Extending working lives and age discrimination

15 January 2015Mark Beatson

Chief Economist

Context: managing an age-diverse workforce

• Population ageing raises the societal cost of age discrimination against older workers but does not eliminate it.

• Last year we published research on managing an age-diverse workforce.

• Based on questions placed in our regular surveys of employers (CIPD Labour Market Outlook 2013/14, n = 935) and employees (CIPD Employee Outlook 2013/14, n = 2,691).

15-24 25-49 50-64 65+

-677

-94

1,387

770

-305

186

1,235

1,956

Illustrative projections of change in employment by age group from 2012 baseline, thousands

2022 2032

Sources: CIPD calculations based on ONS 2012 Principal population projections and revised mid-year estimates for 2002 and 2007 , employment rates for May-Jul 2002 and 2012 based on the Labour Force Survey and CIPD assumptions for employment rates for 2017 onwards.

Context: population ageing

How employers are responding to population ageing

Don't know

Don't think we have considered the issue

We are not aware of any challenges which might emerge

We have considered possible implications but not found a need to modify the way we do things

We deal with issues as they arise

A business case for a strategy is being developed

We have a strategy agreed at Board level which informs what we do

13%

15%

6%

15%

31%

6%

14%

Source: CIPD Labour Market Outlook, winter 2013/14.

Employer views of benefits and challenges of working with colleagues of different ages

Knowled

ge sh

aring

Enhan

ced c

ustom

er se

rvice

Impro

ved p

roblem

-solvi

ng

Greater

inno

vatio

n

New id

eas

No part

icular

bene

fits

Better

risk m

anag

emen

tOthe

r

Don't k

now

No part

icular

chall

enge

s

Succe

ssion

plan

ning

Age st

ereoty

ping

Lack

of sh

ared v

alues

Misund

erstan

dings

Lack

of sh

ared i

nteres

ts

Potenti

al for

confl

ict

Difficu

lty in

deve

loping

trus

t

Difficu

lty in

gettin

g agre

emen

tOthe

r

Don't k

now

55%

14%9% 7% 6% 4% 3% 1% 1%

17%16%16%15%13%11%5% 3% 2% 1% 1%

CHALLENGES

Source: CIPD Labour Market Outlook, winter 2013/14.

BENEFITS

Employee views of benefits and challenges of working with colleagues of different ages

Having

diffe

rent p

erspe

ctive

s

Knowled

ge sh

aring

New id

eas

Impro

ved p

roblem

-solvi

ng

Enhan

ced c

ustom

er se

rvice

None

Don't k

now

Lack

of sh

ared i

nteres

ts

No part

icular

chall

enge

s

Misund

erstan

dings

Lack

of sh

ared v

alues

Potenti

al for

confl

ict

Difficu

lty in

deve

loping

trus

t

Difficu

lty in

gettin

g agre

emen

t

Don't k

now

72%66%

41%32%

20%

7% 6%

32% 31% 29% 28%22%

9% 9% 8%

CHALLENGES

Source: CIPD Employee Outlook, winter 2013/14. Respondents could select more than one benefit/challenge.

BENEFITS

Some evidence of negative stereotypes about older workers’ capabilities(% of workers agreeing that older workers tend to exhibit these signs more than younger workers)

Take more time off work due to illness

Have more accidents at work

Less productive at work

Less able to adapt to changes

Suffer more from stress

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

21

12

15

50

25

Less able to adapt to changes

Suffer more from stress0

10

20

30

40

50

60

All ages 18-34 35-54 55+

Source: Pan-European opinion poll on occupational safety and health 2013, EU-OSHA

Employees think age discrimination at work was increasing during the last decade(% saying more discrimination than 5 years previously minus % saying less discrimination, Great Britain, 2009)

15-24

35-44

55-64

15-24

35-44

55-64

15-24

35-44

55-64

-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25

Source: British Social Attitudes Survey, 2009.

How widespread is age discrimination?

• Unpublished data from autumn 2013 CIPD Employee Outlook.• Employees were asked: Still thinking about your career or working

life as a whole… Have you ever felt that you have been discriminated against and as a result have not been able to meet your career expectations?

• Discrimination here therefore:• Is personally experienced (not observed);• Could have occurred at any time in the past (not necessarily in their current

job); and• Had sufficient impact for them not to be able to meet their career aspirations

(although we should bear in mind these might not be fixed and change during people’s lives).

• Bear in mind also these are perceptions and are both subjective and may not correspond to illegal discriminatory treatment.

• 26% of employees thought they had been discriminated against at some point in their working life.

• 6% thought they had been discriminated against on grounds of age.

Impact of perceived age discrimination

Male

Female

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54 55

+

Private

secto

r

Public

secto

r0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Who suffers from age discrimination?

All employees All discriminated againstAge discrimination

Very sa

tisfie

d

Satisfi

ed

Neithe

r sati

sfied

nor d

issati

sfied

Dissati

sfied

Very di

ssati

sfied

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Satisfaction with career or working life as a

wholeAll employees All discriminated againstAge discrimination

Source: CIPD Employee Outlook, autumn 2014.

CIPD resources

Factsheets

FAQs

Current and planned CIPD activity

• Writing up results of autumn 2013 Employee Outlook alongside other research.

• Research from International Longevity Centre on impact of population ageing on future labour supply and demand.

• Pilots to test adapting Steps Ahead Mentoring approach used for unemployed young people to the over 50s.

• Membership of Business Champion for Older Workers’ Advisory Group.

• Considering research on extending working lives with an international perspective.