In the last two decades, companies have changed how they hire and retain employees. Great strides have been made toward more transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. So why do we still hear people are too young or too old for certain positions?
In human resource departments, ageism is a third rail – a subject no one wants to touch. You might think that workplace discrimination is a thing of the past. After all, CEOs and HR managers alike have been implementing inclusivity policies for years, and should be aware of the value of a diverse work environment. However, discrimination of all kinds still persists, and ageism, in particular, can be hard to root out.
What ageism is
Аgeism is discrimination on the basis of age. This might affect the hiring process, day-to-day operations, career development, and promotions.
In 1967, the United States passed The Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA), protecting employees over 40 from age discrimination. However, the ADEA does not shield employees of companies with twenty or fewer employees, people under 40, or employees in some high-level positions.
Companies spend millions trying to attract Millennials and Gen-Z, often undervaluing the accumulated experience and knowledge of older generations. Society at large has a more lackluster view on the matter, believing that ageism is neither as common nor as important as other discriminatory practices.
Although ageism is mostly associated with discrimination toward older people, it can affect young employees and manifest in unfair practices such as paying youth minimum wage (below the national average), unpaid internships, cutting down work hours and denying days off.
Why it matters
Ageism is often overlooked by companies focusing more on fiscal performance than inner-company dynamics. Apart from having career implications, ageism is proven to have a negative impact on the well-being of senior employees.
Without proper training and readjustment, discriminated employees will feel demotivated, resulting in lower productivity and higher turnover. Ageism affects all members of a company, sending strong signals that senior staff members are not respected.
Often ageism begins with the hiring process. Every company has certain criteria when it comes to hiring, and managers tend to hire people with certain traits. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, giving an advantage to someone who appears overly enthusiastic, as opposed to a person with extensive experience, could be the difference between hiring the right talent and hiring poster children.
How to recognize ageism in your company
To the untrained eye, ageism might look like an abstract concept, or a problem others have. However, many cases of ageism – like other forms of discrimination – go unnoticed because the people involved, including witnesses, don’t report the incident for fear of repercussions.
Clear signs that will help you spot ageism in your company include:
- Training offered to younger employees only
- Promotions and pay raises not given to senior employees
- Career-benefiting assignments passed to younger employees
- Senior staffers not given conference passes or access to other network activities
- Opinions of senior employees easily dismissed
- Crude remarks made about age, work performance or even physical appearance
What you can do about ageism
Decision-makers can drive a positive change by collecting employee feedback and monitoring workplace climate via employee engagement tools, one-on-one meetings, or anonymous surveys. Collecting such data can pinpoint workplace imbalances.
HR managers can work with senior executives to introduce more inclusive work policies. Employees might not directly influence the workplace environment, but can make their voices heard.
Ageism is all too common, often hidden behind a company culture of stereotyping, which makes it difficult to spot. Many organizations, intentionally or not, ignore age discrimination to the detriment of their employees.
Changing the status quo in your company is impossible when you don’t recognize the problem. Once the issue has been identified, there are a number of steps you can take to change the work environment.
Talk about it
People are less likely to talk about ageism or other forms of discrimination if their boss is not open to the possibility. Encourage people to speak up, show that you’re willing to listen, and people will be more willing to talk about unfair treatment. Once a complaint has been made, you then have to take action. Demonstrating that you care deeply about the well-being of your employees will give them the confidence to come forward.
Invest in all employees
This is tricky. Many companies would say that they already have training programs. But are these programs inclusive toward all employees, or geared toward the younger ones? Offering resources, tools, and mentorship to all employees will increase their productivity, improve their skill set, and help them feel like part of the team.
Another thing to consider is implementing an internship program. Depending on your organization these could be either paid or unpaid and provide additional training, career support, and mentorship that senior employees might need to reignite their careers.
Promote equally
Retention is an issue for many companies. Employees choose to leave workplaces where they feel unappreciated, looked down upon, outright ignored, or harassed. Promotion should neither be made only on the basis of past achievements, nor be about pushing certain age groups over others.
What lies ahead
An issue faced by many countries today is a fast-aging population. Their workforces consist of fewer and fewer people. Subsequently, a higher need for qualified workers is created, and companies struggle to fill in-demand roles.
In the grand scheme of things, this workforce vacuum will eventually lead to reduced international competitiveness, higher labor costs, and declining productivity, among other issues.
Among the possible solutions is designing work policies around greater inclusivity, and including training and reskilling programs for older employees. Introducing more flexible work options and fair reward programs will likely increase the engagement and productivity of those whom these measures are intended for.
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