Silent struggle: How older employees’ relational age and voice behavior shape co-worker trust and performance in professional teams

How do older employees maintain trust and demonstrate value in age-diverse teams where seniority does not confer authority? In flat-structured teams where members hold similar titles, younger employees may question why older colleagues have not advanced, creating status incongruence and lowering trust in their ability. Drawing on status characteristics theory, we argue that older employees’ relational age (i.e. the average age difference from their younger peers) can be negatively associated with co-worker trust and task performance. We further propose that older employees’ voice behavior mitigates the negative effects of relational age. In Study 1, using a round-robin survey design with 199 employees across 56 Taiwanese teams, we find that voice moderates the negative relationship between relational age and co-worker trust, as well as the indirect effect on supervisor-rated performance. In Study 2, a vignette experiment with 177 Australian participants, relational age reduced trust via lower perceived competence (but not warmth), and this effect was eliminated when the older worker displayed voice. Our research shows how age-based status beliefs can be challenged in professional teams, contributing to scholarship on workplace stereotyping, intragroup status hierarchies, and proactive strategies in age-diverse teams, while offering practical guidance for sustaining older employees’ careers.