Age Discrimination - Research Paper Example

Age Discrimination Policy: An interview with HR manager Modern organizations heed voluntary concern to legal as well as ethical issues associated with Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). Although age discrimination/ compulsory retirement have become a hot button issue in many of the developed countries, several organizations cherish non-discrimination to be their major feature. Given below is the report of an interview with the HR manager of a midsize inventory marketing firm, Lords’ Exporters International. Q. Could you please explain your organization’s stance on age discrimination?

Our company in common follows the policy of maintaining diverse workforce in every area of its business operation. As our nation is multicultural in its democratic set up, the policy has both legal and ethical significance in HRM. From a social perspective, in order to maintain the socio-economic stability, we should allow people to work as long as they wish. Q. How do you think a diverse workforce would benefit your organization?It has been assumed that diverse workforce (ethnicity, culture, language, sex, and age) would avail potential individuals with a variety of talents who will also have experience and knowledge about wide rage of customers (Weightman, 2004, p.25). For example, we have hundreds of employees who are above the age of 65 still working zealously.

Moreover, it helps us save time and money to test and train new recruits. In fact, the older workers are the proven asset which can help employers in the long run. Moreover, retaining older staff would be a reasonable solution to the growing labor shortage. Q. Does the policy lead to conflict of interests? Obviously there are certain situations when age discrimination policy would lead to organizational crisis. However, the issue depends on the effectiveness of the HR strategy. For instance, the company should have well defined vision on individual goals and role assignment.

There are certain exceptional tasks in which youngsters can outsmart elders. Therefore, elders should not be assigned to services that require high physical and mental skills.Q. How do you maintain a fair policy toward employee retention? In the UK, According to the Default Retirement Age Act of 2006, employers can force workers to retire exactly at their age of 65 without paying any redundancy (BBC News). Although 65 had been considered as the common age for retirement in the United States, mandatory retirement was completely abolished since 1986 (Kerley, 2001, p.208). As mentioned earlier, we therefore, neither discriminate nor force workers to retire at their old age; instead, workers are given the privilege to choose their retirement. Q. Do you think age discrimination policy would be of any barrier to organizational development?

It would be a fallacy if we assume that young labors would perform better than the older workers. On the other hand, new candidates may not be always potential enough to align with the organization’s objectives. It means age is not the sole criterion to determine the potential of an employee. Q. How do older employees respond to organizational changes? Do you think they are more reluctant to accept changes?Regardless of age, employees tend to resist organizational change. How they respond depends on their personality, knowledge, outlook, experience, and many other factors.

Strategic and timely approach is the vital element at this juncture. Most of the cases of resistance to organizational change can be averted by providing the employees with right time information and training. ReferencesKerley, PN. (2001). Employment Law for the Paralegal. Cengage Learning.“UK Retirement Age Challenge Fails”. BBC News, updated 25 Sept. 2009, Retrieved 11 July, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8274328.stmWeightman. (2004). Managing People, Edn.2, CIPD Publishing.