Profile: Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM, Age Discrimination Commissioner – Part 1

We’re excited to share our chat with Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald about mature age employment. This is part one of a 2-part interview.

What has surprised you the most about Australia’s mature age workforce since becoming Commissioner?

What surprises me most is that ageism, both unintentional and deliberate, continues to exist in many Australian workplaces, creating real barriers to the valued employment of older workers.

For the first time in history, we are seeing 5 generations in the workplace. These different age groups bring diverse skills, experiences and expectations about workplaces and about working with others that can be very positive.

That said, there continues to be reluctance and ageist views from some employers and recruiters. Our work shows that such attitudes are formed over a lifetime. Yet, when these attitudes are called out many people are not even aware of their impact on older workers. The good news is that change can and does happen, and inclusive multigenerational workplaces are possible.

We must do better to provide positive outcomes and experiences at all stages of employment, for people of all ages – including recruitment, valued experiences within the workplace and the planned exiting from the workforce.

What misconceptions do you think employers have about hiring mature age people (45 years and over)? What could we do to help address that?

Ageist stereotypes are deeply rooted in cultural values and norms that view ageing and older age as undesirable. This is really entrenched right through our life in the way we see and value older people, and that becomes embedded in society, including workplaces. The prevailing ageist misconceptions are key contributors to employers’ reluctance to hire older workers. They can foster a belief or assumption that older workers are somehow less competent, less capable of learning, have declining skills, and are less equipped to adapt to technological change than younger workers, beliefs similar to those found in the Commission’s 2021 report?

But this is not the reality, and it is not what the research shows. This reluctance to recruit and retain mature and older workers is in contrast with many employers’ lived experiences.

We need to challenge these misconceptions.

You’ve said one of your priorities as Commissioner is to eliminate age discrimination in Australian workplaces. What steps can we take now to counter ageism and improve the experience of mature age people at work?

We must create an agenda about positive, inclusive, multigenerational workplaces that welcome and value mature age and older people. It is not only about how they get recruited and not overlooked in that process, but also how they get treated in the workplace.

First, we need to build awareness about ageism in Australian workplaces. Changing Perspectives research by the Commission in 2023 found that even a brief, one-off educational intervention can be a powerful tool in creating positive changes in attitudes and behaviours towards older people that may last over time.

Second, there are other ways employers can demonstrate their commitment to an age inclusive workplace, such as:

• Promote your workplace as a model or champion of an age inclusive workplace.
• Ensure recruitment practices are genuinely open to workers of all ages and do not contain hidden age biases.
• Establish an intergenerational staff committee that contributes to ongoing workplace improvements and activities or include age as part of the conversation in workplace diversity committees.
• Develop clear policies about age discrimination and communicating these to managers and staff, regularly checking that the practices reflect the policies.
• Promote flexible work as ‘business as usual’ for employees of all ages. It will benefit older workers but younger workers too.
• Ensure older workers have the same opportunities to access training, mentoring, and leadership as workers of other ages.
• Provide reciprocal knowledge transfer opportunities, for example, older workers to mentor and train younger/new staff, or cross-mentoring programs.

The Commission also has guides and practical tools to help employers build and manage a successful multigenerational workforce. These free resources are available at Older Workers Resource Hub | Australian Human Rights Commission.

We know there are benefits for businesses hiring mature age people and having a multigenerational workforce, including having access to different perspectives and experiences. How could we help promote these benefits to increase the prevalence of multigenerational workplaces?

We have a longstanding collaboration with the Australian HR Institute (AHRI), resulting in attitudinal surveys of organisations' strategies to recruit and retain older workers. It compares the employers’ perceptions to their experiences of working with people across the lifespan.

The 2023 AHRI report (PDF) found the negative perceptions of working with older people contradict the real-life positive experiences. Many employers surveyed reported no difference between older and younger workers in terms of job performance, concentration, ability to adapt to change, energy levels and creativity.

Advantages of older workers were found to be coping with stress, attendance, reliability, awareness, commitment and loyalty. Advantages of younger workers include their physical capability, ambition and proficiency in using technology.

We can promote these benefits of multigenerational workplaces to debunk the myths.

But I would like to see even more research, including:

• Updated prevalence data about age discrimination in workplaces.
• Surveys of specific work sectors that can provide comparative, longitudinal data sets to track trends and measure change, particularly progress.
• Workplace-based education programs about ageism, including their evaluation.
• Sharing of good practice to recruit and employ mature and older workers, including how this can be adapted across sectors.
• Examining the experiences of age diverse workplaces from the perspective of young workers, older workers, employers, business efficiency and industry growth.
• Examining the experiences of older workers when they get to participate in effective transition to retirement programs.

Then I would like to see this information shared on an online platform and in other ways. There are lots of opportunities, but an enhanced evidence base would turbo charge our efforts in this increasingly important social and economic area.

If you would like more information on securing work as a mature age worker or would like to attract mature age people to your business, visit the Mature Age Hub.