Stereotypes and older workers: the New Zealand experience.

• Author: McGregor, Judy

Abstract

Social prejudice about older people in society is expressed in a variety of discriminatory stereotypes. This paper explores the nature of stereotypes held by a large group of older workers and by employers in New Zealand. The empirical study shows that older workers aged 55 years and over who are members of New Zealand's largest union and employers who belong to the New Zealand Employers' Federation hold in common a number of stereotypes about older workers. The negative stereotypes held by both groups are "adaptability factors", such as resistance to change and problems with technology, particularly computer technology. The positive stereotypes also relate to "adaptability factors", but in this case they are reliability, loyalty and job commitment. The implications of the findings are considered for the Government's policy on positive ageing and for societal change.

INTRODUCTION

Persistent stereotypes--social beliefs, which are often learned from others (Franzoi 1996)--surround older workers. Stereotypes are rarely neutral and are often highly evaluative (Oakes et al. 1994), dividing people into in-groups and out-groups. They are part of a wider picture of social prejudice against older people in general that the Government and policy agencies are attempting to address through attitudinal change and policy initiatives under the rubric of "positive" ageing (Dalziel 2001). Stereotypes are not fixed mental states, and redefinition and abandonment of stereotypes are part of the process of social change and of social progress. For example, stereotypes against women, ethnic minorities and gays are less pervasive today than they were a century ago (Oakes et al. 1994). Because stereotypes significantly influence the way the public processes social information, it is useful to know the extent to which groups such as older workers themselves and employers subscribe to contemporary social attitudes and beliefs. In particular, the extent to which stereotypes are held about older workers may influence employment-related decisions and give rise to age discrimination at work (Chiu et al. 2001).

THE NEW ZEALAND EXPERIENCE

There is now a significant amount of research on stereotypical beliefs about older workers in Western societies (Tillsley 1990, Taylor and Walker 1998), and this paper reports on the New Zealand experience. The study gathered information on stereotypes about older workers from two large questionnaire surveys undertaken by Massey University researchers engaged in a Public Good Science Fund study about the employment of the older worker. The first quantitative survey was conducted among workers aged 55 years and over who were members of New Zealand's largest union, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU); a second, similar survey was conducted among employers who were members of the New Zealand Employers' Federation. The studies were undertaken with the co-operation of the participant groups. The partnership approach to research, which involved access to membership databases and letters of support endorsing the value of the research, signalled the salience of the issue of the employment of the older worker to both the union and employers' groups.

Information about older worker stereotypes in New Zealand has been largely anecdotal, generally suggesting that false, stereotypical assumptions are commonly attached to older workers. For example, Rudman (1999), in a New Zealand human resource management textbook, describes as fallacies such beliefs as "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" and that after a certain age people are simply waiting to retire and collect their pensions. Our study was designed to move on from anecdotal perceptions and collect empirical data about whether stereotypes existed, and which stereotypes were commonly subscribed to by older workers themselves and by New Zealand employers.

BACKGROUND

The current socio-political environment lends greater significance to the issue of employment-related age discrimination. Firstly, awareness of age discrimination at work has been heightened by changes to the Human Rights Act 1993, which added age as a prohibited ground of discrimination from 1 February 1994 and effectively abolished compulsory retirement on the grounds of age after a five-year transitional period ending on 1 February 1999 (New Zealand Employers' Federation 1998). Secondly, the raising of the traditional "exit" age from work from 60 to 65 years for many workers reliant for financial security in their old age on government superannuation, and the fact that there is no longer a compulsory retirement age, also mean many older workers will stay longer in the work force. Thirdly, policy considerations about the future of work demand a greater understanding of the "greying" of the labour force and society's attitudes.

Other labour market dynamics--such as the ethic of individual rights intrinsic to the employment contracts legislative regime in New Zealand, in force at the time the surveys were conducted, and the worldwide reassertion of managerialism that accompanied economic restructuring--clearly influence the work environment for older workers. However, these influences, which can be positive or negative and operate either overtly or covertly, is hard to quantify. With heightened policy attention being paid to positive ageing strategies in New Zealand there is a clear need for better data collection about the impact of labour market patterns and human resource trends on older workers and their treatment at all stages of the employment cycle--from recruitment, selection, promotion and training, through to exit via retirement, redundancy or dismissal.

In addition to the wider socio-economic climate there are a number of individual and organisational characteristics affecting age stereotypes that should be recorded in relation to the study. Looking at individual characteristics first, it is important to note that both surveys explored stereotypical perceptions rather than actual job performance, and no data were collected on the relationship between age and job performance other than respondents' perceptions. So are stereotypes about older people's work performance based on myth or reality? Some previous research findings on this question are discussed in the following section.

PREVIOUS RESEARCH ABOUT STEREOTYPES AND AGE

A vast body of literature has been devoted to what Loretto et al. (2000:290) describe as "one of the principal recurring debates, that of performance declining with age". In fact a somewhat confusing picture emerges from the literature on this issue. Griffiths (1997) provides a useful summary of the scientific literature and states that most reviews and meta-analyses report little consistent relationship between ageing and work performance. However, while age may indeed be a poor proxy for performance, many of the international studies have different methodological starting points.

It is clear, for example, that some physical attributes such as eye sight, hearing and physiological systems deteriorate. Griffiths (1997:200) poses the question, "given the evidence for some age-related deterioration in various physiological and cognitive systems, why might work-based and population-based studies of the relationship between age and performance suggest different...