Youth over Age

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.

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

This is perhaps the most important advice a veteran professional can take. Many employers adhere to the stereotype that older job seekers are likely to possess an antiquated skill set, especially with regard to technology.

Each generation has developed a set of values and postures that are different from one another. Organizational settings should understand these generational differences in order to be more effective in leading a multigenerational workforce (Al-Asfour & Lettau, 2014). Leadership Training on the Generational Gap & Age Discrimination solutions are an important issue concerning creating a training programs to combat age gap problems in the workplaces. This might help to lower discrimination violations and complaints in the workplace and to the Human Rights Commission. Society in America has become much large in age gaps in labor this is not myths, but a mere reality that needs plans for solutions.

Tech companies are inclined to hire younger people, while discriminating against older ones. These actions create a biased and prejudiced environment. The author summarizes his point by stating, “There is certainly nothing wrong with celebrating or nurturing the success of the young and talented. But it is a problem if what is accepted as the only viable pathway to success is exclusionary.” (65)

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

The first and foremost point to be taken into consideration is that, the older an employee is, the more his experience is, and the experience is a crucial factor that determines the growth of an organisation. Newbees surely have a better hand when it comes to technology but that does not imply that older people should be overlooked in terms of their experience along with the learning they have.

The stereotype regarding shorter tenure of older workers is based on the assumption that older workers will spend less time in the workforce. Companies are more hesitant to hire them because the costs of training will not outweigh the long term benefits and will put the company at an economic disadvantage (Hedge, Borman, & Lammlein, 2006). Younger workers are predicted to stay with companies for a longer period of time providing a more

There is a controversial issue regarding ageism in older workers and youth employment. I believe this claim evenly has the pros and cons to both sides. Some people’s perspective is that the older employees are taking jobs from the younger workers, but this is not always the case. (statistic quote). Even though there is a law which forbids age discrimination, it is still happening today. Yes, it is true that the job market is more competitive that before, but this is due to a numerous amount of reasons. One of the biggest reasons as to why were younger workers have more of an opportunity to get hired is that in this day and age, everything is about technology. Most of the older workers are not technology savy, therefore, this enables younger

Preceding few decades have witnessed an unprecedented surge in the cases of biasing in the workplace due to age discrimination.Despite the fact that criticizers contend that younger as well as dynamic people should be preferred over the older employees,I have the firm belief that any bias or prejudice regard to age,sex and religion should be made illegitimate.A thorough analysis of the subject matter will aid us to scrutinize all the aspects comprehensively.

Stereotypes about older people are a bound in our culture, but employers are not allowed to indulge in them when making workplace decisions. Manifestations of age discrimination can be subtle or blatant. Typical actions might include refusing to hire or promote older workers, curtailing their employee benefits, limiting their training opportunities or limiting their job responsibilities and duties. Older workers may be targeted in reductions of the work force; they may be encouraged to retire. Exit incentive programs may deny valuable additional benefits to an older worker and early retirement incentives may pressure older workers to retire prematurely. Incentive benefits may be reduced for people who continue working beyond “normal”

Aging population can be used as an advantage to increase economic rates growth by keeping them employed as long as possible (Nankervis et al. 2006, p.55). People who are working in a knowledge fields may increase their performance with age, however for more physical positions there is an opposite possibility of low performance with increasing age (Patrickson & Ranzijn, 2006). Consequently, specific jobs may have lack of professional employees. For example by separating workers and using older workers as experience type that can teach and train young employees, as well as use their knowledge will benefit organization in different departments. Also by using younger workers as routine workers or in more physical positions that are hard to perform for older employees will give them opportunity to earn more experience and will keep older employees working as well (Patrickson & Ranzijn, 2006). It is necessary for human resources to distribute their workforce accordingly and to provide required training for their young and old employees.

“Age stereotypes are beliefs and expectations about workers based on their age”(Posthuma & Campion, 2009, p.160).Stereotypical beliefs held by employee and customer leading to a rise in age discrimination on older workers. As a result, they are disadvantaged in competing with younger workers for career development opportunities. For unemployed older workers, disadvantage is indicated as longer unemployment duration, fewer job-offers, and lower wage expectations. For employed one, disadvantage is indicated as a relative low opportunities for promotion and for training offered by their employers (Ho et al.,

The workforce in most workplaces is now made up of up to four generational cohorts. The diversity between these generations, in how they work and how they use technology, can create conflict, and in some cases reduce productivity. Conflicts caused by the generational gaps are due to differences in work ethics, habits, and styles, attitudes, and expectations. Most of these changes have developed due to the changing technology each generation works with. The newer generations are more experienced and reliant on technology, while older generations will prefer to not use technology in the same ways. This forces the employers to find some way to help the generations work together more effectively.