Age Stereotypes In The Workplace

The key actors are the managers, older employees, and younger employees. Older employees, just like younger employees, are essential for any organization that desires success. The managers join the fray since it is them that are most predisposed to negative stereotypes regarding older employees. The key events revolve around those affected by age stereotypes. In the contemporary society, managers have a tendency of overlooking the productivity of older adults in favor of younger workers, and hence avoid hiring or retaining them in an organization. Therefore, many managers miss out on opportunities to employ productive and skilled workers. The timing of events is critical to the case since the retirement systems are currently experiencing strain. …show more content…
The training programs would encompass activities such as work shadowing or mentoring in order to provide the experienced employees with the opportunity to share some of their experience and knowledge to junior staff. Besides honing the existing knowledge and experience in the workplace, the training activities listed above bring the additional benefit of establishing a good working relationship between employees across age groups thereby reducing age stereotype (Hess, & Markson, 1991). Another vital course of action I will take is the reverse mentoring that refers to the process through which the junior employees provide informal training, expertise, and advice to the older employees. Reportedly, this process will provide a chance for the organization to broaden and enhance some of the skills essential in solving age stereotype in a timely and inexpensive …show more content…
Currently, workplace diversity is strongly encouraged in liberal organizations and many companies are implementing diversity related policies in order to curb the issue of age stereotype (Posthuma, & Campion, 2007). Principally, age stereotype has gained much attention with several states passing legislation to control the ageism within the workplace. This course of action implies that age stereotype policies might affect the performance of an organization in case managers appear to have negative age stereotypes. Factually, organizations with well-established age stereotype policies are likely to benefit from such policies but the employees and managers’ stereotype and attitudes are vital factors that essentially affect the performance. As such, an organization should respect the individual rights of all employees concerning equal treatment and opportunities for