subject: Addiction To Youth: Out With The Old At Work? [print this page] Guarding against discrimination is a major part of workplace-related laws and regulations. Employers and managers are not supposed to treat people unfairly on grounds of sex, religion, race, or age. Merit and performance are supposed to be the deciding factors in a person's career.
Of course, actually putting these fine principles of fairness into practice does not always work. Sometimes, you do get clear instances of glaring discrimination, such as a bank being unwilling to hire homosexuals because they are supposedly unable to keep secrets and would doubtless betray client confidentiality. However, there are also the "gray area" issues, where discrimination is simply taken for granted, or convincingly mixed in with concerns of strict merit and qualification.
In the Philippines, for example, many hospitals (even those run or partially-run by the government) have an age cap on nurses who begin service at the lowest rung in their hospitals. Nurses over 35 or so need not apply.
The reason given for this practice is that nurses often have very physically demanding jobs. They must lift and carry patients, haul medical equipment, and somehow refrain from catching (too many) diseases while spending all their time around sick people. However, some observers theorize that there is an ulterior motive for these hiring practices: younger nurses are easier to intimidate and fool into accepting a raw deal, such as frequent unpaid overtime.
This type of exploitative attitude is, of course, bad for the nurses. Worse, it harms the patients, as well, as they are being attended to by overworked, under-experienced health workers. After all, nurses cannot learn absolutely everything they need to know about primary care just from their books and classes. Furthermore, young nurses may not have learned habits of constant vigilanceyet, and it is entirely possible for intelligent nurses to jeopardize the health of patients through simple forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Having older, more experienced nurses around (and not just at managerial level) could result in diffusion of practical knowledge throughout the nursing ranks. In the end, both service providers and end-consumers of health services suffer.
Of course, there are other cases where ageism is much more subtle. It is not necessarily a matter of rules as to do with the way organization leaders think. Perhaps the age of their employees affects who gets promoted, or who gets listened to most at meetings. Such ageism is a great deal harder to pinpoint, but its effects are still deeply felt.
So, how can employees (particularly older ones) try to make sure that ageism does not get in the way of their career? Well, they might try to join forces with younger employees. Ageism can also harm younger employees, who will, after all, eventually be growing older into an ageist system. Furthermore, older employees can and should look after their health, in order to prove to employers that they are just as sharp and reliable as their younger counterparts, if not more so. Anti-aging products or supplements like Genfx20 Plus, GHR1000 and Sytropin that strengthen the immune system and overall constitution may be helpful. This exertion of extra effort may be unfair, but it can be very effective, as well as having more benefits for the employee's overall personal health.
