#11: Too Old! The Ageism-Problem at Work

Folks, we really need to talk about ageism. Recently, I posted on LinkedIn about discrimination against mothers in recruiting, and the post went viral. But something else caught my attention in the comments. A lot of people made it clear that if you're over 50, job hunting isn't exactly a walk in the park either.

Then Thomas Gass picked up my post and wrote about "people 50-plus." His post blew up too.

This raised two big questions for me:

1. How can we, given our demographic trends, afford to disadvantage mothers and people over 50 (or older people in general)?
2. What do the scientific data say about ageism in the workplace?

And it's this second question that I dive into in this blog post. So, let's take a ride through some selected studies and meta-analyses.

What is Age Discrimination (also known as Ageism)?

In the literature, there's a distinction between age stereotypes and age discrimination. Age stereotypes are general beliefs that people hold about a certain age group. Some of these beliefs might be true when looking at the entire group of older people. For instance, it's generally true that physical strength declines with age. But that doesn't mean every older person is physically weaker than every younger person. The problem arises when these general beliefs about a group (in this case, older people) are used as the basis for an opinion about an individual older person. In the work context, this happens when someone is implicitly categorized by their age rather than their actual skills and performance. Age discrimination occurs when these stereotypes become evident in statements or actions. Specifically, this would be not promoting or hiring someone because of their age.

Important note: It's still discrimination even if older people are systematically disadvantaged without malicious intent. This is known as statistical discrimination, and it's just as harmful in its effects. The difference lies in the cause, which isn't malicious or intentional.

Just so you know, age discrimination is officially prohibited under the General Equal Treatment Act in Germany. That's why it's crucial to examine the data to see if it actually happens. So, let's dig into the data ??????

Is There Age Discrimination in HR Management?

There's quite a bit of published scientific research on ageism in the workplace. Back in 1995, Finkelstein and colleagues studied how stereotypes affect the evaluation of older people at work. Their meta-analysis showed that younger people tend to rate older people more negatively than younger ones. The authors attributed this mainly to in-group bias, where people who belong to one group tend to view people from other groups more negatively. Decades later, a meta-analysis by Bae & Choi (2022) found similar results. As people get older, discriminatory attitudes and judgments towards them increase. Younger people were especially harsh in their evaluations of older individuals.

A similar pattern was found in a 2011 meta-analysis by Bal and colleagues. They analyzed all the lab and field experiments that dealt with age discrimination in hiring, promotions, general evaluations, and attributions of social skills and reliability. They found that age negatively impacts the likelihood of promotion, recruitment success, overall positive evaluations, and attributions of social skills. However, they also found a positive correlation—older people were seen as more reliable.

Fast forward about 10 years, and the 2023 meta-analysis by Batinovic and colleagues provides clear evidence of ageism in recruiting. Compared to people aged 29-35, those in the 40-49, 50-59, 60-65, and over 65 age groups received significantly fewer callbacks from recruiters. Yes, the bias against older people starts before they even hit 50.

Based on this evidence, I would say it's proven that ageism—age discrimination—exists in various forms within key HR processes (e.g., recruiting, promotions). The studies included in these meta-analyses came from a wide range of countries, so I see no reason to believe ageism is just a regional issue. It could also be that younger people, on average, tend to hold stronger stereotypes against older people.

What Can You Do About Age Discrimination?

I found two meta-analyses that looked at the effectiveness of interventions against ageism. A meta-analysis by Burnes and colleagues (2019) gives us some hope. The results suggest that interventions (e.g., training, mixed teams, or both) can actually reduce age discrimination. They were especially effective in reducing negative attitudes or thought patterns. The most effective approach was combining training with mixed teams, directly reducing negative mindsets or beliefs about older people. Another meta-analysis by Apriceno and Levy (2023) shows the same pattern. Combined interventions of training and inter-generational contact have the greatest impact on reducing ageist beliefs in people.

A personal tip to wrap up: If it's true that younger people have stronger negative beliefs about older people, then it makes a lot of sense to use mixed-age teams in recruiting. But for this to happen, we need to make sure:

1. The Junior Recruiter role isn't always treated as an entry-level HR position.
2. Younger recruiters have older mentors to guide them.

And it's important to note: Just because the data suggests younger people may have more negative attitudes towards older people doesn't mean that applies to every young person. That would be an age stereotype, and we don't like those.

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Additional information: This article reflects my personal views only and is not necessarily the view of the companies I am associated with.

Sources:

Finkelstein et al. (1995): https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1996-18568-001

Bae & Choi (2022): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01634372.2022.2161685#d1e145

Bal et al. (2011): https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/66B/6/687/588946

Baltinovic et al. (2023): https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/9/1/82194/197046

Burnes et al. (2019): https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305123

Apriceno & Levy (2023): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/07334648231165266