EMPLOYMENT MATTERS A lunchtime seminar series about employment relations and the world of work

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar2 The End of Ageism? Dr Wendy Loretto The School of Management University of Edinburgh

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar3 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) Ageist ideology of negative stereotypes, attitudes & beliefs (ii) Age discrimination – behaviour that excludes or disadvantages people solely because of their age. (McMullin and Marshall 2001)

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar4 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

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar5 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar6 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 all based on current orthodoxy that ageism in employment is irrational and commercially damaging. Move from voluntary approach to legislation.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar7 Legislation Aims to prohibit and combat direct and indirect discrimination in employment Draft regulations by 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.” => Formed Age Advisory Group in Purpose: how to implement age discrimination legislation and to assess the impact on employers.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar8 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?

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar9 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

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar10 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)

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar11 Employers’ Forum on Age (2000) Survey of 1000 young people aged ~ 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar12 ii) Ageism may affect different types of employees in different ways No account taken in government’s approach of disability, race or gender. Duncan and Loretto (2004) – analysis of financial services ~ Women perceived to grow older earlier than men Example: gender and ageism Itzin and Phillipson (1993) referred to ‘double jeopardy’ - ageism and sexism.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar13 Young women (16-29) more likely to have experienced ageism - being refused promotion & hindered by youthful appearance. But only women in age group 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 and 50+ age groups. Women may never be the ‘right’ age.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar14 One senior team member sent an 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)

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar15 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar16 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?

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar17 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar18 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

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar19 Behind the stereotypes Prejudice or Experience? ‘Grain-of-truth’ Internalisation Institutionalised ageism Generalisation Job age-typing

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar20 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) Policy Implications (contd)

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar21 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar22 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar23 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 Tel

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar24 References Branine, M. and Glover, I. (1997) Ageism in work and employment: thinking about connections, Personnel Review, 26 (4), pp Desmond, H.J. (2001) The Generation Game – Third age workers and the labour market, Nottingham Law Journal, pp Duncan, C. (2003) Assessing anti-ageism routes to older worker re-engagement, Work Employment and Society, 17 (1) pp Duncan, C. and Loretto, W. (2004) Never the right age? Gender and age-based discrimination in employment, Gender, Work and Organization, 11 (1), pp 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.

19 May 2004DTI Employment Relations Seminar25 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, pp 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), pp PIU (2000), Winning the Generation Game, London: PIU

DISCUSSION

EMPLOYMENT MATTERS A lunchtime seminar series about employment relations and the world of work