Embracing the Strengths of Multigenerational Teams

BY Michael Stahl | June 28, 2023

Thanks in part to the gifts of modern medicine, as many as five different generations might currently be employed in a given organization. With the average life expectancy of Americans on the rise, and a greater understanding that age diversity within teams is a strength, companies today are taking steps to ensure they are age-inclusive. 

A From Day One thought leadership spotlight, “Age Inclusion 101: Beyond Generational Stereotypes,” part of From Day One’s virtual conference on new approaches to diversity and inclusion, provided insight and advice on how leaders can go about building age-inclusive cultures.  Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor of financial resilience at AARP, revealed some research-supported tips in an engaging presentation. Here are the key takeaways:

Don’t Put People Into “Generational Buckets”

Some leaders might have an inclination to assign expectations to employees based on the generation they were born into. While such thinking might appear to serve as a means of better understanding workers, there’s risk in adopting this approach.

“That’s when the stereotypes come in,” said Tinsley-Fix. 

To illustrate her point, Tinsley-Fix shared her screen with her audience and Googled different generations, including “Boomers,” “Generation X,” and “Generation Z.” The results pages spit out stereotype-laden information about why Boomers are “entitled” and “bad with technology,” why Gen X is “so annoying,” and why Gen Z is “so sensitive.”

Not only are such stereotypes “kind of ridiculous,” Tinsley-Fix said, they’re also nonsensical, because there is inscrutable crossover. (Boomers and Gen Z, as well as Millennials, somehow all have a reputation for being “entitled,” for example.) Tinsley-Fix noted that our current concept of what constitutes a generation is fairly new, having been presented only 70 years ago by Karl Mannheim, who said events that take place during the youth of age groups give rise to commonalities in character.

AARP's senior advisor for financial resilience, Heather Tinsley-Fix, presented the thought leadership spotlight (AARP photo)

“And of course, as Millennials became a huge presence in the workforce, employers were really interested in attracting them,” Tinsley-Fix continued. “So a whole cottage industry sprang up around assigning these traits and characteristics to specific generations, and it kind of went a bit into overdrive, which is where we get this notion that Millennials want beanbags, candy, and pool tables at work.”

But research shows there is not a meaningful relationship between work-related outcomes and generational membership. Tinsley-Fix said she’s reviewed many surveys through the years, which indicate that people, “regardless of their age, their gender, their ethnicity, all have about the same core set of wants or needs from their employer.” Such values include flexibility, respect, ethical leadership, and opportunities to advance and do meaningful work. 

How these values may materialize in the workplace can differ by age group; however, it’s clear that generally placing expectations on a worker based on their generation is not only unproductive, it’s grounded in unproven perceptions and “corrosive to the inclusion work you’re trying to bring about in your company,” Tinsley-Fix said.

The Negative Impact of Ageist Stereotypes

Tinsley-Fix cited a Harvard Business Review article, which described an experiment that saw a group of undergraduate students train others on how to conduct a computer-based operation using only Google Chat. Unbeknownst to those conducting the training, the trainees were also undergraduate students, but were utilizing fake Google bios with profile pictures of people of various ages.

“​​And, distressingly, they found that when the trainers believed that they were teaching an older person how to do the computer task, they had lower expectations and provided worse training,” Tinsley-Fix said. “So the ‘older people’ on the other end of that Google Chat did not get the same level of training that younger people did.”

There are other negative effects from ageism in the workforce, but obviously the inability to properly train employees because of age stereotypes means they won’t be put in a position to succeed. Their organization will suffer and they themselves will be at greater risk of being pushed out of the workforce altogether. 

How To Make Your Organization More Age-Inclusive

One way to build an age-inclusive culture is to publicly commit to it, something AARP can help with. On the organization’s website, leaders will find a pledge to commit to “experienced workers” that they can sign and subsequently promote, helping to brand the company in such a way, perhaps alongside website imaging that includes photos of people in older generations. 

“Other aspects of committing to an age inclusive culture include things like adding age explicitly as an element in your DEI strategy in your materials,” Tinsley-Fix said, “whether that be statements on your online diversity pages, or building the business case for leaders to embrace age as an element of diversity.”

She also suggested that companies add age metrics to their ESG statements, an emerging trend in organizations eager to discuss their workforce’s demographics openly. Another tip is to review job descriptions listed in want ads.

“It may not seem like something that would cause people to be put off, but if you include phrases like ‘high energy,’ ‘digital native,’ ‘recent college grad,’ and things like that, you can really send a subtle message that you’re not interested in older candidates,” Tinsley-Fix said. 

Do not include age markers–such as the candidate’s date of birth or college graduation year–if your company is using AI-based hiring algorithms to weed out unsuitable candidates, Tinsley-Fix warned. Also, instead of requiring a candidate to have X years of experience, say that they should have “at least X years of experience.”

“That way, if an older candidate is deciding to make a pivot, and they want to move into a different field, they can say that they do have at least two years of experience, and it’s not capping the experience that you’re asking for,” Tinsley-Fix said. 

Be sure your company is upskilling everyone, she added, which cuts down on hiring costs while also promoting age inclusion. 

“It’s so important to adopt a growth mindset, it’s so important to set that from the top down as a core belief about people and about your workforce that anyone can learn,” Tinsley-Fix said in closing. “And that growth is always on the table. No matter your age, no matter how young or old you are.”

Editor’s note: AARP, who presented this thought leadership spotlight, has partnered with MindEdge Learning to create a skills-building platform for employers to upskill their employees regardless of age. The course catalog includes a range of high-demand skills as well as durable soft skills to enhance productivity and contribute to the growth of your workforce and company. If you’re interested in signing up or just hearing more about these courses, add your name to the Google form here.

 

Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.

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Leveraging Generational Diversity: Moving from Ageism to Age Inclusion

In a recent survey from Resume Now, 90% of workers age 40+ said they experienced ageism in the workplace. And a study from AARP found that 64% of the same age group experienced age discrimination, meaning tangible impact on one’s ability to advance, stay in the workforce, and get paid fairly. “The data shows that ageism is still with us, unfortunately, in the workforce, and that it’s actually quite prevalent,” said Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor, financial resilience, AARP, at a From Day One webinar.The five-generation workforce is a well-known phenomenon—in fact, 83% of executives believe that creating a more multigenerational workforce would drive their organization’s success and growth. But how should companies begin to build cultures that shift away from unconscious ageism toward age inclusion?Dr. Megan Gerhardt, founder & director of thought leadership at Gentelligence, has spent the last 15 years speaking and consulting with top organizations worldwide on leveraging generational diversity in the workplace. Gerhardt spoke with Tinsley-Fix and Heather Ainsworth, CEO of Workable Concept, on creating cultures in which all ages thrive, psychological safety enables fruitful interaction, and intergenerational collaboration drives bottom-line value. They also shared a sneak peek of a new suite of resources AARP designed specifically to help HR leaders address this opportunity. It translates research into specific actions and creates custom plans that takes into account your own areas of personal power and influence.Turning From Ageism to Age InclusionThe World Health Organization defines ageism as “the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel), and discrimination (how we act) toward others or oneself based on age.” The workplace can be rife with generational stereotypes, with headlines constantly decrying both Gen Z and Millennials as “the worst colleagues” (and also sometimes, puzzlingly, “the best”), while also insisting that Baby Boomers retire to free up jobs for those younger folks. And while many, Tinsley-Fix says, wrongly peg those 45-55 at “late career” and 55-65 in “decline,” in fact, “people 65 plus are the fastest growing segment of the workforce.”Conversely, age inclusion is “when a team or organization creates policies, tools, and culture that enable people of all ages to thrive without needing to navigate age-based stereotypes, prejudice, or discrimination.”An effective leadership team will build a complex, inclusive culture where workers of all ages and stages can thrive. It’s not only a kind choice, it’s what Tinsley-Fix calls “a value creation strategy hiding in plain sight.” The depth of experience and skill sets in an age-diverse workforce, whether technical, professional, or durable human skills, creates major opportunities for employers who can unleash those synergies. The best results occur when people from different life and career stages work together to define problems and create solutions. Having workers of different ages allows you to connect with a wider customer base and gives you a more nuanced knowledge base to call on.“Having workers of different ages is also a talent management necessity,” Tinsley-Fix said. In the near-term, workers 65+ are the fastest-growing portion of the talent market, but over the coming decades, more people will exit the workforce than will enter it. AARP posits that “declining population or labor force participation rates among younger workers may lead to talent shortage. Retaining older workers (considered age 40+) can help employers address this challenge.”Learning to Work TogetherContrary to popular belief, the five generations in the workforce work well together. “Data shows that multi-generational teams perform better when they’re managed well than teams which are more age-siloed. In companies that utilize mixed age work teams, the productivity of both older workers and the younger workers is higher than in companies that do not use mixed age teams,” Tinsley-Fix said. “That myth that productivity declines as we age is based on measuring individual productivity rather than team productivity. Mixed age teams outperform teams on things like decision-making, creative tasks, and complex problem solving.”With this in mind, it’s important for leaders to encourage generativity, which is defined as “a person’s interest in and dedication to establishing and guiding the next generation.” Gerhardt encourages cultivating “gentelligence,” the idea of helping people have smarter intergenerational conversations. This shows up at work through co-creation, providing expertise freely, setting up organizations for success, consulting, coaching, and mentoring.The panelist spoke about "Leveraging Generational Diversity: Moving from Ageism to Age Inclusion" during the webinar (photo by From Day One)“This can also show up just in how people approach conversations,” said Ainsworth. “Is a conversation between people of different generations seen as transactional, or do they approach it with a sense of curiosity in order to co-create value and the culture that they want to be working in?”Creating an Organization That Supports Generativity“An age-diverse workforce left to its own devices is not necessarily going to be more productive,” Gerhardt said. “It has the potential to be, but like almost all forms of diversity, that rests solely on how well it's managed and led. And that includes the cultures and climates we're creating.”It’s important to encourage intergenerational interaction since it may not occur naturally, Gerhardt says, as employees often work their way up through the ranks alongside colleagues similar in age who become their friends. This lack of relationship-building can lead to age polarization. And without regular proactive exposure to other generations, stereotypes can flourish. Encourage employees to “see the value that every generation brings,” Gerhardt says, and build out a benefits package that offers perks specific to every stage of life, from student loan repayment to childcare, elder care, retirement, and more. And determine the level of psychological safety for each age group and career stage, noting that low levels of safety can result in disinterest or even concern about sharing knowledge.Much of this comes down to helping different generations understand each other better in order to strengthen trust and collaborate effectively. “I think it’s a myth that our younger generations aren’t interested in listening or learning from people who are older. I think it’s that how they want to communicate, learn, and listen has changed,” Gerhardt said. One example she shares is that Gen Z grew up having all the answers at their fingertips, so if they don’t immediately receive the “why” behind  something—like why it might take 18 months to get promoted—it can impact their psychological safety. That doesn’t mean a workplace needs to cater exclusively to the young, but it should be extra mindful to have inclusive communications that account for all learning and work styles.Gerhardt suggests proactively creating opportunities for those significantly older and younger to collaborate on meaningful work where diverse expertise is needed for success. “Generativity comes from being curious,” Gerhardt said. Smarter intergenerational conversations can be sparked by “Gentelligent” power questions like: “How would you approach this? Can you help me understand that perspective? What barriers can I help remove for you to reach this goal?”Generations at WorkAn age-inclusive organization should:Welcome workers of all ages and value their experienceLive by the mantra that everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learnBe flexible, recognizing that longer lives mean loopier career pathsSupport caregivers with leave, resources, and other benefitsManage differences and celebrate similarities across multiple generationsNot put people in buckets or make assumptions about them based on ageAARP just launched Generations at Work, a new tool packed with resources to help you take action to build and leverage a multigenerational workforce. It guides you through a self-assessment to help you create a customized plan based on your existing strategies and future priorities; provides free resources to help you executive each of three key actions; and ensures you distill your learnings and bring them back to the team.AARP believes setting a handful of targeted goals to improve age inclusion makes us more likely to achieve the changes we seek. Leveraging a multigenerational workforce requires us to consider actions across HR, both with teams and individual employees. Learn more and create your customized plan at https://employerportal.aarp.org/generations.Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, AARP, for sponsoring this webinar.Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.

Katie Chambers November 04, 2024

Old Is New: a Compelling Case for Age Diversity in the Workplace

By the year 2024, nearly one quarter of the labor force is projected to be age 55 or older, double what it was in 1994, when the figure was just under 12%. This trend has dramatic implications for how we view the workforce. Age discrimination in the workplace is illegal, but nonetheless a widespread phenomenon. It creates unjust challenges for older individuals in job retention and the securing of new ones. But studies show that a diverse workforce, in terms of gender, race, and age as well, is better for business, and companies will be well-served if they catch on to this. When it comes to building better diversity and inclusion across a company, age is one element that corporate leaders often disregard or place lower on their priority list, according to Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor of financial resilience at AARP. She spoke last week at From Day One’s July virtual conference, The New Push for Workplace Equity, offering a data-rich presentation on the impact of longevity on how we view talent. In it, she pointed out that limiting work opportunities for the growing older population–as has been the case, to a degree, in recent years–can have dire consequences, starting at the individual level. “Jobs are a foundational way to address previous inequities,” Tinsley-Fix said. “For many, they’re an access to healthcare. They’re access to good wages. They’re sometimes access to long-term financial planning, and all of those elements impact how long you live.” Corporate leaders who keep this social impact in mind, as well as the qualities that older workers can bring to the job, can benefit the company as well as society. Tinsley-Fix cited the results of a PwC global CEO survey, which found that some of the most important skills that companies value in workers are also the hardest to find. In this time of growing automation, these skills–including leadership, emotional intelligence and adaptability–cannot be performed by a machine. Other skills and qualities that often improve with maturity–problem solving, critical thinking, relationship building, empathy, coaching and mentoring–will also be required on the job during the epic shift toward automation. Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor of financial resilience at AARP (Photo courtesy of AARP) “These are the kinds of higher-order cognitive skills that take time to develop. You often accrue them through experience, on the job and also interacting with others, and growing as a person,” Tinsley-Fix said. “I note that because older workers tend to have a lot of these skills, and if you’re able to leverage them, particularly in the areas of mentoring and in the transfer of tasks and knowledge, the presence of an age-diverse workforce can actually help instill these skills.” Age diversity in the workforce also improves productivity and performance, which, of course, helps the bottom line. For some corporate leaders to open up to the idea of hiring older people, they may first have to get over one particular bias, likely rooted in what Tinsley-Fix called “the myth about intelligence and atrophy.” Many believe that the human brain begins a slow decline after about the age of 20, but that’s not true, she said. Citing research by the author Heather E. McGowan, who wrote The Adaptation Advantage Book, about thriving in the future of work, Tinsley-Fix observed, “Our brains remain fluid and plastic all the way up through late ages, as long as we stay active ourselves and stay engaged in our own brain health.” Human ability to concentrate, for example, peaks at age 43, while it isn’t until age 50 that we’re at our peak learning capabilities. “Crystallized intelligence,” which Tinsley-Fix described as “contextual” and generally has to do with “synthesizing information” and “making judgements,” doesn’t peak until age 60. “Anyone can learn from anyone else, as long as we provide opportunities for them to do that,” Tinsley-Fix said. Given the fluidity of our brainpower, Tinsley-Fix suggested that, culturally, we should expect career trajectories to move through waves as opposed to climbing up ladders, in what she called “non-linear and multi-stage careers.” “We’re going to need to have periods where we lean out in order to re-skill, because we know that the landscape of skills continues to change, and we also know we’re going to need to lean out sometimes to care for others, either children or our elders,” Tinsley-Fix said. “The implications of this are pretty big.” If equity and compensation in the workplace are tethered to title and “experience,” ladder-based equations are easy: The longer an employee has been around, the better their position and pay. But deciding an employee’s standing in a company and their compensation when they’ve taken time to train or attend to personal needs becomes much trickier if restricted by the ladder-based outlook toward career trajectories. “What if a person’s significance, and the pride they take in their work; what if their compensation, even, was not tied to title?” Tinsley-Fix asked. “We’re going to have to come up with new ways of recognizing and rewarding.” “And how do we preserve the intent of driving equity if titles are not the only way to measure that?” she asked. It could take “flexible classification models” that allow for “softer exits” and “better re-entries,” Tinsley-Fix said. This would improve upon the “one on-ramp, one off-ramp” system typically in place at companies today. Tinsley-Fix noted that famed millennial Mark Zuckerberg once said, at age 22, “Young people are just smarter.” But next year, the first millennials–a generation of people who, according to an AARP report, make up 35% of the workforce–will turn 40, which is when they become protected under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. “That’s a big group of your workforce, in addition to Gen-X and Boomers and Traditionalists,” Tinsley-Fix said, all of whom need to work longer to fund their longer, healthier lives. With millennials increasingly in positions of power, this is a great time for them to show off just how smart they are, and keep a diverse workforce, mindful of the inclusivity of workers from many generations. Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.   

Michael Stahl July 28, 2020

How to Reap the Rewards of the Increasingly Multigenerational Workforce

The benefits of having a multigenerational workforce are abundant. As an employer, you have a wider variety of opinions, strengths, and ideas to help make your team successful. You create diversity, which can improve both team cohesiveness and financial performance. And workers say they enjoy these workplaces more.Once you have age diversity in your workforce, how do you ensure you continue to reap the benefits of what you have painstakingly grown? In this story, the third installment in a three-part series on age diversity in the workforce—the first one explored myths and realities, and the second one focused on generational allies—we’ll offer practical steps on how to make the most of the multigenerational workforce for both individuals and the business. Among the recommendations we gathered from the experts:Understand ExpectationsMary Abbajay, the CEO of Careerstone Group, an organizational and leadership development consultancy, says recognizing the differences in generations is important. “What Gen Z expects of work-life balance is very different from what Gen X will accept,” she said. While the 100-hour-a-week model of a typical, partner-track lawyer at a big firm was expected by new graduates in the 1980s and ’90s, Gen Z want more from their lives. Abbajay says many of the top-tier firms have trouble getting that new blood in the door. “One told me you can’t find younger people hungry enough to work the hours they want.” Besides putting some limits on work hours, as JPMorgan and Bank of America announced this month, Abbajay says that employers should look more widely for emerging talent. “If you want hungry people, look for those who worked hard to get where they are.” She suggests community-college transfer students, the HBCUs, and smaller state schools where first-generation college grads may have had to pay their own way.To hear much more, tune into From Day One’s one-hour webinar, “Leveraging Generational Diversity: Moving from Ageism to Age Inclusion,” scheduled for Thurs., Oct. 3, at 2 pm ET. You can register here.Part of understanding the differences between age groups is asking the right questions. Old canards like “old people don’t like tech” and “young people are flighty” have been rightly disproved. According to Stephane Francioli, Ph.D., a researcher at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, you shouldn’t base skills training on generations, but rather on age groupings. For example, rather than saying Gen Z or Boomers, focus on age ranges, like workers in their 40s, or the 60+ workforce. Those have proved to be more accurate.That said, some valid research has illuminated differences in work preferences of various generations. A new report from Deloitte about Gen Z and Millennials, based on a survey of 23,000 workers in 44 countries, underscores the notion that the live-to-work philosophy won’t cut it for them. They crave meaning, sustainability, and balance in their lives. A case study by accounting firm Grant Thornton in Ireland concludes that “Gen Z will not compromise their vision to fit into a culture that does not fulfill their expectations.” Rather, “Gen Z will join companies that they feel bring their values to life and align with their own personal principles.” Key values for this generation are diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as job flexibility.Consider the Caregivers An estimated one in every six workers is a family caregiver, defined as providing care for an elderly or disabled family member, relative or friend. Typically, this falls to the midlife, “sandwich generation,” juggling both parenthood and family caregiving, who may feel conflicted about bringing attention to their caregiving responsibilities out of fear it could harm career advancement. Many managers view employees leave early for school pick-up or those who take time off to run parents to the doctor as not being all-in at work, regardless of whether they meet their goals.Caregivers have more stress in their life—financial, personal, and professional, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This can lead to a decline in productivity and an increase in absenteeism. But it doesn’t have to. According to a Harvard Business Review report, caregiving can provide skills that are very transferrable to work, and a Harvard Business School survey conducted for the Rutgers Center for Women in Business in 2023 listed many skills acquired through caregiving, including empathy, efficiency, tenacity, collaboration, and project management.Even better, employers can provide support for caregivers in ways that generates a return on investment. In a report outlining Harvard Business School research on caregiving, the authors note that caring for the caregivers on your team doesn’t harm your company, in fact, it helps. Two of the easiest methods to help caregivers, flex time and telecommuting, have a return on investment of $1.70 to $4.34 and $2.46 to $4.45 for each dollar spent on them, respectively.A simple way to help caregivers is to gather and share a list of the benefits you have related to caregiving, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, a senior advisor with AARP, the nonprofit group that advocates for people 50 and over. These may include Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), or assistance programs for finding appropriate back-up care.Give Them What They Want and Tell Them What It CostsDo you know what your total benefit package costs per person? If you don’t, cost it out, Abbajay says. Share it within your organization–transparency about financials is very important to Millennials and Gen Z. When you survey what they are interested in adding, tell them what it will cost and what the tradeoffs would be—maybe you want a four-day workweek, but it might be at the cost of grad-school funding. Some organizations Abbajay has worked with provide a bucket of money for each employee and a buffet of choices they can spend it on.Don’t forget some of the non-benefit elements of work that people value. Abbajay says that younger workers want a company with a clear ethos that engages in philanthropy beyond corporate donations. Some organizations provide time off for volunteering or create team-building events centered around it.Offer opportunities to learn and grow. While older workers are staying longer in the workforce, Abbajay says your organization can create novel paths to advancement. Not everyone wants to be a manager or a leader. Some in tech just want to be masters of coding. Not every lawyer wants the responsibility of partnership. What kind of advancement can you offer to those who prefer mastery of their craft to climbing the leadership ladder?Frugal FixesEverything you do to promote multigenerational satisfaction doesn’t require leadership approval or a big budgetary investments. Some simple trick and twists:Consider offering ergonomic check-ups of people’s workspace. At AARP, Tinsley-Fix says the facilities team is in charge of those requests. However, there are plenty of on-line resources that can be helpful. Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health, and OSHA offer tools that can help. Many consultants can evaluate your entire organization.Stratify data from employee surveys by age group, says Tinsley-Fix. When analyzed this way, you can spot patterns that can help update your workforce management strategies, she says.Leverage the networks of your existing personnel when searching for new staff. “Add a referral reward if someone they recommend for a job is hired,” Tinsley-Fix said. If you don’t know where to source older workers, your existing employees in that age group may be able to refer their peers.Lastly, Tinsley-Fix says all your internal and external communications should be representative of the demographics you aspire to. Whether it’s the stock pictures on your website or the people you profile in internal newsletters, keep diversity in mind. People like to feel seen, and even subtle representation matters.Importantly, if you ask for input and opinions, do something. One Harvard Business Review article reports that one reason employees are loathe to speak up is having sense of futility–that nothing will happen with what they tell you. So find out what they want, Abbajay says. Organize it, says Tinsley-Fix. Then act on the results.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, AARP, for sponsoring this story, the third in a series on how employers can foster age inclusion in the workplace. Interested in assessing how you are doing with age inclusion? Try AARP’s new tool on Managing a Multigenerational Workforce. Just send an email to employerpledge@aarp.org, with the subject line betatest. To hear much more, tune into From Day One’s one-hour webinar, “Leveraging Generational Diversity: Moving from Ageism to Age Inclusion,” scheduled for Thurs., Oct. 3, at 2 pm ET. You can register here.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.(Featured photo by Sanjeri/iStock by Getty Images)

Lisa Jaffe September 24, 2024