First Wave Findings and Network Development

The first wave of our research has focused on unearthing attitudes towards older workers, including identifying who is actually considered an ‘older worker’; and specifically, what the prevailing attitudes of organisational decision-makers are towards these ‘older workers’. Given the recent global economic crisis and the resultant rise in the numbers of workers over 50 who are now unemployed, the attitudes toward ‘older workers’ of those decision-makers charged with the recruitment, development and retention of employees in organisations are of particular concern. Data from more than 250 decision-makers across industries in Ireland investigating the attitudes of organisational decision-makers toward ‘older workers’ has been collected and analysed.

The findings reveal that that a worker is considered an older worker at an average age of between 52 and 53 years. The results, however, illustrate that those in their 30s and 40s can be considered ‘older’ in some industries. Furthermore, decision-maker attitudes toward these ‘older workers’ are found to be largely negative in nature. Interestingly, organisational factors seem to have little impact on these attitudes, while our findings demonstrate that individual characteristics of decision-makers are significantly more influential. The study demonstrates that decision-makers in organisations hold not only negative beliefs and stereotypes about the attributes of older workers, but they are also emotionally and behaviourally inclined to be negative toward older workers. These findings suggest the need for policy-makers, practitioners, and academics alike to re-think approaches to dismantling ageist attitudes in organisations.

With this in mind, we are currently extending our database of decision-maker attitudes towards workers of different ages, and we are involved in developing a multi-disciplinary network of researchers who are concerned with advancing knowledge on these issues in a global context.

If you are interested in joining our network, or finding out more about our project, please contact us:

Research Team
Dr. Noreen Heraty: noreen.heraty@ul.ie 061 202643
Dr. Christine Cross: christine.cross@ul.ie 061 202245
Dr. Jean McCarthy: jean.mccarthy@ul.ie 061 233669