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Over-50s
overlooked
for top jobs
Ageism at in the workplace is widening
the skills gap, a new report has found.
Organisational ageism
towards the over 50s could
be damaging the economy,
the Institute of Leadership
and Management (ILM) has
warned.
A survey of more than 1,400 UK
managers and workers found that
many managers wrongly assume
staff over 50 lack the desire to
develop and progress to more
senior roles, despite having the
knowledge and experience to fill
the UK’s leadership skills gap.
Managers rated team members
aged over 50 far lower than
younger age groups for their
keenness to learn, develop and
progress, scoring them at 46% for
these attributes.
They rated younger Generation
X colleagues, those born between
1965 and 1976, at 67% for the
same attributes and millennial
colleagues, born between 1977
and 1997, at 79%.
However, the over 50s rated
their own keenness to develop at
94%, – higher than the youngest
millennial age group surveyed, at
87%.
According to the CIPD report,
Managing a healthy ageing
Workforce: a national business
imperative, an estimated 13.5
million jobs will be created over
the next ten years, during which
only seven million young people
will enter the labour force, highlighting the part older workers
have to play in contributing to the
economy.
Kate Cooper, head of applied research and policy at ILM, said: “At
a time when the relatively weak
performance of UK management is
affecting both national and organisational competitiveness, there is a
real opportunity for organisations
to recognise the benefits of an
age-diverse workforce and realise
the untapped leadership talent of
the over 50s by investing in their
ongoing training and development.”
The ILM survey found 61% of
managers believe workers over the
age of 50 have low (20%) or very
low (41%) potential to progress.
This is despite the over 50s scoring
higher than younger workers for
occupation specific knowledge and
skills (85%) and understanding of
customers (78%).
Rachael Saunders, director of age
at work at Business in the Community, said there were some practical
actions HR practitioners could take
to help avoid age discrimination
such as unconscious bias training.
Commenting on the ILM findings,
Caroline Abrahams, charity director for Age UK, said: “Employers
simply can’t afford to disregard
their older employees; not only
is it discriminatory, but it makes
no economic sense to ignore the
wealth of skills and experience
that they have built up over their
careers.”
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