It looks like discrimination in all its forms can still be felt in the workplace. Yesterday, we posted the recent report of the Equal Opportunities Commission about employment discrimination against ethnic minority women. Now it looks like age discrimination has also reared its ugly head.
According to a recently released poll results done by the Chartered Management Institute (CIM) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), about 22% of managers have admitted to discriminating against job applicants because of their age.
This, despite the fact that 48% of the managers have claimed to have suffered the same age-related prejudices in their own job applications.
The survey, which involved around 2700 managers and human resources officials, suggests that many workers still continue to suffer from age discrimination. But a year from now there will be an introduction of rules that will make age discrimination an offence.
Based on the survey results, two-fifths of the respondents said the discrimination problem has impeded their own chances of promotion. Sixty-three per cent, on the other hand, believe that 30 to 39 year olds have the best chances of advancing their careers within their company. But only two per cent thought that those aged 50 or above have a strong chance to move up the career ladder.
Company formation and business solutions experts are suggesting that the era of the single, linear career path is long over and that employees must be able to take responsibility for making things happen and creating opportunities in the latter part of their working lives.