Article summary: While 90% of older workers report experiencing age discrimination, similar fears affect all demographics in today’s polarised society. The root issue isn’t age but workplace distrust, lack of transparency, and unclear decision-making criteria. HR leaders can address this by examining their own biases, establishing clear promotion and hiring criteria, facilitating cross-generational collaboration, and rallying teams around shared objectives rather than competing for perceived scarce resources.
Recent research suggests that the majority of older workers have experienced age discrimination at work.
The survey by Resume Now found that 90% of respondents over 50 had experienced age discrimination in the workplace, and 47% felt they were often disrespected by younger colleagues. Furthermore, 58% said they earn less than younger colleagues for the same work, while 27% have been told they are ‘overqualified’ due to their age.
Older people are not alone in feeling discriminated against
To add some context, the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer reported that fear of discrimination is soaring across all demographics. So, regardless of your age, race, gender, religion or socio-economic status, nearly two-thirds of people fear being discriminated against for some reason.
This isn’t to undermine the feeling of those in the age discrimination survey, it is only to point out that we have a bigger problem – the polarisation of our society. A growing conflict that inevitably makes its way into the workplace, setting people up against each other in competition for what are perceived as scarce resources.
Scarce resources incite fear
At work, scarce resources might be salary, promotion, recognition, job security, influence or status. When people fear that there isn’t enough to go around, they see each other as a threat.
A 2024 survey carried out by UK Youth and KFC found that 93% of young people in the UK had encountered negative treatment at work because of their age – a jump from 88% three years previously. And while 69% had missed out on promotions because of their age, 75% were outright rejected for job opportunities for the same reason.
And those in the middle? They also claim to experience discrimination based on age. According to Pearn Kandola’s Age Discrimination at Work (2024) report, a large proportion of millennials felt they faced negative stereotypes and discrimination at work.
This tells us that regardless of age, many people worry that their years will count against them at work, or that other age groups are unfairly advantaged.
When there is a lack of information, a vacuum is created. Into that vacuum floods speculation of the worst kind
Addressing the core issue: it’s not about age
The issue is not age. The problem is more related to distrust, lack of transparency, and unclear decision-making criteria. I recall a manager complaining to me about their Gen Z employees coming, as a group, to bemoan that they were all on different salaries – and how unfair this was because they all did the same job.
The manager was uncomfortable explaining that some of them were simply better at what they did and more deserving of a higher salary. It may also have been that the inequity between salaries wasn’t based on the value of their contribution.
Instead, it may have been because some of them pushed harder for a salary bump than others. Or that they were paid as little as the company thought they could get away with. Whatever the case, the reasons for the disparity were not clear…maybe even to the people making the salary decisions.
When there is a lack of information, a vacuum is created. And into that vacuum floods speculation of the worst kind. That’s why it’s so important to communicate openly and clearly. When levels of distrust are high in society at large, particularly when it comes to trust in information sources, leaders must be especially transparent about anything that could cause friction between groups at work.
What can HR do to address mistrust and polarisation?
1. Unpick your biases
We are all aware of the laws around age discrimination, but are we making seemingly rational decisions that are based on stereotypes?
Consider the following:
- Do you carry beliefs about different generations or age groups that impact your hiring, promotion and payrise decisions at some level?
- Does age (maybe dressed up as ‘experience’ or ‘inexperience’) come into the conversation?
- How can you call those beliefs into question?
- Is rejecting a candidate because they are ‘too experienced’ for a job they seemed enthusiastic about in the interview, really age discrimination?
- What about the decision to reject someone for being ‘inexperienced’ when they’ve demonstrated how fast they learn and grow?
2. Be clear on your hiring, promotion and payrise decisions
Know exactly the criteria that justify these decisions and be consistent. And be honest. Is the person really ‘too experienced’? Or did you simply say that as it sounded more kind than the real reason they didn’t get the job?
Early in my BBC career, I lost out to another candidate for a job and was told, “We really couldn’t choose between you”. But they did. And I will never know why.
3. Create opportunities for different age groups to work together to solve problems
This is particularly important where different teams are generationally distinct. For example, where your digital team is mainly younger and your facilities team is mainly older. How do they speak about each other? How do they marginalise or under-estimate each other?
By sharing experiences and insights across different age groups and technical perspectives, they will start to see the respective value each other brings. You might need to provide support and facilitation so that participants can see if the true cause of tension is age-related, and not due to, for example, unequal levels of influence. (Listen to Adam Grant’s podcast on whether generational differences are exaggerated for some provocation on this idea.)
4. Rally people around shared objectives
Internal competition for recognition, resources, influence, status or information creates distrust and tension between people who should be working together towards the organisation’s shared goals.
Consider the following:
- How do you unintentionally pit people against each other?
- What fuels the sense that resources are scarce and the only way to get more for yourself or your team is to throw shade on someone else or another team?
- How are silos or sub-groups reinforced and how do leaders collude with this to serve their agenda?
Addressing the ‘us vs them’ mentality comes first
Right now, many leaders are asking, “How do we get our people to take ownership and play an active part in transforming for the future?”. Remember, any sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ within the business sabotages your efforts, rendering success even more difficult than it is already.
Further resources:
- Intergenerational inclusion: Strategies for effective collaboration
Practical strategies for HR teams to bridge generational gaps through values-driven workshops and cross-generational dialogue, focusing on personality styles rather than age stereotypes. - Gen Z myths exposed: It’s time to end the generational blame game
Research-backed insights debunking generational stereotypes, urging employers to focus on varying life and career stages rather than playing the generational blame game.