Nearly one in four people (24 percent) believe employing someone over 50 is bad for business because they will be a slow worker and unable to adapt to change.
Research into perceptions of older employees found ageist beliefs like these were most prevalent among men, younger people and individuals with the highest educational qualifications. People with these negative perceptions are also the most likely to have hiring and management responsibility for workers in their 50s and 60s.
These were the main findings of a survey from the Age Without Limits campaign, commissioned by charity Centre for Ageing Better.
The survey found 22 percent of respondents thought it was a waste of resources to give on-the-job training to an employee over 50 because they thought they wouldn’t stay in the job long.
Almost a third (32 percent) of the public said that as people age they become less competent when using technology.
Carole Easton, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “The proportion of people who fail to see the value and benefits of employing people in their 50s and 60s is worryingly high, but sadly also not surprising.
“Our Age Without Limits campaign has previously highlighted the workplace as one of the most common situations in which people experience ageism.”
She said it was “dispiriting” that these attitudes persist when “older workers have such potential to tackle skills shortages, help businesses to thrive and grow our national economy”.
Bias against older workers
A breakdown of the survey results by gender and age revealed that men were most likely to say it’s bad for business to employ someone aged over 50 (27 percent), compared to 21 percent of women. While more than a quarter of men (26 percent) say it is a waste of resources to train staff over 50 compared to 18 percent of women.
Nearly two fifths of men (37 percent) believe that people become less competent with technology as they get older, compared to 27 percent of women.
Different age groups and generations also expressed a range of views about older workers.
People aged 18-24 were 12 times more likely than someone aged 65 and above to say employing an older worker made poor business sense (48 percent versus 4 percent). Younger people were also more likely than the over 65s to say that training older workers was pointless (36 percent versus 3 percent).
When asked about technological competency, almost half of 25-34-year-olds (46 percent) think that people become less competent as they age compared to one in five (22 percent) people aged 65 and above.
Ageism among most educated
Close to a third (31 percent) of people with level 4 qualifications, such as degrees and doctorates, say it does not make business sense to employ someone over 50 – almost twice the proportion of people with lower (level 3) qualifications (17 percent).
A similar percentage (29 percent) of people with a level 4 qualification or above said it is a waste of resources to train staff over 50, which is more than twice the percentage of people with a level 3 qualification (13 percent).
Easton said it was concerning that the prevalence of ageist attitudes is higher among people with the highest educational qualifications as these are the people most likely to make decisions around hiring, promoting and developing workers in their 50s and 60s.
She said: “Little wonder that older workers are less likely to receive in-work training, are more likely to be made redundant and experience greater difficulties finding work.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. By noticing and challenging ageism in the workplace, we can change employer attitudes to older workers and help everyone to fulfil their potential in later life.”
‘Wider than the workplace’
Danielle Barbereau, an Age Without Limits campaign supporter from Sheffield, said: “From my own experience, I’ve felt ageism in the workplace when I was made redundant from my senior management role and struggled to find a replacement role in the same sector. I was not the ‘right fit’ for similar jobs and ‘over-qualified’ for more junior roles. It left me feeling so frustrated that I decided to have a complete career change and I set up my own business, using my skills in a different way and now I am thriving.
“I also know that this is an issue that goes much wider than just the workplace. Ageism can happen anywhere in your life and in any interaction you might have with someone. And when you start noticing it, you start to see just how common it is and how it can impact the things you think and do. ”
Barbereau said she doesn’t want to be limited by people’s negative assumptions because of her age. “That is why the campaign from Age Without Limits is so important for us all to be a part of. Because, hopefully, we’ll all be old one day.”
Katherine Crawshaw, co-head of Age Without Limits campaign at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “Ageism in the workplace is a serious and widespread issue that is holding back older workers, employers and the economy. There are age discrimination protections in place but they provide support to just a small minority of the people impacted.
“But ageism goes much deeper into our society than just the workplace. The impact of ageism can be felt in many different ways, from being denied the healthcare treatment you need because of your age, to ageist comments you might hear that erode away at your self-confidence and sense of purpose.”
Crawshaw added: “We all have a role to play in noticing ageism in our own attitudes to ageing, and we all have a role to play in helping to challenge ageism we might see or hear in the workplace, in the café, in the pub, on social media or amongst our friends and family. Only by doing so can we hope to change society for the better and end ageism.”
