Older workers, sadly, you’re right
The Australian Human Rights Commission has recently released a report that sadly confirms the suspicions of many Ask Kate readers about age prejudice.
Called, Age discrimination – exposing the hidden barrier for mature age workers, the report is a compilation of research on mature age workers. MAWs are defined as those aged 45 and over.
The report paints a picture of exclusion, ill informed assumptions and even humiliation for older people in Australia including reluctance by employers to promote “mature age workers” or invest in them via training and development.
Older candidates are denied opportunities by employers that instruct recruitment firms to put forward only younger candidates and by interviewers too young to identify with them.
The majority of age discrimination complaints received by the AHRC in 2008-2009 were made by people aged over 45 and were related to employment. The Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination Elizabeth Broderick says ageism against older people “doesn’t just exist – it thrives.”
She told me Australia needs a social movement like the women’s movement to free us from our mindset that aging is something to fear and to fight.
The report claims it is “vital to national productivity that all people who want to work are able to do so to the maximum of their skills, abilities and aspirations regardless of age.”
I agree but I don’t blame young people for this problem but rather senior managers who see diversity and multi-generational workplaces as too much work to create.
