The trouble older job seekers face
To the Expositor:
I am an older worker and have not worked in a government job, nor have I worked for an organization that offered me a defined pension. What does that mean for me now that I am looking for a job? It may mean that I have a hard time finding a job at this stage in my life.
For a variety of reasons, people over the age of 55 are looking for jobs. Forced retirement, business closures, redundancy, or just plain job dissatisfaction lead workers to be in the job market. However, when their resume lists prior employment dating back 20 years or if the education section of their CV says that they graduated from post-secondary education 25 years ago, employers may look at these facts and pass them over for a younger worker. According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, “older workers face significant barriers in finding employment. These can take the form of overt discrimination, such as not hiring someone simply because of [their] age, or more subtle or systemic discrimination, such as eliminating someone because of a perception [they] lack “career potential.”
There are persistent stereotypes about older workers that preclude finding a job as easily as it has been in the past. Retention, absenteeism, resistance to change, productivity, and inflexibility are all aspects that are considered to negatively impact the organization when hiring an older worker. However, all of these considerations are false, bar none. The lack of empirical evidence does not alleviate the difficulties that older workers confront when they are qualified and eager for a certain job.
The facts are that older workers will stay in a job for as long as younger workers and health issues requiring time off are exactly the same for any age of worker. The median length of time employees stay with a company is 4.1 years, according to 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Younger workers actually take more personal/sick days than older workers and on-the-job experience helps older workers manage changes to their working environment. Furthermore, changes in our societal norms have changed work ethics today, meaning that workers 55 or older have a different attitude toward their work-life balance.
Our work ethic has been changing since the Industrial Revolution, so it is only natural that workers at different stages of their employment would have different work ethics. However, in our current capitalist society, the importance of punctuality, attendance, and flexibility is alive and well.
What’s more, while workers may have the same education, older workers bring not only real work experience they bring the nuanced experience of navigating the workplace. Universally, older workers bring a level of experience, critical thinking and sheer knowledge that cannot be taught.
In addition, the perceived technology gap is going away. Older workers today have come of age in an environment of change. They may have started with pen and paper, but the period they have moved through has forced them to pick up technology in its infancy. We know why a process was computerized for example and we can work our way through the processes from beginning to end.
Even more restrictive is the persistence of ageism when it comes to the “face” of the organization. Does the organization want to present itself as young and vibrant and if so, older workers won’t fit into their image? While Hollywood stars like Meryl Streep and George Clooney have been debunking the idea that their age does not work against them, the “real” working world is a different story. In fact, society’s unconscious bias probably landed journalist Lisa LaFlamme on the unemployment line, albeit not for long.
Changes in social skills may be advantages that older workers naturally have. While progression through technology has changed the way we interact with one another through emails and chats, actually calling a client to discuss concerns about their bill may build a relationship that favours the business, for example.
Change is afoot. Our view of older workers is informed by individual, organizational, and societal biases according to the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors. For example, the hiring manager’s own age may inform their idea of the best fit for a job, the organization had a bad experience with an older worker and society’s agist attitude can all negatively affect the outcome of an older person seeking a job.
The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits ageism but to deny that it happens is futile. If we firmly believe that knowledge is power, and when we know better, we do better, change will happen. But, as the need for an experienced educated workforce persists, we can hope that employers really will be blind to discrimination of all types and hire workers that are the best for the organization.
Heather Wilson
Espanola
