Age discrimination remains a significant problem in the workplace, with new research from the University of Sheffield highlighting how policies to tackle the problem have largely failed.

A recent case study of anti-age discrimination policies in the UK has exposed their inadequacies in effectively serving their intended purpose, thus causing neglect of the very individuals they are designed to assist.

The findings of the study emphasize the urgent need for government strategies to align with employer action, and underscore the critical importance of a comprehensive life-course approach that acknowledges and addresses the systemic inequalities that persist in the workplace as employees age.

Homogenizing older workers

The study underscores the persistent tendency to homogenize older workers as a uniform cohort, while policies designed to aid this demographic have either been superseded or broadened to encompass all employees, irrespective of age.

“Unless there is change, older workers will continue to face inequality and exclusion within the workforce,” the researchers explain. “As the population and workforce ages it is vital that organizations become healthier spaces for older workers to encourage extended working lives.

“For example, in the research we spoke to a woman, now in her 60s, working within the NHS who had to reduce to part-time hours because of back problems which, if addressed in the workplace at an early stage as opposed to being treated as part of the job, could have been managed or prevented.”

According to the policy, there exists a discernible link between suboptimal health in later years, reduced academic achievements, meager income, manual labor, and inferior working circumstances. Hence, any effort to combat disparities among older employees must prioritize the prevention of work-induced maladies, which ought to commence from the onset of an individual’s vocational journey.

Healthy lives

“A life-course approach to improving equality for older workers would lead to health benefits,” the authors conclude. “Many health problems associated with older age (both physical and mental) can be prevented or better managed with the implementation of improved health management earlier in the life-course.”

“The introduction of ‘returnerships’ and increase in Midlife MOTs in the Chancellor’s Budget acknowledges the need for targeted opportunities to encourage older people back into the workforce, however there is continued failure to recognize the cumulative longer-term inequalities that led to their exit in the first place.”