CHAPTER 3:

AGE ISSUE IN WORKPLACE

Introduction
An organization comprises an array of individuals with
differences in age. This is common for established or the
said “mature” organizations that boast their long-term
existence to a combination of both young and old workers.
Employees themselves go through a stage of their existence
on entering the marketplace young, maturing over the years
through work and experience and eventually retiring as they
enter old age.
• A few issues immediately come to the mind when one speaks of
age as a diversity component What is the general perception
that we have of an aged worker? Just think of somebody getting
old, having more wrinkles on the face, grey-haired and likely to
be in poorer health than his younger counterparts
• The second issue might come from
change and innovation. Evidently,
young workers fall in the better side on
being dynamic, innovative, forward-
looking and open to change while this
might look less possible for the older
worker.
• Next comes the question of
recruitment. In a situation of high
unemployment, younger workers
are given better chances to come
back to work compared with the
older ones.
• The issue of age discrimination can
also affect promotion in
organizations. If the Fist In, First Out
(FIFO) concept is widely applied
 Integrating Family life cycle with work
Traditionally FLC can be synthesized into five basic stages through
which families passed; it comprised stages, starting from:
Stage I: Bachelorhood: Young single adult (male/female) living apart
from parents and into a livelihood.
Stage II: Honeymooners: Young married couple.
Stage III: Parenthood: Married couple with at least one child living with
them at home.
Stage IV: Post-parenthood: An older married couple with no children
living at home. Children have left home for studies or for employment.
• Stage V: Dissolution: One surviving spouse.
 Young employees in diversity
Young firms disproportionately employ young workers, controlling
for firm size, industry, geography and time. The same positive
correlation between young firms and young employees holds when
we look just at new hires. According to Quimet and Zarutskie
(2013), young employees in young firms earn on average higher
wages than young employees in older firms. Further, young
employees disproportionately join young firms with greater
innovation potential and that exhibit higher growth, conditional on
survival. These facts are consistent with the argument that the
skills, risk tolerance, and career dynamics of young workers are
contributing factors to their disproportionate share of employment in
young firms.
 The Middle-Aged Worker in diversity
Another important component is the middle-aged worker which
can comprise a substantial part of the company. Express UK
(2015) claims that by 2020 it is estimated that up to a third of the
nation's workforce will be 50 or older so the more skilled they are
the better it will be for Britain's economy. According to MetLife 63
per cent of adults aged 50 or over say they are considering
retraining so they can carry on working well into what was
previously retirement age. For many this is because of the financial
implications of giving up work but others want the stimulation of
employment, the company of colleagues or 'a sense of purpose'
said MetLife.
 The Old worker in diversity
A third category of worker is the old worker. A research paper from
EEO Trust (2008) comments that employers define "older" in a
range of ways. The most typical definition is "55 years and over".
However, this varies in different sectors. In sectors where there are
heavy physical demands, it is more likely that they are thinking of
workers aged 50 and over. In high-earning professions, where
significant numbers of people are choosing to step away from their
full-time jobs in their fifties, fifty also is seen as a benchmark for
categorizing older workers. Some organizations think about 'older'
as people in the last five to ten years of their paid employment.
Discrimination against old workers

Age discrimination in employment removes or restricts the

individual’s freedom to exercise his right to work.
Discriminatory measures can oblige workers at a set age to
leave work early, or exclude them from applying for Jobs or
from training and employment promotion schemes after a
certain age. Older workers are broadly defined as those
aged over 50. Discrimination starts at different ages.
Two types of discrimination can be identified:
Direct discrimination measures targeted at older workers
based solely on grounds of age, and on no other factors, such
as abilities or health. These measures use specific age limits to
exclude older workers from, for example, training and
employment schemes, or from applying for jobs.
Indirect discrimination measures which are not directly age-
specific, but which have a disproportionately negative impact
on older workers, compared with other age groups. This
hidden discrimination usually has the most widespread
negative impact on older workers in employment.
 The Value of Old Workers
James (2013) explains that it is first essential to dispel the myth
that senior citizens are just too old for the workplace. Today
workers, for the most part, do not retire at 60 anymore. But that
is not just because they cannot afford to it is because 60 is not
old anymore. Today's 50-, 60-and 70-somethings not only need
to work, they want to work, and they are fully capable of doing
so. In fact, the average health of today's older worker is no
worse than that of their younger counterparts, and by some
measures is better.
 Managing older workers in diversity
4 Generations in the
Workplace Employers are operating with workers from their
early 20s to their late 70s, or beyond.
Generations in the workplace today include
Millennials, who range in age from about 16 to 31;
Generation X, about 32 to 47; Baby Boomers,
about 48 to 65; and Traditionalists, roughly 65 and
older. No longer are workers routinely retiring at 62,
65 or 67. Some stay on because they like to work.
Others have seen their retirement accounts
decimated in recent years or never were able to
save enough to consider retiring
Young managers in diversity
• Young people who suffer most from
age discrimination at work rather than
older workers.
• 14 per cent of young people aged
under 25 years old felt discriminated
against in the workplace because of
their age. They felt their progression
had been hindered because they were
perceived as too young to take on
extra responsibility
 THANK YOU

Group 3
Maria Erika F. Reyes
Maria Victoria A. Ordoña