the faux look.

Now he is back to gray for good, he says. Based on comments he hears at conferences and elsewhere, he suspects it is getting easier for gray-haired workers to feel comfortable.

“It seems to be more acceptable today,” he said. “With the amount of baby boomers out there, I don’t think it’s as imperative to look younger.”

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