Nearly
two-thirds of HR professionals believe that ageism is the most common form of
discrimination in the workplace today, according to research.
The
online survey gathered opinions from 90 of the 3,350 HR, payroll and training
professionals currently subscribed to HRLooK.
Samantha
Mercer, campaign director at the Employers Forum on Age, commented: "We
are not surprised at this high figure. Age discrimination is not a minority
issue – it affects everyone at some stage in their life, whether young or old.
In the past, age discrimination hasn’t been treated seriously compared to other
forms of discrimination such as gender and disability."
Almost
a fifth (18 per cent) of HRLooK subscribers voted that they believe gender to
be the most common form of discrimination in the workplace, followed by race
(15.7 per cent) and disability (5.6 per cent). All respondents believe that
discrimination is still common, with no one stating that discrimination is not
a problem at work.
