Employer attitudes towards older workers in Australia

Abstract

This research was concerned with the management of Australia’s labour supply, considering prospects for extending working lives against the backdrop of demographic change. Numerous factors have thrust the prolongation of Australians’ working lives to the forefront for policy-makers, researchers, non- government organisations and employers, including: the ageing of the Australian population; issues of social welfare, for example, warnings regarding the imminent retirement of so-called baby boomers expected to reduce available skilled workers, reduce labour force participation rates and raise dependency ratios; macroeconomic factors; and social justice factors, for example, discrimination against older workers in personnel decisions. Commentators argue the key policy challenges presented by population ageing are connected. The solution lies in increasing the engagement of older people in activity and dispelling the ageist views of an ageing population as inaccurate and counterproductive; this demographic shift should be viewed as an opportunity. Discrimination on the basis of age has been noted as an important barrier to labour force participation of older workers. Older workers’ labour market experiences have attracted research interest for decades. One facet has been employers’ attitudes. Eighteen studies have assessed employers’ attitudes towards older workers since initial work in the mid 1970s. The results of this research have been far from consistent in the demonstration of differences in employer attitudes across demographic and organisational characteristics and how these attitudes are associated with organisational practices. In the present study, 595 employers in medium and large organisations were surveyed on a range of workforce management issues. This study simultaneously assessed employer attitudes towards workers in age groups spanning a working life. Attitudes towards older workers were compared across organisational and individual characteristics and their association with organisational practices were assessed. Employers’ responses indicated positive and negative attitudes toward older workers that were interpreted overall as suggesting specific approaches to remove attitudinal barriers hindering the prolongation of working lives.