by Hayley O’Keeffe @HayleyOKeeffe92
The Working Late project funded by the New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) Programme aims to investigate the practice and policy issues associated with working later on in life. The project was initiated in response to the growing number of people required to work for longer due to changes in state pension ages and the abolition of the default retirement age. It aims to understand how best to promote healthy ageing and quality of working life across the life course.
The video highlights some of the issues many
older people are facing today within the labour market, either trying to remain
or become employed. The employee talks about the recruitment process within the
company he works for and gives an insight into his and the company’s attitudes
towards older workers. The employee immediately makes clear that he perceives
that there is a “required” or “suitable” age, between 25-35 years, for his job
and jobs like it, implying that those outside of this age range are deemed
‘unsuitable’. Making assumptions about a persons’ ability to do a job based on their
age or the age group they belong to can lead to age discrimination. Age
discrimination is any prejudicial treatment or denial of rights based on age. The employee even acknowledges that these
practices are wide-spread, stating that people generally “are just discriminating”
when it comes to employment. Throughout the interview, this perception that
‘everyone’s doing it’ is used to justify his age-based assumptions and ageist
practices.
Although the employee acknowledges age
discrimination is wide-spread, he also realises that to appear ageist is
undesirable. For instance, he maintains that he and his company are not ageist.
The employee goes on to reveal the many different tactical and strategic ways
that the company can avoid having to interview and select older candidates. For
instance, he states that the company posts their job advertisements on graduate
websites or LinkedIn (a website primarily used by graduates looking for
employment). This is indirect ageism because it immediately disadvantages some
age groups by making the position inaccessible to those who are not graduates,
which disadvantages older workers.
Stereotypes are a central component of
prejudice and discrimination. Stereotypes are widely help assumptions about a
person based on the group they belong to. This video sheds some light on common
misconceptions of ‘older’ workers beyond 35 years. Firstly, the employee even
uses the term “elderly” to describe those above the age of 35. By describing
people above 35 in such a way, the employee is assigning stereotypes about the
elderly to much younger people. This “elderly” age group is categorised as
“unwilling to learn”, this is one of the most common and well-evidenced
misconceptions about ‘older’ workers that disadvantage them against younger
workers.
In sum, the interviewee in this video is an
example of someone who despite claiming “I’m not being ageist” holds
stereotypes about certain age groups, which informs his evaluation of people’s
ability to do his job. This video
demonstrates how age-based assumptions are made and how they disadvantage older
workers. It provides evidence that some jobs and professions have a perceived
‘correct age’. It uncovers covert ageist processes in recruitment which
disadvantage older workers and potentially lead to inequality. This video demonstrates
that ageism is unfortunately still deemed ‘acceptable’ in society. Despite
anti-discriminatory laws, the Working Late project shows that ageism is still
occurring both directly and indirectly in the work place. More needs to be done
to tackle the issues of ageism in order to provide truly equal opportunities
for all.
If you have experienced ageism then tell us all about it!
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