7/28/2019 Age Stereotypes in the Workplace

1/2

Age Stereotypes in the Workplace: CommonStereotypes and Guidance for Practice

It is widely known that the workforce in the United States is aging. With this, comes a moreprevalent risk of age stereotyping within the workplace, affecting a larger group of individuals. Ifstereotypes cause an increase in the rate of turnover within older workers, organizations fail to takeadvantage of skilled and productive workers.

Types of Age Stereotypes

Personal beliefs and expectations about workplace age groups are considered workplace agestereotypes. Often these stereotypes are biased, negative preconceptions about older workers (thiscan also include younger workers), which include:

Poor Performance- older workers have lower performance, productivity and

motivation.

Resistant to Change- older workers tend to be harder to train, are lessadaptable, and more resistant to change, resulting in less return on training

investments.

Lower Ability to Learn- older workers tend to have less ability to learn;

therefore, they do not develop new skills as well as younger workers.

Shorter Tenure- Due to their age, older workers are thought to have more

turnover than other age groups.

More Costly- Older workers are more costly because they are close to

retirement, use more benefits, and obtain higher wages.

These stereotypes are all rather negative giving a poor outlook for the older workgroup. On theother hand, there is evidence to refute these negative preconceptions:

General Tendencies- Little evidence supports declining performance with

age, and more often performance improves with age.

Individual Differences- Age is less important than differences in individual

skill and health.

Tenure- Older workers are less likely to quit, thereby resulting in more

return on investment (e.g., training investments).

It should be noted that age stereotypes could be directed at younger workers too (i.e., an olderindividual is hired over a younger individual because it seems as though they have moreexperience), but our focus here is on older workers.

Implications for Practice

When dealing with age stereotypes in the workplace, organizations should:

Identify Reasonable Factors. Ensure that hiring practices can identify factors

other than age, which have influenced hiring decisions. Preventing age

7/28/2019 Age Stereotypes in the Workplace

2/2

stereotypes requires vigilance through observation and statistics, thereby

preventing legal liability. Use Job Related Information. Identify age stereotypes to increase the

likelihood of correctly identifying when they occur, while using valid

selection procedures. Use Training and Development. Ensure management is properly trained to

identify age stereotypes, while properly training employees will lead to

development and growth of workers as they age.

Target High-Risk Areas. Identify situations or jobs that have been

stereotyped towards a certain age group. Often times varying jobs are

identified within a certain age group, therefore creating bias within a certain

job domain (e.g., CEOs should be older individuals).

Utilize Older Workers as a Competitive Advantage. Focus on skill ratherthan age, thereby hiring the most skilled older workers other companies mayhave over-looked due to their age.

Consider Adding Complexity. Due to the fear of declining cognitive ability,

managers are often inclined to reduce older workers responsibilities, butresearch suggests it may be better to switch things up and make them more

complex.

Ageism may be occurring in the workplace; however, there are many methods or practices that canbe useful in mitigating the negative consequences.

Interpretation by:

Adam Bradshaw

The DeGarmo Group

This was a summary of the research and practice implications from: Posthuma, R.A., Campion, M.A.(2009). Age Stereotypes in the Workplace: Common Stereotypes, Moderators, and Future ResearchDirections. Journal of Management, 35(1), 158-188.