Overcoming Ageism In Organizations

Overcoming Ageism in organizations is a considerable issue and needs to be tackled effectively to ensure it is not an ongoing problem.

Ageism discriminates unfairly against people based on their age and fails to take account of other qualities, skills, and experiences a person might bring to an organization.

This discrimination may be against younger people but is more prevalent with older people, usually with people older than say 50 years of age. Overcoming Ageism In Organizations is rooted in stereotyping behaviors in which assumptions are made about people of a certain age.

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Overcoming Ageism In Organizations

It is often in the workplace that older people encounter ageism, job interviews, and in terms of losing jobs. Developed countries do tend to have legislation in place to eradicate ageism in organizations, and this gives support to people who are discriminated against.

However, it is notoriously difficult to change people's attitudes, habits, and prejudices. Unfortunately, those who do have ageist opinions often do not realize the damage they can do to the people being discriminated against.

If a person feels as if they are suffering because of ageism they will often lose their sense of self-worth, and sometimes they may become clinically depressed.

Even if the effects are less dramatic than that, there will still be a serious detrimental impact on the individual's health and wellbeing.

It's amazing to realize that research has shown how even people at the age of only 35 can suffer from ageism in organizations. Also, overcoming these problems, particularly in the workplace, is easier said than done.

At least the ongoing research is showing us the facts, and revealing the depth of the problem can be a starting point towards eradicating the problems.

Thankfully, there are several organizations around that active campaign against ageism, and a number of these can be found online. Such bodies will typically highlight the positive aspects of employing older or more mature staff.

These would often include qualities such as reliability, stability, good timekeeping and attendance, a wealth of experience, and the right attitude to work.

Dealing with ageism in organizations is certainly not easy because negative attitudes people have are often deeply ingrained and hard to overcome.

However, progress is being made and many organizations are realizing the value of employing more mature staff. The vast majority of older people simply need an opportunity to prove themselves.

Once they are given such a chance they invariably tend to win over the doubters and become valuable assets for the organizations in which they work.

Alex writes for a website about student loans, containing information about Wachovia student loans and bad credit student loans.