Ageism in the Workplace: What is it and How Can You Prevent It?

Believe it or not, ageism is a real and increasing problem when it comes to hiring and the workplace. What is ageism? It’s the discrimination or prejudice of an individual based on their age. Even though it’s been 50 years since the Age Discrimination in Employment Act was passed, ageism remains an issue.

How Does Ageism Happen?

Ageism can (and has) spread into a workplace based on various trends. The biggest and most harmful trends are major technological advancements. Enormous job boards like Monster and Indeed help many applicants apply for jobs easily every day, but they can also unintentionally cause harm to the older workforce.

For example, individuals often have their experience listed on their uploaded resumes and/or profiles on job boards. Sometimes, having too much experience or for too long gives the impression that a candidate might be older. Other harmful factors include:

• Older individuals not knowing how to complete job board application processes

• Unsuccessfully using job boards to their full potential:

• Not having a complete profile

• No understanding of how to save and track current job openings

• Failing to communicate back and forth via the job board

Preventing Ageism

While none of the above are legally allowed to be factored into making hiring decisions, ageism can still occur. So, what steps can a company take to stop ageism at the door? Here are a few tips:

1. Skip Adding Unnecessary Cut-Offs to Your Algorithm: Does your hiring algorithm ask for specific date information like birthdates, graduation years, or years of experience? Avoid cut-off dates! You could be cutting out qualified candidates above a certain age.

2. Be Careful of Your Wording: Your job postings could potentially be using language or criteria that isn’t exactly related to job performance but could be putting older individuals at a disadvantage. Try focusing your wording on whether someone has the skills for the job, and not when they learned them.

3. Keep Your Ads Diverse: Are you using Facebook Advertising to attract candidates to apply for an open position? You might be cutting out older people who are not active on social media. However, you can fix this by diversifying where your ads are placed ̶ social media, newspapers, job boards, etc.