Age discrimination in the stressor
As employee retention will be weakened in companies
When workers repeatedly find themselves marginalized and disadvantaged at work because of their age, their emotional attachment to the company diminishes. Older workers experience age discrimination more as a stress factor than their younger colleagues. They are more inclined to spend less energy and energy on their business. This is the result of a study Dr. med. Tanja Rabl (University of Bayreuth) and dr. María del Carmen Triana (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) have now published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management.Survey in major German companies
In total 1255 employees have been involved in six major German companies in the investigation. They are each at about half the group of 30- to 40jährigen and the group of 50- to 60jährigen. The company is the company of the automotive supplier industry, the electrical industry, the insurance industry, the IT services, trade and commercial waste. Using questionnaires, the authors have the study to determine how the employees experience the working conditions in their companies and what settings they have towards their company.
As it turned out, the interviewed employees feel only slightly disadvantaged because of their age, but older employees feel more strongly than younger people. Age discrimination is a stress factor. For both age groups studied, 30 to 40 year old and 50 to 60 year olds, those who feel discriminated against by their age in the company develop a weaker emotional attachment to the company. For older employees, the emotional bond decreases more than younger employees.
Declining employee retention: A self-protection from stress
How are these survey results scientifically explained? The authors at this point on the theory of resource conservation, which was founded by the US psychologist and stress researcher Stevan Hobfoll. Their central thesis is: People want to maintain and further increase the physical and psychological resources that are important for their well-being. If they lose those resources, or if they use more resources over the long run than reclaim them, stress will be created.
Such a stress-inducing imbalance can also arise in the workplace. Employees expect their company to receive something in return for their commitment: fairness and appreciation. But if they experience age discrimination, they perceive this as a loss of resources that are important for their professional well-being; especially as a loss of appreciation and support. As a result, they reduce their emotional attachment to the company. This helps them to maintain physical and mental energies.
"Older employees, as previous research has shown, are exposed to various burdens and resource losses," explains Dr. med. Tanja Rabl. "These include reduced physical fitness, health risks, or psychological stress from deaths of close relatives, and are therefore more vulnerable to the stressor of age discrimination and related resource losses, and they are more keen to uphold their resources than their younger counterparts. Reducing emotional attachment to their business helps them mitigate the psychological burden of discrimination, thereby offsetting the imbalance between their commitment to the business and their unfair treatment. "
Recommendations for companies: Diversity management versus age discrimination
The authors recommend a range of measures to companies to empower older and younger employees to be treated fairly regardless of their age. For example, continuing education and career options should be available to employees of all ages. Supervisors should give their employees age-independent fair and performance-related feedback. The distribution of tasks should be based on the skills of employees rather than their age. Prejudices and stereotypes that allude to the age of employees are unlikely to spread throughout the company; the management had to face them offensively. Rabl and Triana therefore advocate targeted age diversity management in companies. It also includes making all employees aware of the causes and consequences of age discrimination and encouraging them to self-confidently distance themselves from it.
Such measures are, as the authors emphasize, also in the economic interests of companies. As a result of the demographic development and the growing number of missing specialists, companies in Germany are more dependent than before on retaining qualified and motivated employees of all age groups. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the proportion of 50-to 64-year-old employees will increase significantly; between 2017 and 2024 it will be just as high as the share of 30 to 49 employees.
Publication:
Tanja Rabl and María del Carmen Triana, How German employees of different conserve resources: perceived age discrimination and affective organizational commitment, in: The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14 April 2013
DOI: 10.1080 / 09585192.2013.777936
Source: Bayreuth [University of Bayreuth]
