Ageism Meaning
Ageism refers to the convention or stereotype against employees or groups based on their age. With reference to the workplace, the concept of ageism results in unintentional bias, discrimination and other biases associated with age groups.
Along with better understanding of ageism definition, let’s discover more about this concept-
What is Ageism in the Workplace?
Ageism in the workplace is a concept leading to unjust behavior of employees.
It could take place during various phases of employees’ lifecycle from recruitment, hiring, promotions, day-to-day interactions, delegating responsibilities and even at the time of F&F settlements.
Discrimination on the basis of ageism can hamper opportunities related to career advancement, upskilling, promotions and overall work life experience for employees.
What is the Main Idea of Ageism?
The main idea of ageism is based on traditional experiences, self-assumptions and generalization of employees based on their age. Thes pre-notions are based on societal conditioning or discriminatory behavior.
The very practice of ageism questions the capability, expertise and skill set of employees at workplaces. They have to work harder to prove themselves and showcase how much they are contributing, when there is bias based on age groups of employees.
How does Ageism Manifest in the Workplace?
Ageism is manifested in the workplace in various processes and at various stages of employees’ lifecycle. Let’s understand in detail:
Recruitment
Every workplace carries their own mindset, while some are biased others are adaptable.
Employers having the biased mindset of ageism can discriminate both fresher and age-old employees. They consider that freshers need to be trained a lot and age-old people take time to understand technical savvy tools.
When the age factor rules the recruitment practices, many times employers will end up not hiring the best candidates, their talent pool won’t be diversified, and they might lack a mixed bag of opinions.
Thus, if you are an HR professional and are noticing such ageism related biases at your workplace, then you should start evaluating candidates based on their qualification, skillsets and expertise.
Performance Review
Performance review cycle is one of the crucial periods for both employer and employees. Employers have to ensure that the process will be hassle free, open and transparent. While employees are expecting rewards and recognition and feel that they are being valued.
However, when ageism plays a role in the review process including appraisals and promotions, then there is a high chance of weakening employee-employer relationships and might increase attrition rates of dissatisfied rates.
Thus, if you are an HR professional, make sure the review process is all about KRA-KPI alignment, capabilities and abilities of employees, achievements and how much they contributed to the overall goal of organisation.
Training and Development Opportunities
Training and development opportunities for employees open the door for better career prospects and increased work life satisfaction. But many a times, employees resist these trainings.
Surprised? But it’s true.
In some scenario employers offer less opportunities to age old employees and more to younger ones, to harness their talent; but in majority of scenarios, it has been noticed that experienced age-old employees find excuses to escape training process.
In case, you noticed ageism related biases at your workplace, either from the employee’s or employer’s side, you must step forward to avoid this bias by encouraging employees, by making it compulsory and offering them session to boost up their adaptability.
What are Common Stereotypes Associated with Ageism?
Some of the common stereotypes associated with ageism are-
- Young individuals are considered lacking experience, over-reliance on technology, resistant to change, haywire and hustlers and they never settle for less
- Married women who are going to be future mothers are considered they will soon be on maternity leaves, so they got less preferences in promotions and appraisals
- Experienced age-old employees are considered to be resistive, adamant, suggestion box and lack ambition, thereby employers offer them less opportunities
Overcoming Ageism, Strategies to Say Goodbye to Unintentional Biasness
Ageism is deeply rooted in our behavior and it’s essential to overcome ageism at your workplace. You can do so by-
- Raising awareness about ageism and fostering DEI and age-inclusive workplace
- Ensure hiring is not based on age, rather focus on skill sets and expertise while hiring
- Offer flexible work arrangements and accommodate needs of various age-groups by requesting feedback on age-related issues
- Conduct face-to-face discussions and understand concerns related to their aspirations, motivating force and their needs
- Challenge stereotypes at your workplace by implementing conventional, yet easy to adopt ways to overcome age-based biasness
Summing Up
By understanding the concept of ageism and realizing the potential of this concept at the workplace, make sure to address and resolve biases.
To make sure your processes are transparent, without any bias, you can automate workflows with HROne- The simplest HR software.