Age Discrimination Essay

Employees aged forty and above are cushioned from workplace discrimination on the basis of age, by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. This protection caters to those applying for a job as well as those already employed. Age discrimination is forbidden in any privilege, condition or term in the line of employment. In this paper, I will discuss the main issues in age discrimination, how this vice impacts the working environment and how it can be eliminated. Age discrimination is becoming rampant as reported by job seekers. Human resource managers distinguish their employees according to their generation namely baby movers generation, and generation Y. Baby movers are workers born within the year bracket of 1947 to 1964 whereas the generation Y was born between 1980 to late 2000. The generation Y workers have specific undesirable characteristics such as they are disloyal, they are seeking work in the life balance, they want to contribute to the society as part of their work and they value certain intrinsic elements such as money, status, recognition, and fame.

The baby boomers despite being old, inflexible, hard to train have stronger work ethics and are more reliable (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008). The choice of which age group to recruit mainly depends on the organization’s objectives and goals. The human resources department is left with a difficult task of recruiting, employing and training new workers to replace the seasoned workers. This takes a great deal of patience, time and money considering the learning pattern of an inexperienced or new employee. Despite that, older employees act as mentors to the upcoming workers. This creates the opportunity for the young workforce to learn from the expertise of the mature workforce. Additionally, old customers feel at ease at the service of their contemporaries rather than dealing with young employees. If this happens, the company’s productivity is bound to fail automatically.

The company will also lose the skills and potential of its employees to other rival companies. The company is bound to lose the knowledge of older employees as well as their extensive experience and a chance of molding an experienced leader in the years to come. Active age discrimination may go unnoticed by the employees, but when it comes to their knowledge, a poor perception of the business administration as well as a negative working environment will be created. The workers will be less focused on increasing the productivity and instead they will be improvising back up plans in case they are sacked. They also need flexibility in the work and less working hours as compared to the resting time. There are several signs of age discrimination. One would be frequent jokes about one’s age.

The administration or colleagues in the workplace tend to refer to the old worker as an "old lady," "old man," or "old fart" (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008). This is an indirect form of harassment or discrimination. Older workers may also be excluded from events and training within the company (Kunze et al. This may include special lunches, company tours, and business trips. This is a very open form of age discrimination. The hiring trends can depict this. One may notice that the new hires are recruited based on their youth and not their qualifications. The company can also avoid approaching layoffs based on pay or age. Just because an employee is nearing retirement does not mean they are eligible or prepared for a layoff. Even as it is for most cases, the highly compensated employees are the senior most workers partly because of their experience which comes with age.

The best policy, however, would be to embrace a workplace with a multigenerational workplace. This means appreciating all the workers, despite their age because they all contribute to the company’s success. Gaillard, M. When a “worker” becomes an “older worker” The effects of age-related social identity on attitudes towards retirement and work. Career Development International, 13(2), 168-185. Kunze, F. Boehm, S. What is Age Discrimination? Ask the Expert. Retrieved from https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=3acXRFoDZTQ&t=102s.