Hiring Older Workers Essay

Many employers view the old employers especially the baby boomers as too rigid, failing health, lack of enthusiasm, afraid of new technologies, do not want to learn new training (stuck in old ways), and expensive to keep. Many aged people are viewing job advertisements with pictures of younger employees. In addition, the aged are facing high cost of medical insurance and healthcare. With the obstacles in the job market, the aged could possibly experience social isolationism, low self-esteem, and financial hardship.

Age discrimination in the workforce is a major issue in Today’s society. Although this is hardly ever mentioned, it is a concern that affects the aging population and their work performance. Those who are of old age are often not given a chance and looked down on. They are thought of as being mentally and physically in decline, less adaptable, unwilling to be trained, and costly to the organization. The elderly are considered “slow workers.” They are often forced to work extra hard to prove to their employer, they are capable of working as effective as the young. Defining someone’s work performance according to their age is against the law. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) addresses discrimination against the older population. This Act was passed by congress to ensure people of age 40 and older are given fair judgment in the workforce; however, the maturing population of baby boomers has led to an increasing number of elderly workers. This has cause age discrimination to rise. It is important that we review and analyze age discrimination has a political issues that must be changed. Although ADEA sets out to help the aging population, changes should be made within the employer. In order to seek change, one must first understand ADEA and how it promotes fair treatment for the elderly.

And, age discrimination should not exist today. Why should it, does talent expire? However, I believe that age discrimination is everywhere. It might not be easy to recognize because "cultural fit" hides it, as we discussed in two weeks ago in class. Or, it is just two expensive for an individual to pursue legal action. As a hiring manager, it is interesting to me, why an employer is not looking for the best candidate. Recruiting is expensive. Recruiting is expensive and talent management is critical for success. As stated in Armstrong, "The fundamental aim of strategic HRM is to generate strategic capability by ensuring that the organization has the skilled, committed and well-motivated employees it needs to achieve sustained competitive advantage." [© Kogan Page - Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resource Management - http://app.kortext.com/read/95029/?page=39]. Therefore, I know that I want to hire an individual that is going to add value to my business unit. Based on my own personal hiring experiences, I have hired candidates that are right out of college to candidates on the other end of the spectrum, and this was their second, third or even out of retirement career. Although, the candidates right out of college were immediately successful there is definitely difference in their approaches to work. The older employees brought many things that I believe are intangibles to the team, which helped influence the younger folks too. I found that the older employees that I hired were exhibited key characteristics that I think any hiring business leader or manager would want on a team. The traits, to name a few

Currently, there are five main generations. Traditionalists are the oldest generation, being born between 1900 and 1945. They only constitute 5% of the current workforce, as most have retired (Wiedmer 2015, 51). The baby boomers are the oldest and largest generation currently in the workforce (Wong et al. 2008, 878). This generation was born following World War II between 1945 and 1964, with approximately 76 million individuals (Wiedmer 2015, 52). Generation X was born from 1965 to 1981 and is also known as the baby busters because their birth rates are vastly lower than the baby boomers (Wiedmer 2015, 53). Generation Y, or the millennials, was born between 1982 and 1995 and grew up in a very different time compared to their predecessors, with

Some negative examples of how people in the workforce perceive older adults in the workforce are that older workers produce lower quality work, inflexible, less productive and are resistant to change. Some employers believe older adult workers skills are dated or do not have the required set of competence needed. Giving training and continuing education opportunities as well as companies adapting these courses to those with less experience technically will help with ensuring that older adults continue to feel like a vital part of the business and keep working until they decide to

Ageism is surprisingly common in Australia, particularly within the workforce. The definition of ageism in working life according to Furunes and Mykletun (2009), is the “stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination against ageing workers, based on chronological age or age categories such as older worker or senior”. This phenomenon has seen older workers increasingly subjected to biases and discriminatory practices when seeking and maintaining employment. Hence, the importance for organisations to understand current and trending issues on age discrimination, in order to draft and implement, effective, and relevant policies. The purpose of this report is to provide an in-depth analysis on ageism as a diversity issue in the workplace and to recommend organisational policies that recognise older workers as a strategic advantage. This analysis will focus on literature relevant to the recruitment and development of older workers. To begin with, this report will consider the context of ageism in Australia providing a deeper understanding of the diversity issue. Furthermore, an extensive discussion on the positive and negative age stereotypes of older workers will follow. The report will then review literature regarding organisational practices towards recruitment and development from an age related perspective. Finally, recommendations will ensue, providing organisational best practise suggestions to create age positive recruitment and training experiences.

Age discrimination has long been present in society due to the rapid development happening around us. According to Farney, Aday & Breault (2006), this era of ageism is defined as "discrimination against any age group", but it often is pointed to age discrimination among adults which is slowly causing a negative effect for them in the workplace. In the workplace, adults with more experience and longer history behind them are targets of this ageism belief that companies and employers tend to have (Farney, Aday, & Breault, 2006). They are shunned and even fired in favor of accepting new and fresh faces for the company they have worked for. Unknown to most companies and employers, this notion of favoring the young and banishing the old can

Over the last few years there has been a growing concern over ageism in America’s places of business, not only through job advertisement, but also during the hiring process, among current employees, and even issues during the end of a person’s career. While there are many types of discrimination in the workplace, all of which are illegal, ageism is prevalent at every stage of a person’s career and can impact not only the employee or potential employee, but the whole company as wellcompany as a whole. Individuals who are over the age of sixty-five make up a large percent of the workforce, and many are dedicated to their employers, it’s when the employer believes that they can hire someone who is much young to do the work that ageism begins to play a role in their career. It isn’t till they companies see that it may take three younger employees to complete the task that of a senior employee.

On Tuesday, we discussed how ageism is impacting the workforces for many minorities who are trying to acquire a job. The conclusion based on the discussion was that workforces see minorities as novices and don’t trust them when it comes to making decisions. Two of the classmates even mentioned how they are assigned simple tasks at their workforce because their employer feels that they have less experience than other employees. My approach to this discussion is different since I started working in the sales retail field at the age of 16. Most employers I have worked with feel that older people are becoming slow and less attractive to consumers. Consumers rather see a young and intelligent employee assisting them over an older employee. This

In conclusion, ageism in today’s times is a real form of discrimination and needs to be fixed. An individual’s skills and capabilities should be based on a personal level, not their age. The elderly and the young need just as much job opportunities as the middle-aged individuals living in the

Age discrimination in employment is a complex issue which impacts many areas of Government policy and has many implications for individuals themselves. Age discrimination can occur across all spectrums of employment and can affect both young and old. Age discrimination can affect a person’s chances of getting a job, and potentially their chances of promotion or development within the workplace. Age can also be a factor when employers are deciding who should be selected during a workforce downsize or redundancy of work due to a mergers and acquisitions.

There has always been some “ism” that social movements have fought against throughout America’s history, and the issue of “ageism” was finally addressed in The Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Ageism can be defined as prejudiced beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors pertaining to older adults. To understand the ADEA fully, a brief history of age discrimination is useful to comprehend the Structural Level of this bill. Discrimination based on age was not a large issue until the beginning of the 20th century, mainly because it was a tacit form of discrimination. For the most part, people worked until they were at an age where they did not feel useful, and for the rest of their lives their families would take care of them. Industrialization

Aging! We all do it every day, but have you ever thought how it is going to affect the rest of your life or more importantly your career? Aging isn’t something that we get to choose if we participate in, however working is, and aging may affect that choice. Right now, I want you to think about the age of sixty-five. What words pop into your head when you think of someone sixty-five? I’d imagine some of the words you thought of were retired, old, fragile, slow, as well as many others. Those words right there all help to explain the many concerns that one’s employer may have when hiring someone that is of the older population. When we think of the older population in the work force we don’t necessarily think of positive things, instead we think of things. When we think of this population in the workforce we generally think of lower production rates and higher costs. These can create issues among the older population, as employers must consider all the possibilities when hiring someone. We know that more people in the older population are continuing to try to continue their careers, but why? How hard is it for them to continue? What changes have made it easier? How are the younger and middle aged populations perceiving them in the work place? This are only some of the many question surrounding the increase of aged workers.

GEN Y ( Also called as Millenials):Millennial have grown up with technology and are comfortable with change. They value skill development and enjoy the challenge of new opportunities. Millennial are able to multi task, they want the flexibility to work where and when they want so that they can pursue their outside interests.

Elderly people are often stereotyped as forgetful, weak, or unable to take care of themselves; keeping this in mind, how can you logically hire an elderly person to do a job that a young, more physically fit employee could undoubtedly perform with less risk and effort. Stereotypes such as these are playing a huge role in the controversy over mandatory retirement. Morgan