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Ageism: New evil at workplace

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI: A new international workplace survey by Kelly Services, a global staffing provider, has found that almost two in every three Indian workers believe they have been discriminated against when applying for a job.

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The global survey found that 64 per cent of respondents in India say they have experienced prejudice of some type when applying for a job in the last five years. The Kelly Global Workforce Index sought the views of approximately 70,000 jobseekers in 28 countries including almost 2,000 in India.

Discrimination in India is relatively high by global standards, with India ranking fifth on the list of 28 countries. Sweden, Thailand and Singapore ranked highest in the worldwide study, while Hong Kong, followed by Indonesia, were the lowest amongst the eight countries surveyed in the Asia-Pacific region.

Age was the major source of prejudice, identified by the respondents in India, cited by 16 per cent, followed by 13 per cent for gender, and 3 per cent for disability. Approximately 18 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men reported gender discrimination when applying for work.

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Age based discrimination is however more prevalent across the global study with only a handful of countries having less than 15 per cent of respondents experiencing this as one of the major source of discrimination. These include France (13 per cent), Denmark (12 per cent) and, Sweden (11 per cent) and of the Asia-Pacific countries, Malaysia with 14 per cent and 7 per cent in Indonesia.

In India, almost 35 per cent of workers aged 45 or older felt they had been discriminated against on the basis of their age. While 16 per cent of younger workers aged between 25 and 44 also believed that they were denied job opportunities because of their age.

The survey also found that people without university qualifications reported higher rates of discrimination when applying for a job. This highlights that qualifications remain an important criteria of selection for employers across India

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The survey also found that approximately 54 per cent of those surveyed believed they were subject to discrimination in their day-to-day working life.

Kelly Services Country general manager for India, Achal Khanna, said the figures highlight how discrimination is changing over time and that today age is a growing phenomenon in the workplace stemming from the fact old stereotypes are no longer valid when referring to age.

“Ageism has overtaken ethnicity and gender in many areas as the greatest source of discrimination in employment”, says Khanna.

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“In a globalized world with access to information and technology, universality of education, highly motivated and self-directed individuals are attaining levels of skills, competencies and abilities that were often previously age-related. Yet, despite these changes, old perceptions and generalizations remain common”.

“This discrimination can result in low staff turnover, absenteeism, poor morale, low productivity, and poor reputation. Organizations that don’t address these issues directly can suffer costs both direct and indirect,” comments Khanna.

She adds,” It is critical that managers ensure that employees are fully aware of and understand their rights, and those managers faced with workplace discrimination take immediate steps to remedy the situation”.

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“Employees will themselves want to be sure that instances of discrimination are handled decisively, sensitively and effectively”.

The study reveals that only a tiny fraction of those who felt discriminated against actually took the matter further and most were unhappy with the outcome.

© CyberMedia News

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