Ageism in the Workplace

      There has been a good deal of interest in the material I have posted regarding Ageism. Most of the findings have not been directly connected with work.  I recently came upon a research paper that focused directly on the study of ageist experiences prior to retirement.[i]  The authors introduce their topic by describing workplace ageism as being “…manifested as prejudice (based on attitudes), discriminatory practice and institutional habits.”

      They then go on the hypothesize that “…age discrimination seems to take place in at least six different human resource areas in the workplace.” The authors investigated workplace ageism in three European countries; Norway, Sweden, & Finland.

Those six items are listed below. Those answering the items were ask to respond by checking 1 of 5 alternatives ranging from “totally disagree” to “totally agree.” 

      See how many of them relate to your current work situations or if you are retired, things that happened prior to your retirement.

1. I was passed over/left out in cases of promotion or internal recruitment.

2. I do, or did not, have equal opportunities for training during work time.

3. Younger workers were(are) preferred when new equipments, activities or working methods were(are) introduced.

4. Elderly workers less often took(take) part in development        appraisals with their superior than younger workers.

5. Elderly workers have less wage increase than younger        workers.

6. Elderly workers are not expected to take part in change processes and working methods to the same degree as their younger peers.

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[i] Furunes, T. & Mykletun, R.J. (2010). Age discrimination in the workplace: Validation of the Nordic Age Discrimination Scale (NADS). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology: 51, 23-30.