Ageism in the Workplace

Courtesy of My Generation.

In Fiji a new law has decreed that civil servants must retire once they turn 55. Fortunately in New Zealand no one can be made to retire, although employers do expect to be having a conversation about shorter hours by the time their staff reach their early to mid 60s.

But there are undoubtedly cases of ageism in the workforce every day in New Zealand as there are in most other countries. It's rarely spoken out loud; rejections for job candidates are couched in innocuous terms such as, “this person doesn't fit our culture,” rather than, the more blatant, “they are too old”.

According to Robert Half's Financial Directions survey run internationally last year, larger businesses seem to value older workers more than smaller businesses here. People working in businesses with more than 50 staff are more likely to prefer an older boss, who will be more likely to offer soon-to-retire workers the option of returning on a contract basis. They are also much more likely to develop formal mentoring programmes to allow older workers to pass on their knowledge to younger colleagues.

In the last couple of years some of the country's largest employers have made real strides in the way they treat mature workers. Organisations need them in the workforce for many reasons - because they reflect their customer base, they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience with them which they can transfer to others, and they provide a stable workforce.

Air New Zealand went in search of more mature workers early last year for its customer service division. Simon Pomeroy, head of recruitment at Air New Zealand says: “We look for three things when we are recruiting customer service staff – flexibility, maturity and a great attitude. We’ve realised that life teaches us all three and have found that as people get older they have a huge amount of life skills to offer, but don’t necessarily want the nine to five work that once drove them.”

“We really tapped into this when we were recruiting part-time customer services staff at the airport. We found a whole audience of people who had been overlooked and under utilised.”

People were able text or call rather than put a CV together or apply online, which elicited a strong response from the 40-plus sector.

“What amazed us is that the reason this audience wanted to text is that they felt more comfortable doing this than putting a CV together which showed their age,” says Pomeroy. The company ended up hiring more than 400 people and about 50 per cent of these were over 45.

When asked if mature job candidates would ever feel judged on age in a job interview with the Accident Compensation Corporation, its head of Human Resources Jeanna Abbott says bluntly: “over my dead body!”

ACC has taken steps in the past couple of years to hire more mature workers, or what Abbott calls the 40 plus, so that the staff profile more fairly reflects its client base.

“I am ageing. It makes good sense that each year your whole workforce is going to age,” says Abbott.

“Age discrimination can be very subtle,” she adds. “It can be the language used in recruitment advertising. The corporation  reviewed the language in the campaigns and found there were a lot of youthful images.”

Abbott and her HR department have worked to change ways of thinking - for instance the misperception that it takes longer to train an older demographic.

She explains her long term strategy. “You may bring in a 24 year old who is quickly  trained up in computer skills in three to six months. A 40 plus may take longer, but will stay with us longer,  so there is a return on the investment and then some.”

ACC also has an alumnae programme which can be as useful for those near retirement as for young ones going on OE. Once you hit 66 you might go off travelling and then want to come back to work a few hours a week and the alumnae links can facilitate this.

Not all corporates have the attitude of ACC and Air New Zealand. Sally Egan, a 60 year old HR professional, felt she suffered from ageism when she was working at a bank, despite its reputation for good ethics.
 
“I was the eldest by far in the HR team. When I was offered voluntary redundancy I could not be bothered going through the interview again.”

Now back in a permanent job as an HR specialist with a state owned enterprise, she also makes judgments she realises could be construed as ageist. If she is looking at two job candidates for a position in financial administration, and one is a 30 year old kindergarten teacher while the other is a 60 year old kindergarten teacher, she admits she would hire the 30 year old.

“When you are younger you pick things up quickly, you are far more responsive, you have energy. As you get older, you pick things up on experience. If your experience isn't directly related to the new job, you are not going to be as quick on the uptake as the younger worker,” she explains.

In her current job which involves a lot of change management, she is finding the staff members who have been there for a number of years are not taking the change well.

“They haven't really lived through the constant change which corporate workers are used to,” she says. “A number are entrenched in the old ways and are finding the current changes challenging and threatening.

“Older workers have a value as long as they have the right approach and personality. They are a stable influence and take less managing,” she says.

Ageism in the community is being studied by a team of researchers led by Professor Ted Zorn from the University of Waikato Management School. He and his team have just won a $350,000 grant to look into ageism in the community, focusing on their interactions in business, organisations and beyond.

According to Waikato lecturer Dr Mary Simpson, “older people have a range of roles - investors, volunteers, customers. We think there's a lot of value to be gained in society if organisations take more care.”

One of the things that needs to be examined more seriously by employers, she says, is whether they understand what an experienced mature worker can offer an organization, or are they just looking for the next new young graduate?

In another research project Wilson and a team of researchers looked at career life changes of senior New Zealanders, and found that mentoring came up a lot among interviewees. “They wanted to make a contribution, to share their knowledge,” says Simpson. “They wanted to be seen as individuals, not as stereotypes, and to have their contribution valued as individuals.

“They advised going and doing what you want to do – having a second career.  There are significant opportunities there for positive ageing.”

Case Studies

Bryce Bartley (67) works at Fonterra  as its graduate technical programme project co-ordinator.  Bartley, who went part-time in February, takes heart that former US Federal Reserve Bank chairman Alan Greenspan worked until he was 84.

The 67 year old feels for people who have been made redundant later in life and perhaps worked just for one company. He says he's only ever done two or three job interviews in his whole life, having been in the navy for 20 years and at Fonterra for another 20.

He describes running the graduate training programme for 20 years as “the best job”. “Every year another group of extraordinarily bright 21 and 22 year olds arrive. Having been in it for so long, you know so many people and know so much about the firm,” he says.

He advises old hands against saying: ‘Well, it didn't work in the 80s or 90s, so it won't work now’. “Because it didn’t work in the 80s doesn’t mean it might not be a flyer now. Some things are different now,” he says.

Bartley doesn't feel alone at Fonterra. A friend has just retired after 48 years, and there are others in his age group. He is a strong believer in keeping up with the latest systems, and recommends spending three weeks a year on training.

“Being in the training business, I'm always keen to keep up. I do anything going.”

John Kerr (66), a long term employee at Genesis Energy, is based at the Huntly power station. He was there at the start of the project and has worked in a variety of roles, some in purchasing and supply and more recently in contract administration.  

Huntly has a number of long time employees, he says. “Working on an operating power station is a very exciting environment. I think that's why a lot of operations staff always stayed.”

He helps with young workers and he likes that a number of the senior managers ask him questions. As the longest serving member of staff there, his knowledge is invaluable.

“My boss is younger than me, and I appreciate that he will still come and ask my advice. It makes you feel good when people do that, rather than just saying: “I am the boss and I'll tell you what to do.”

He’s perceived no age barriers at Genesis, and says there has definitely been no drop in training as he has reached retirement age. “Anything that we want to do, we can. There is a continual improvement strategy so you need to keep fully aware of what's going on.  And, he adds, there is a lot of knowledge that needs to be passed on.

John works four days a week and plans to retire next year because there are “too many things to do,” like mountain biking and skiing.  

His tip for success is to retain an attitude of wanting to be there, not one of just biding your time.

Tips for Finding Work After Redundancy for the 40 Plus:

Julia Stones, principal of Recruitment Solutions at Sheffield, a Brit, says prospects are as good as they have been for mature workers who have been made redundant. The recruitment consultant deals with a lot of top level placements at general manager level. “It's about what skills they have to offer. The CV should show that they have done professional training, indicating that there is a willingness to embrace change and learn new things.”

Older workers do have a responsibility to ensure that they upskill , keep abreast of technology,  and make sure that their skills are marketable, she adds.

“If you think how Gen Y likes to work – a couple of years here a couple of years there, from an organisational point of view, it's quite important to have the depth of institutional knowledge as long as people are up to speed with technology,” she says.

There is a general disenchantment with the demands of Generation Y, notes Stones. Meanwhile mature people come into their own, working as contractors – they are able to go into an environment with confidence and hit the ground running.

Senior workers should be prepared for the fact that some Generation Y are starting to get to management level. And they have some things in common with babyboomers, says Stones.  “They have both got more of a community spirit than Generation X.”

“It's about convincing Gen Y that you can deal with change positively, are technically savvy  and that you are very future focused – not always looking over your shoulder and saying, “In my day, we did it like this.”  It's important to be mentally and physically agile.”

By accepting contract work after they have been made redundant, older workers show they have a strong work ethic and are actively seeking work, rather than sitting around waiting for something to happen, says Megan Alexander, senior manager of recruitment consultancy, Robert Half. “When the economy turns around again, this will really count in their favour if they want to return to a permanent role.”

One really important thing for older job candidates is to look critically at their confidence levels and the way they dress for interviews, she says. “At one extreme, if you approach an interview thinking “I’m unlikely to get this because I’m too old” and dress like a fuddy-duddy, you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy,” she says.

“If, however, you make a real effort to look current and modern, and approach the interview full of confidence and knowing just what skills, experience and value you can bring to this employer, you are much more likely to land the role.”

Published 9th Jun 2009

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