Age discrimination in workplace - Essay Example

? Age Discrimination in workplace Age Discrimination In Workplace According to Gregory (2001), “Employers commonly make decisions affecting older workers that assume these workers are no longer capable of performing adequately” (Gregory, 2001, p.4) Age discrimination is one of the major problems in the organizational world nowadays. Organizational principles and work culture are changing rapidly as time goes on and modern organizations are interested in keeping a younger workforce to keep the organization fresh and younger all the time. It is widely assumed that younger generation may bring newer ideas and hence and younger workforce may enhance the competitive power of an organization. At the same time, avoidance of experienced workforce is suicidal for an organization. It is better to keep a balanced workforce in organizations which includes both younger and experienced employees. However, many organizations have the habit of avoiding the interests and needs of older employees while they give more importance to the needs and demands of the younger ones. In short, age based discrimination is not a myth but a reality in organizations. According to Torrington et al. (2011), “Human resource management (HRM) is the basis of all management activity”(Torrington et al., 2011, p.4). Human resource management or HRM is responsible for age discriminations in organizations. Recruitment, retention, training and development, allocation of jobs, deciding promotions, dispersing remuneration and incentives etc are some of the major human resource functions. Putting the right person at the right place at the right time is a major HRM function. HRM adopts several strategies to identify the right person for a particular job. Age is often a criterion while HRM decides about the recruitment of a candidate to a particular position. The topic age discrimination at workplace attracted me a lot because of the ethical dimensions involved in it. It is unethical to avoid, neglect or discriminate a person because of his age even if he had served admirably in the past for the organization. My father is a victim of age discrimination in current organizations. Even though my father worked hard and brought so many advantages to his organization, a fresh candidate with less qualification was appointed as a manager on top of him. Because of this humiliation, he was forced to resign from his organization even though he had a lengthy service with that organization. He discussed some of his bitter experiences with that organization. He has point out that his organization treated him differently while he was young and old. In short, his bitter experience motivated me to research this topic or the age discrimination at workplace more deeply to get more insights about the topic. This paper analyses the various aspects of age discrimination at workplace. HRM & Age Discrimination at Workplace Recent research has highlighted a so-called "prime building block" of HRM – the principle of "AMO". There must be sufficient employees with the necessary ABILITY (skills, knowledge and experience) to do the job; there must be adequate MOTIVATION for them to apply their abilities; and there must be the OPPORTUNITY for them to engage in "discretionary behavior" – to make choices about how their job is done (Buchan, 2004, p.3). From the above findings, it is evident that experience plays a vital role in the success of organizations. No organization can develop properly with the help of fresh employees alone. Same way, it is difficult for the organizations to remain competitive if it keeps only experienced employees. A mixed bag of fresh and experienced employees may serve better for an organization. Careful blending of youth and experienced employees may help an organization to develop new ideas and introduce it successfully in the market. Younger generation is capable of bringing new ideas. But these new ideas require the fine tuning from the experienced employees before an organization introduce it successfully in the market. In short, the services of the experienced employees are always instrumental in the development of an organization. However, many of the modern organizations seem to be underestimating the contributions of experienced employees. “Direct discrimination happens when an employer treats an employee less favorably than someone else” (Directgov, n.d.). Majority of the organizations have the habit of firing older employees for silly reasons. At the time of promotion, experienced employees are often been neglected. It is a fact that a person delivers more during his younger age. This is because of the exuberance of youth. It is impossible for an employee to maintain same standards throughout his professional life. Aging is a biological process which decreases physical as well as mental health as time goes on. Organizations rate an employee based on his productivity and efficiency rather than sentiments. Since majority of the organizations function in a mechanical way, humanitarian considerations may not have much role in its decision making. In other words, modern organizations function truly in a professional manner. They value efficiency above all and previous track records or contributions from the employees may not affect the decision making of organizations at present. In short, modern organizations take decisions strictly based on present abilities and skills of the employees. Thus older employees or experienced employees may not get fair treatment in organizations even if they contributed heavily to the organization in the past. Nelson (2004) pointed out that “In the workplace, older people are perceived as less competent in job performances –related tasks than in interpersonal ones. Incidentally researchers failed to demonstrate any actual relationship between age and job performance (Nelson, 2004, p.11-12). Some age related prejudices, biases and superstitions are prevailing in the modern organizational world. Fresh or younger employees often get preferences in organizations because of the perception that their capabilities and knowledge level are more than that of the older employees. It is a fact that knowledge is bursting out from all corners and the younger generation is getting more access to it. It should be noted that younger generation are capable of handling modern technologies with ease compared to the older generation. For example, a younger person may handle computers like modern equipment with lot of ease whereas older generation may struggle to do it. This is because of the better exposure younger generation is getting into the technological world compared to the older generation. Because of these facts organizations do believe that younger generation may have more work potentials than the older generation. The above perceptions are not always right. There are plenty of cases in which older generation perform better than the younger generation even in the jobs related to modern technologies. It should be noted that the attitude of the younger and older generation towards their jobs is entirely different. Older generation is willing to do hard work whereas younger generation looks for shortcuts in most of the times. As Nelson indicated, research studies failed to establish any relationship between age and job performance. In short, the belief that younger generation perform better than older generation is a myth most of the times rather than a fact. Age closes doors. It severely limits the range of employment options available to the older workers. An older worker may reach the highest point in her career and feels she has more to offer to her employer than at any previous time in her life and yet find that her age presents a formidable barrier to any further advancement (Gregory, 2001, p.5-6). Psychologically, it is difficult for an employee to work under another employee who is junior to him. The frustrations of the employees will be doubled if the manager happens to be a junior employee who worked with them in the past. In such cases, the employees know the merits and demerits of the promoted junior employee better than the organization. They may feel that the organization is not honouring their contributions even though they are working hard. In such cases, the dejected employees may either resign from the organization or reduce their performances or productivity deliberately. In short, age discrimination may affect the organization drastically in all probabilities. It should be noted that unsatisfied employees and employee dropouts are not good signs for modern organizations. According to Dobrich et al. (2002), “There is no age in the workplace. The perception of old depends on the nature of the job” (Dobrich et al., 2002, p.144). It is difficult to label an organization as old or modern based on the average age of the employees. The activities of the organization decide whether it is modern or old. Imagine an organization which was established in recent times and use typewriters for making documents. This organization cannot be labelled as modern even though it was established in recent times and employs younger workers. On the other hand, an organization which was established in the nineteenth century can be still considered as a modern organization if it adopts modern technologies for its day to day activities and employs experienced or older employees. In short, employee age is not a criterion in deciding whether an organization is older or younger. According to Paauwe & Boselie (2005), “the main objectives of 'strategic' HRM are to identify and recruit strong performers, provide them with the abilities and confidence to work effectively, monitor their progress towards the required performance targets, and reward staff well” (Paauwe & Boselie, 2005, p.69). The above facts clearly suggest that instead of age, performance of the employees should be valued by an organization. In other words, if an old employee performs better than a younger one, he should be promoted or rewarded irrespective of his age. Discrimination or stereotyping against the aged people is not only seen in the professional world but also in the society as well. In fact ageism is a recently evolved term which represents age related discrimination in the society. Ageism involves certain prejudices with respect to the views, opinions and functioning of old people. Modern generation is unwilling to accept traditional life principles. They often go after modern life principles and fell in trouble. The above fact is true in the case of organizational world also. It should be noted that experience is the most important learning. Recent developments have shown that age discrimination is a result of the economic factors that companies face. As economic downturns lead to cutbacks and layoffs, pervasive age-based stereotypes and perceptions may still play a significant role in limiting employment of older adults. This shows that a poorer economy will lead to the increased possibility for age discrimination in the workplace. The reason for this is because employers will prefer to give open positions to younger employees who have lower costs, thus cutting back on salary expenses and increasing the bottom line in poor economic times (Choi et al., 2011, p.65). Companies are looking for every option for the cutting of overhead expenses to stay in a heavily competitive market. Recent recession has added to the woes of the organizations. Experienced employees are comparatively highly paid workers and hence reduction of the number of experienced employees helps an organization to reduce its expenditure. It should be noted that fresh or younger employees normally may not ask for higher salaries since they wanted to establish themselves initially to bargain later. When experience of an employee increases, the organization forced to pay higher salaries even if the employee does not bring any additional benefits to the organization. At the same time, many organizations have the belief that the works done by an experienced employee can be replicated by a younger employee. Thus modern organizations are always on the lookout for younger employees. According to Krings et al., (2011), “Older candidates were discriminated against, even if the job primarily required warmth-related qualities, and independently of evaluators' own age or professional experience in human resources. Moreover, age bias was mediated by competence-related stereotypical inferences” (Krings et al., 2011, p.187). Older workers normally are reluctant to undertake risks whereas younger workers are ready to undertake risks because of the exuberance of youth. Risk taking attitude is a must for modern organizations to survive in the heavily competitive market. Do or die situations are prevailing in the market at present and organizations are looking for people who are ready to work in such situations. However, aged or experienced employees may not be ready to undertake risks. Experienced workers are believed to be ideal for top positions in organizations. However, the number of top positions is less compared to the bottom positions. It should be noted that the actual work or the physical work is normally executed at the bottom level whereas at the top level, only the planning and controlling like organizational functions are undertaken. Physical work is important for the organizations to increase its productivity. In short, younger workers at the bottom level increase the productivity whereas aged workers at the bottom level may reduce the productivity of an organization. These perceptions are often motivating the organizations to inject only youths at the bottom level. Edwards (2011) formulated a checklist of sorts to identify issues associated with older workers. 1. Rigid and stuck in their ways. 2. Poor or failing health. Medical issues impact attendance and productivity. 3. Afraid of new technologies. 4. Slower to learn new concepts. Slow to change. 5. Years of highly developed opinions; unwillingness to hear new ideas. 6. Expensive. They demand higher wages. 7. Poor investment because they won’t be staying with the company for long enough to get a return on investment with their training. 8. Physically slow moving. Low energy. Unable to sustain long hours if required. 9. Risk adverse (Edwards, 2011) From the above checklist, it is evident that the major issue is not age but attitude and circumstances. In other words, the attitude and circumstances of experienced workers are different than that of the fresh employees. For example, fresh employees could be bachelors and they may not have many things to worry or look after. On the other hand, experienced workers may have lot of family and social commitments along with their professional commitments. They should look after their families and children. So, it is difficult for them to concentrate fully on their jobs. On the other hand, bachelor or youth workers do not have such worries. They may concentrate more on their work and the organization might get benefit out of it. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) was passed by Congress to make it unlawful for an employer to base employment decisions on a worker’s age. It was designed to combat ageism based on unfounded stereotypes about the diminished abilities of older individuals by forcing employers to judge older workers on their merits, not age-based myths, prejudices or stereotypes. The ADEA covers workers age 40 and older. The ADEA was amended by Older Workers’ Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) in 1990 and 1998 to give workers increased protection (McRae, n.d., p.2). Aging is a biological process which cannot be avoided under any circumstances. All living things should pass through different stages of their life. It is impossible for living things to sustain same physical and mental health all the time. Based on increase in age of the workers, maturity, attitude, physical and mental health etc will be changed drastically. These parameters can definitely affect the efficiency and productivity of the workers. Conclusions Aging related stereotyping is common in workplaces. Modern organizations are more interested in appointing fresh workers and eliminating experienced workers. This is because of the perception that aging reduces the efficiency, competence and productivity of workers. Many organizations have the belief that experience is necessary only for the top positions and at the bottom level instead of experience, youthful energy is required. These organizations believe that aged workers often send wrong signals whereas younger workers may send the right signals about the company. It is impossible for an organization to excel in the market with the help of youth workers or experienced workers alone. In fact, a mixed bag of workers, with youth and experience are ideal for organizations. Youths definitely have the edge over aged workers as far as productivity and efficiency are concerned. However, they lack the much needed maturity in their profession. The new ideas and innovations brought by the youths need a fine tuning from the hands of the experienced ones before an organization implements it successfully. Only matured or aged workers will be able to act properly or take proper decisions when the organization faces troubles. In short, stereotyping against aged workers is not good either for the organization or for the workers. Youth and Experienced workers are equally important for organizations. References Buchan J. (2004). What difference does ("good") HRM make?. Human Resources for Health 2004, 2:6. EBSCOHost. Choi, V., Kleiner, K and Kleiner, B. (2011). New Developments Concerning Age Discrimination In The Workplace. Franklin Business & Law Journal. Volume 2011 Issue 1 Directgov (n.d.) Discrimination in the workplace, Retrieved from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ResolvingWorkplaceDisputes/DiscriminationAtWork/DG_10026557 Dobrich , W., Wanda Dobrich (Author) › Visit Amazon's Wanda Dobrich Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Dranoff, S. & Maatman, G. (2002) The Manager's Guide to Preventing a Hostile Work Environment : How to Avoid Legal Threats by Protecting Your Workplace from Harassment Based on Sex, Race, Age... Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 25, 2002) Edwards S. (2011). Age Discrimination in The Workplace: Is It Ageism Or Your Attitude? Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2011/03/02/age-discrimination-in-the-workplace-is-it-ageism-or-your-attitude/ Gregory, R. (2001). Age Discrimination in the American Workplace: Old at a Young Age Publisher: Rutgers University Press (February 1, 2001) Krings, F. Sczesny, S & Kluge, A. (2011). Stereotypical Inferences as Mediators of Age Discrimination: The Role of Competence and Warmth. British Journal of Management. Jun2011, Vol. 22 Issue 2, p187-201. McRae, S. (n.d.) Age Discrimination in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://students.washington.edu/aliss/silverfish/archive/april2003/mcrae.pdf Nelson T.D. (2004). Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice against Older Persons. Publisher: A Bradford Book (August 20, 2004) Paauwe J & Boselie P. (2005). HRM and performance: what next? Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 15, no 4, pages 68-83 Torrington, D., Hall L., Taylor, S. & Dr. Atkinson C. (2011). Human Resource Management. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 8 edition (6 Jan 2011). Read More