Transcript Document

EMPLOYMENT MATTERS
A lunchtime seminar series about
employment relations and
the world of work
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar/events.htm
The End of Ageism?
Dr Wendy Loretto
The School of Management
University of Edinburgh
19 May 2004
DTI Employment Relations Seminar
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What is ageism?
‘Ageism is the type of prejudice and discrimination which consists
of the unjustifiable use of social notions associated with chronological
or biological age.’ (Branine and Glover 1997)
i.e. two interconnected aspects:
(i)
(ii)
Ageist ideology of negative stereotypes, attitudes & beliefs
Age discrimination – behaviour that excludes or disadvantages
people solely because of their age.
(McMullin and Marshall 2001)
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Origin & development of the concept
•
Oxford English Dictionary - the term first appeared in
US in 1969
• Parallels with racism (1936) and sexism (1968)
• Concept borne of fear of mortality and ageing process.
Awareness in UK heightened in 1990s. - Why the delay?
• Strong age-lobby in US
• Concerns over early exit
~ demographic time bomb
~ issues of (social) exclusion
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Consequences of Ageism
Ageism affects:
~ The economy (e.g. PIU 2000)
~ Organisational performance
~ Individuals’ health and quality of life
Surveys typically find that between 20-25% of their sample
have experienced negative discrimination related to age.
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Political initiatives
•
•
•
•
Advisory Forum on Older Workers (Conservatives 1992)
Employers Forum on Age (Conservatives 1996)
Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment (Labour 1999)
EC Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment & Occupation
(2000) to be UK law by Dec 2006.
all based on current orthodoxy that ageism in employment
is irrational and commercially damaging.
Move from voluntary approach to legislation.
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Legislation
• Aims to prohibit and combat direct and indirect discrimination in
employment
• Draft regulations by 2005.
The government recognises that change in attitudes is important
=> “Planning for the introduction of age legislation will reinforce our
promotion of the Code of Practice.” www.agepositive.org.uk
=> Formed Age Advisory Group in 2001.
Purpose: how to implement age discrimination legislation and to
assess the impact on employers.
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Key issues affecting success
1. Debates over scope of legislation
a) What
(i) Age legislation will differ from sex and race in that less
favourable treatment that can be objectively and reasonably
justified can be allowed.
(ii) Mandatory retirement
Should compulsory retirement be abolished?
~ Are fixed retirement ages ageist?
~ How would employers manage exit without a fixed age?
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b) Who
Origin of concept has meant that the phenomenon is still
mostly associated with prejudice towards older age groups.
But this association has now loosened.
(i) Ageism and Younger Workers
Loretto, White and Duncan (2000)
Survey of 460 undergraduates
~ 25% had experienced negative age discrimination
Survey of 1,100 financial services employees
~ 18% experienced negative discrimination
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Working straight from school, people assume you are
less intelligent/capable in terms of doing more challenging work
or being trusted with things. (Female, 18)
Some people tend to talk down to you, especially those who
are older and have been there longer. (Male, 20)
Was turned down for a promotion and when asked why was told,
‘that would have made me the youngest person to hold that
position’. (Female, 29)
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Employers’ Forum on Age (2000)
Survey of 1000 young people aged 18-30
~ 26% thought to be ‘too young’ for certain jobs.
~ 25% feel they have to leave current employer to gain
promotion.
Pilcher (1996) -Younger and older people can be argued to
share disadvantage in the labour market.
But: Age Positive website focuses almost exclusively
on older workers.
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ii) Ageism may affect different types of employees in
different ways
No account taken in government’s approach of disability,
race or gender.
Example: gender and ageism
Itzin and Phillipson (1993) referred to ‘double
jeopardy’ - ageism and sexism.
Duncan and Loretto (2004) – analysis of financial services
~ Women perceived to grow older earlier than men
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• Young women (16-29) more likely to have experienced ageism
- being refused promotion & hindered by youthful appearance.
• But only women in age group 30-39 were considered too old
for promotion
• Frequent references to interaction between ageism and sexism
• Brunt of negative attitudes continued to fall more heavily on
women in 40-49 and 50+ age groups.
Women may never be the ‘right’ age.
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One senior team member sent an e-mail when I forgot to
sign a form….’Tell the dried up old maid to get her teeth in’.
On another occasion a Team Leader called us a bunch of
“old *******”….a coach asked us which was greater,
our team’s combined ages or [Finserv’s] bank balance….
to name but a few incidents. (Female, 35)
Team leader went into [my] private bank account to get
[my] date of birth and then proceeded to discuss it with other
members of staff. He asked them….guess how old she is???.
I was told it was ‘harmless fun’ and I should
‘learn to take a joke’. (Female, 38)
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Key issues (contd)
2. Does ageism exist?
i.e. is prejudice irrational?
~ Duncan (2003) – older workers cost more => discrimination
is rational.
~ Investigation between age and performance to date has been
relatively limited.
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Key issues (contd)
3. Government is motivated by the ‘wrong’ concerns
• Government concern is by-product of social, economic and
welfare concerns (Desmond 2001).
• Other forms of discrimination are not similarly constrained
(at least, not explicitly)
4. Workability of legislation
(i) New Zealand experience
1993 Human Rights Act abolished retirement age in 1999
McGregor (2001) found widespread evidence of
discrimination, despite very few formal complaints - Why?
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• Employee ignorance
• Level of disadvantage is minor
• Employee vulnerability
• ‘Internalised’ ageism
• Employers distinguish between overt and covert age
discrimination
(ii) Weak links between policies and practices
Loretto & White (2004) – study of Scottish employers
~ all claimed to have an EO policy – but widespread evidence
of bias and discrimination (both +ve and –ve)
~ gaps between central policy and grassroots practice.
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Policy Implications
1. Reconsider dominance of the ‘business case’
Business case may inhibit effectiveness of legislation
Duncan (2003) – ‘fighting stereotypes with stereotypes’.
Instead we need to challenge the stereotypes
=> First stage is understanding them
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Behind the stereotypes
Institutionalised
ageism
‘Grain-of-truth’
Generalisation
Prejudice or Experience?
Job age-typing
Internalisation
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Policy Implications (contd)
2. Focus on individuals
~ Match jobs to workers, not just workers to jobs (Hirsch 2003)
~ Examine how employment and employment practices may
affect health.
~ Consider differential effects on individuals, e.g. by gender
~ Proposed Commission on Equality & Human Rights (2006)
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Policy Implications (contd)
3. Recognise limits of legislation
Should legislation focus on employment practices, policies
or attitudes?
Considerations
~ Gaps between policy and practice already identified
~ ‘Good practice’ may exist independently from policy,
e.g. SMEs
~ (Favourable) attitudes do not always translate into practice.
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Policy Implications (contd)
Key employer attitudes = complacency and fatalism
‘I think you'll find that the age thing will disappear from the
country completely, it's already happening. A lot of the call
centre jobs are going abroad to India etc, and an awful lot of
menial-type jobs will be shoved off elsewhere whenever
possible.’
Addressing these attitudes may represent a more
fundamental challenge for law and policy-makers.
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Contact details
Please get in contact If you would like to receive more details of
the research findings mentioned today.
Dr Wendy Loretto
The School of Management and Economics
The University of Edinburgh
50 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JY
[email protected]
Tel. 0131 650 3824
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References
Branine, M. and Glover, I. (1997) Ageism in work and employment: thinking about
connections, Personnel Review, 26 (4), pp233-244.
Desmond, H.J. (2001) The Generation Game – Third age workers and the labour
market, Nottingham Law Journal, pp17-31.
Duncan, C. (2003) Assessing anti-ageism routes to older worker re-engagement,
Work Employment and Society, 17 (1) pp101-120.
Duncan, C. and Loretto, W. (2004) Never the right age? Gender and age-based
discrimination in employment, Gender, Work and Organization, 11 (1), pp95-115.
Employers Forum on Age (2000) Releasing Potential – Younger workers and
ageism, London: EFA.
Hirsch, D. (2003) Crossroads after 50. Improving choices in work and retirement,
York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Itzin, C. and Phillipson, C. (1993) Age Barriers at Work: Maximising the potential of
mature and older workers. Metropolitan Authorities Recruitment Agency: Solihull.
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References (contd.)
Loretto, W. and White, P. (2004), The Employability of Older Workers
Glasgow: Scottish Enterprise.
Loretto, W., Duncan, C. and White, P. (2000) Ageism and employment:
controversies, ambiguities and younger people’s perceptions, Ageing
and Society, 20, pp279-302.
McGregor, J. (2001), Employment of the Older Worker, Palmerston North:
Massey University.
McMullin, J.A. and Marshall. V.W. (2001) Ageism, age relations and
garment industry work in Montreal, The Gerontologist, 41 (1), pp111122.
PIU (2000), Winning the Generation Game, London: PIU
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DISCUSSION
EMPLOYMENT MATTERS
A lunchtime seminar series about
employment relations and
the world of work
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar/events.htm