My Initial Thoughts

Recently I was asked to contribute an article on Ageism in the workplace, focusing on peoples ability to obtain roles as they get older. I myself am 67 years old and obviously have certain skill sets that are in demand. But not everybody has that luxury.

My first thoughts were what carries over from the social media, websites, television, is hey 60 is the new 40, 50 is now 35. Is this what is really going on in the workplace. As we all know TV, social media is not accurate view of life. When comes to hiring, making profits, it’s about real as it gets. However, is it really that simple in the workplace when you show up for a job interview. What is the reaction of the employer when see you are not in your 20’s or 30’s.

I Spent Some Time Researching

I spent time researching ageism in the workplace. Reading resources from the Federal Bureau of Statistics, university’s, anecdotal information from unions and various equal opportunity bodies around the country, indicates the contrary. Not much has changed in that there is the still the stereotyped view is if you are older, you are riddled with health concerns, you will be slow, and you have lost the ability to learn.

Now most of us know this is simply not true. The problem is employers do not want to take the risk of injury, meaning it will increase their workers compensation premiums (admittedly they are not cheap) and the time an employee needs to take off to recuperate. Yes there is a percentage of employees who slow down from 50, but not everybody, employees simply don’t want to find out.

Employers will put young applicants through in many cases a arduous process, why can’t this apply to older employees. Some may argue greater emphasis is placed on young employees due to promotion, long term potential. How applicable really is this when Federal Bureau of Statistics show the average person stays at a employer less than 4 years, down from 8 years 25 years ago.

Should Illness Be A Concern?

Then there’s the issue of illness, yes it true older employers can have increased underlining health issues. Employers do not want to be seen as discriminatory if they have dismiss a older, ill, or impaired employee. Or seen cutting their hours. However people are living longer and getting ill later in life. Employers should also not dismiss the years of experience, knowledge, business network and often solid work ethic that the older generation provides. Ageism in the workplace, bring the authomatic assumption of workplace issues.

Employment Concerns In 2022

One of the recent concerns in Australia is the current labour shortage caused by the border closures, lack of immigration, and no international students. There is no evidence that this has led to a greater uptake by employers of older employees. Even in the health sector the encouragement of doctors and nurses to return to work, by coming out of retirement to help with the hospital crisis caused by the pandemic has had very limited success, despite large financial incentives.

How do we fix all this? The government has tried with tax incentives with limited success. The problem is the workplace ageism culture that is embedded into our society. I don’t think there is any deliberate attempt by any group to do this.

Its The Whole Approach To Aging.

When we go to work we dream of retiring, one day I will be free, I won’t have to do this anymore. Standard society views have got us convinced we have to pay our house off, have lots of money in our superannuation and we can live life large in our later years. I had a real issue with a bank years ago that was running an advertisement on television about retiring (save your money with them of course). Here’s this guy he’s the best looking, fittest 70 year old you have ever seen, walking along the beach in retirement with a 40 year gorgeous female on his arm. It all feeds into unrealistic expectations.

Then we have the state governments that changed the workers compensation schemes about 30 years ago. The old schemes used to be a flat percentage of turnover was the cost of insuring the companies work force. It did not discriminate towards ill, injured or older employees, every employee had the same premiums paid for and it worked. Most companies saw no incentive to reduce injuries in the workplace. In all fairness to the government, the cost of the schemes were getting more unsustainable.

So the governments in their wisdom made the scheme incentive based, lower accidents, lower injuries, lower claims means lower premiums. What’s wrong with that you may say? It’s a logical step to improve workers health, safety and outcomes. But the incentive was introduced to lower the companies risk because it meant lower premiums. Hence don’t employ older workers, if you have redundancies let the older workers go first, because of the logic is they are at more risk of injury and they will cost you more.

Means Testing

The other consideration is the means test. What incentive have people have to work or to go back to work when any monies earnt may lead to a lower pension, or reduced payments?. I note with the current shortage of labor, the government has done nothing to reduce the tax burden or the reduce the means test to get older more experienced people back into the workplace. Lets be honest we are all incentive based creatures.

Final Thoughts of Ageism in the workplace

Experience and age should be celebrated, this should be reflected in our society. The moment you hear someone is a grandfather you automatically assume they are old. Yet there are many grandfathers at 40. Our societal prejudices need an overhaul. The concept of a productive working age needs to be dispelled. What’s wrong with a more inclusive society? Japan, China, others do it, so can we.

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