Organizational Behavior
Abstract Age diversity is increasing with employees working past the typical retirement age of 55. With this increase in diversity come managerial challenges to overcome such as discrimination among workers and group cohesion. There are policies and practices managers can follow in order to keep the workforce fair and productive, not only in terms of age discrimination but of discrimination against any minority group in an organization.
Introduction
As medical advances continue to improve longevity and vitality among older employees, today’s workforce diversity is growing. Laws against age discrimination and elimination of benefits paired with improved health are increasing the number of people who work past the traditional retirement age of 55 years old.
With the increase in older workers come misconceptions about their abilities to perform tasks, learn new skills and adapt to new approaches. Even though these misconceptions have been disproven by empirical evidence, they still exist leading to age discrimination in the workplace.
What changes in employment relationships are likely to occur as the population ages? As the population ages, changes in employment relationships are bound to occur. With age discrimination being an issue in some companies, older workers who are higher paid and have expensive benefit packages could be laid off in order to cut costs. On the other hand, having tenured employees with a wealth of experience and knowledge, work with younger employees with knowledge of newer techniques, can potentially yield a powerful team effort. Also, employers may offer more flexible schedules in order to accommodate for their aging employees as well as provide more training in order to keep them current on new technologies and practices.
Do you think increasing age diversity will create new challenges for managers? In my opinion I do believe the increase will create new challenges for managers. One challenge I foresee, and the most
Introduction
As medical advances continue to improve longevity and vitality among older employees, today’s workforce diversity is growing. Laws against age discrimination and elimination of benefits paired with improved health are increasing the number of people who work past the traditional retirement age of 55 years old.
With the increase in older workers come misconceptions about their abilities to perform tasks, learn new skills and adapt to new approaches. Even though these misconceptions have been disproven by empirical evidence, they still exist leading to age discrimination in the workplace.
What changes in employment relationships are likely to occur as the population ages? As the population ages, changes in employment relationships are bound to occur. With age discrimination being an issue in some companies, older workers who are higher paid and have expensive benefit packages could be laid off in order to cut costs. On the other hand, having tenured employees with a wealth of experience and knowledge, work with younger employees with knowledge of newer techniques, can potentially yield a powerful team effort. Also, employers may offer more flexible schedules in order to accommodate for their aging employees as well as provide more training in order to keep them current on new technologies and practices.
Do you think increasing age diversity will create new challenges for managers? In my opinion I do believe the increase will create new challenges for managers. One challenge I foresee, and the most