Workplace Challenges
Age bias at workDays after Canada's top central banker said that keeping older employees in the workforce longer is a critical challenge, a new poll says a majority of Canadian believe age bias exists in their workplace. |
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 [ 2007-03-13 ] |
© 2007 Jupiterimages Corporation.
Yesterday the online career resource portal www.monster.ca released results of two polls, one that says most respondents believe there is age bias in their workplace and another that says plastic surgery or cosmetic dental work would help them in their careers.
The poll asked respondents whether they feel ageism exists in their workplace.
A whopping 63% agreed that "age was obviously a factor" when candidates are considered for job openings. Another 17% said they believe that their employer prefers workers "in a certain age bracket."
Only 19% of the 2,133 Canadians polled said they believe that "people of all ages" are considered for job openings in their workplace.
IMPROVING APPEARANCE
In a separate www.monster.ca poll of 4,397 Canadians on the topic of improving their appearance to get ahead, 47% said that they definitely believe plastic surgery or cosmetic dental work would help advance their career. About 38% disagreed, while 14% said they were unsure.
"Today many Canadian employers are looking to help ease the labour shortage," said Gabriel Bouchard, vice-president and general manager of Monster Canada.
"And while employers are looking for new ways to keep baby boomers in the workplace, it is interesting to note that many Canadians feel some kind of age bias at work, with a person's age being viewed as a factor in their employability."
"As our workforce continues to age, it will be interesting to see how attitudes change to perhaps favour older workers for their skills and experience," Bouchard added.
Bank of Canada governor David Dodge last week told Calgary's Chamber of Commerce that companies need to become more flexible to keep staff past the standard retirement age of 65 because of a growing labour shortage.
MORE EFFORT NEEDED
"The real challenge for us is to find ways that we can use people more flexibly -- whether that's numbers of hours per week, number of weeks per year -- as they get older," Dodge said Friday following a speech to the Calgary Chamber.
"And it means that we as employers have got to put more effort into upgrading skills and increasing our openness to hiring mature workers."
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