Life is full of mysteries.
Why is it that when talking to an employer about older workers they will site examples of mature aged employees currently working for them who are model employees, yet when those same employers recruit for a vacancy their preference is not to appoint a mature aged worker.
Why is it that when we see media coverage of people in their 70’s working in supermarkets, driving trucks and starting businesses we have a warm feeling and say “isn’t that great” yet continue to have a bias against older workers?
Why is it that regions facing skill shortages continue to focus on two dominant strategies, becoming more attractive as a place to live and youth employment when in their communities they have a third option, mature aged job seekers. People retiring, often prematurely, due to the lack of flexibility by their current employers who want to continue to contribute but maybe in different ways.
Why is it that we focus in an almost myopic way on youth unemployment when 53% of registered job seekers are over the age of 40? Did you know there are more registered job seekers aged 55-64 (26,950) than there are aged 18-24 (24,399)? Yet policy initiatives around mature aged employment are missing on New Zealand.
This recent media article makes the point.
“Uphill battle for older workers
But despite their significant contribution to New Zealand’s economic wellbeing, especially in terms of their experience, expertise, enthusiasm and energy, they are being put out to pasture by employers seemingly fixated on hiring much younger people. It’s not just confined to those aged 65 and over. Fifty-year-olds are also in the firing line, as many are finding out.”[i]
Age discrimination is alive and well. Just ask a mature aged job seeker. They will quickly tell you about the many jobs they have applied for and the feedback or lack of feedback they have received from employers and agencies. Do they believe what they are told?
American researcher Ofer Sharone, in a very insightful book Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences,[ii] talks about chemistry of job seeking and the internalisation of rejection. He discusses the impact of a “100 no’s” whereby job seekers come to believe the stereotypes about older workers even though they know they are not true. “I missed out of that job because I am over qualified.” The cognitive and emotional processes that take place results in them seeing themselves as somehow flawed. The longer-term impact being lowered self-esteem, demoralisation, self-doubt, depression and ultimately premature withdrawal from the labour market. “I have decided to take early retirement.” A sense of futility!
Like most forms of discrimination its manifestation is often subtle, generally sophisticated and most often denied. Although in one Australian survey ten percent of companies admitted to having a maximum age at which they would appoint, the average being 50. Those were the ones who admitted to the practice!
Older workers in one study described discrimination as not being allowed to do something that you are capable of or willing to do just because of your chronological age.[iii]
It is now fashionable to talk about unconscious bias and some enlightened employers are holding workshops to help managers become aware of their own biases. What has been called second-generation discrimination. Our ability to quickly categorise people is part of navigating everyday life, and a natural process we all engage in. Every day, we group people into categories based on social and other characteristics. We learn the “rules” and criteria early in life. The dominant social groups we belong to and the media reinforce them.
Discrimination, (conscious and unconscious) is the behaviour that treats people differently based on chronological age. When scanning a pile of job applications people are filtered out based on age related factors irrespective of their skills, experience and fit for the role. “They are over qualified, “their experience doesn’t fit”.
Wrong beliefs about age and work may mean that employers are not tapping into the full potential of their current mature aged employees. It may mean that recruiters are not sourcing the range of candidates that are available for a vacancy. Or if they are, mature aged candidates don’t make it past interview. It is important that we continue to challenge our beliefs about age.
Your next worker could be a mature aged person. Talent is ageless.
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[i] Inside story: Uphill battle for older workers By Rod Vaughan – Bay of Plenty Times Tuesday Sept 8, 2015
[ii] Ofer Sharone, 2014 Flawed System/Flawed Self: Job Searching and Unemployment Experiences, University of Chicago Press,
[iii] Carmichael, C. Hulme, Porcellato, Ingham and Prashar, 2011: Ageism and age discrimination: the experiences and perceptions of older employees. In Managing an Age Diverse Workforce, Parry and Tyson (eds), Palgrave Macmillan.