Have you been a victim of age discrimination? Or, maybe you’ve spotted some dodgy goings on in your workplace against someone else? Perhaps you’ve even had to go as far as to seek help through age discrimination claims?
If you’re a young business owner looking to hire bright sparks, you might naturally gravitate away from older candidates. But, maybe thinking about recruiting some older faces could have many benefits! Whatever your situation, learning about age discrimination, so you can recognise and avoid it, is crucial.
To learn more about age discrimination, some examples of it, and how to avoid it, you came to the right place. With these pros and cons on hiring the older generation, you can make more informed choices along the way.
What is Age Discrimination?
Age discrimination, or ageism, is the act of being prejudiced against somebody in your workforce based on their age. Whether you’re old or young, you can be discriminated against. Usually, this will come in the form underestimation; being judged on your ability based on your date of birth.
What Are Examples of Age Discrimination?
Unfortunately, age discrimination cases UK are pretty common. Some real life examples of age discrimination in the UK could include:
- Not hiring somebody based on their age;
- Treating an older worker differently to a younger worker;
- Not paying a worker based on their ability but, instead, on their age;
- Advertising a job to be part of a “young team”;
- Not employing someone younger due to the idea that they’ll move to another job quickly;
- Forcing somebody to retire, based on their age;
- Making someone redundant based on their age;
- Not interviewing somebody based on the fact that they might not “fit in”;
- Insulting someone based on their age;
- Being overlooked for more challenging tasks due to your age;
- Or, being turned down for a promotion because you’re “too young”.
This list is, by no means, exhaustive. We could really go on and on, but these are just some clear examples of when age discrimination may be prevalent. Seen any of these examples before?
Is Age Discrimination Illegal in the UK?
As you can see from the age discrimination examples above, ageism can not only cause upset. It can even cause people to lose, or not even be considered for, a job.
So, the simple answer is yes – age discrimination, under the Age Discrimination Act, is illegal. The Equality Act 2010 recognises age as one of the key ways people could be discriminated against, alongside gender, race, disabilities, and religion. If you think you’re being discriminated against, based on any of these factors, you would be liable to make a claim.
Why Does Our Society Hate Older People?
Modern society is practically trained to dislike age. Not only do our media outlets glorify youth, and remaining young forever, they also claim that younger people are smarter!
This may be true to some extent, but only in the current world we live in today. Having grown up in a world of technology, the younger millennials and Gen-Z-ers are coming into the workplace with a technological ease that our Boomers and Gen-X-ers usually don’t have.
That said, in the grand scheme of things, by no means does this make younger people smarter. There is nothing to prove that learning new things is off the market for older candidates, so why do we perpetuate this myth?
Well, we think this needs to stop. Older candidates still have a lot to give, so why limit the hiring process?
Why Should we Hire Older Candidates?
Depending on the type of business you run, hiring an older candidate could be a great thing. Of course, if they’ve been in the business for years and years, they may really know their stuff. That said, older people may have a habit of being stuck in their ways, so they may be less impressionable than younger people.
Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter what anyone says, but our population is growing older by the minute. Yes, workplaces are consistently being inundated with new talent and fresh faces but, at the same time, people are remaining in work longer than ever before. This comes down to a number of reasons, including:
- Being unable to retire due to the economic climate;
- Lack of confidence in their retirement plan;
- They think they’ll get bored in retirement;
- And actually just enjoying going to work.
Whatever the reason, less people are leaving work at the retirement age of 65. In fact, many people are remaining in work until their 80s!
How Coronavirus is Changing Everything…
We can’t forget that, right now, many workers are being made redundant; being pushed out of jobs they may have had for decades. This means that people, old and young, will be looking for work when the economic climate returns to normal.
Soon, people will be hunting for new jobs left, right and centre, and you’ll have to make some big decisions about who would suit your office the best! You may feel it’s natural to gravitate towards the younger people, but what makes older people such great candidates?
Benefits of Hiring Older Candidates
- They have a whole life’s worth of experience that they can bring to the table.
- They have years of social experience, which could fair well with clients.
- People over 40 make more successful entrepreneurs.
- They don’t have the need to prove themselves, like the younger generations, and are happy to simply get on with the task at hand.
- They help provide cognitive diversity within the workforce.
- Older workers are more likely to stay in the job than younger people.
- Can help to mentor younger employees.
- They are able to take on part-time work, which could benefit you if this is something you require.
- Older employees usually have a very strong work ethic, so are seriously committed to what they do.
- They may have a long-standing list of networking contacts from decades in the workforce.
- They value honesty, and could provide more maturity in certain situations.
- They are likely to be punctual.
Drawbacks of Hiring Older Candidates
- They may be stuck in their ways.
- They may feel patronised when being managed by a younger person.
- They may struggle to utilise the technology and interfaces at their fingertips.
- They may take a little longer to do things, especially if it’s technology based.
- They may not wish to socialise with the team as much as the young candidates, which could decrease general team morale.
- They might not learn as quickly as a fresh face.
- They’re not as impressionable as someone younger, so may be unable to pick up workplace habits as quickly.
- They may require a much higher salary, especially if they have many years of experience up their sleeves.
- They, most likely, won’t want to fill the “less important” jobs.
- They may be over-qualified.
- They may be more likely to fall ill and require time off.
How to Successfully Integrate Older Candidates into the Workforce
So, with all this in mind, it’s clear that we have a big problem, which there really isn’t any need for. Why steer away from the right talent just because of their age? To tackle these issues, some of the ways you can help to integrate older candidates into the workforce could include:
- Don’t pay by age, pay by experience and ability.
- Hire a range of ages, from all decades of life, into each team in your office to promote age diversity, and improve team performance.
- Give older people senior titles, so they can mentor younger workers from their years of expertise.
- Provide flexible working, so you can accommodate for those who have come out of retirement, or want to go into it.
- Create more accessible workstations, for example, set up the screen with larger fonts, and provide wrist supports etc. where necessary.
- Provide training for areas where older candidates may be less apt, for example, technology-based training.
- Teach recruiters to remove age discrimination from their minds; as we’ve seen, it’s ingrained in our society, and training should help to change that.
- Encourage younger people in the team to share their knowledge with the older generations too.
Is a Middle-Ground the Best Choice?
As we’ve seen, age discrimination can occur in a number of ways, and is perhaps more common than we might initially think. What’s more, it doesn’t matter what age you are; old or young, you can be victim to this prejudice.
Ultimately, it’s clear that there are pros and cons to hiring someone older. Clearly, the benefits of hiring a range of ages within your workforce can’t be overstated. After all, we can all learn something from one another, no matter how old we are!
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