Chapter 6: Discussion
6.2 Systemic Inequities
6.2.2 Ageism in work contexts
Within critical gerontology theory, the concept of humanistic gerontology addresses the meaning of work in the lives and experiences of older workers. Understanding their work experiences explains the ageism that exists in the workplace. Ageism permeates nearly every part of the workforce and is also observed in workplace contexts (Francioli & North, 2021;
Tonelli et al., 2020). During the third focus group session, Older Worker 5 highlighted the challenge of organisations circumventing government policies to safeguard older workers. He
explained that organisations would rather hire a younger worker and find ways to exploit loopholes in government policy. In the first focus group, Adult Educator 1 explained that typically, many organisations claim older workers do not have the required skillset and cannot perform the job. Industry Expert 5 added that older workers face the challenge of not utilising technology effectively but found this assumption misguided and inaccurate. Philips (2019) purports that while older workers may be slow to adapt to technology, they can become very proficient in carrying out their work using technology given the right support (Tams et al., 2021; Caines et al., 2020). It is also important that older workers are given the time and space to use their strengths to apply technological infrastructure to their work (Petery et al., 2020;
Schlomann et al., 2020; Seifert et al., 2020).
Another misconception in the workplace due to ageist assumptions relates to digital technology. When discussing the use of technology in workplaces, such as utilising software applications for work purposes or managing work documents digitally, Adult Educators 5 and 2 pointed out that although younger workers may be digital natives and IT savvy, it does not necessarily mean they can use digital technology effectively for work. The older workers are the ones who are familiar with work processes and understand the nuances within the organisation and industry. An important consideration here is that organisations should be critically aware that older workers need to be afforded the opportunity and time to adapt their work to digital technology (Parker & Andrei, 2020), unlike the digital natives who are more familiar with digital technology. Moreover, older workers require training tailored to their needs to address the needs of their organisation. For example, Older Worker 18 lamented that sometimes the human resources department would send them for training to simply clock in the required training hours, but it may not be relevant to her work. One benefit of aligning the training to the organisation’s unique needs is that older workers’ organisational knowledge will be retained but adapted to new digital processes.
However, Adult Educator 10 explained that although it may be true that older workers are not very proficient in utilising technology, they are not supported well in the workplace to apply technology for work appropriately. At the same time, Older Worker 6 argued that older workers are not treated fairly, and their wealth of experience is simply being ignored and not considered valuable due to the increased use of technology in many workplaces. The S-BIT theory of work proposes that positive, individual characteristics are important in the work context and can influence positive work outcomes (Allan et al., 2019a). High levels of wellbeing were observed in workplaces with inclusive and supportive organisational policies (Anderson, 2018; Hyatt et al., 2016; Snell, 2018). The workers, including older ones, also performed well and contributed more to organisations with inclusive wellbeing policies (Caines et al., 2020; Gigauri, 2020).
In addition, Older Worker 6 explained that he found his younger counterparts at work arrogant and used to being spoon fed as they grew within the organisation. He argued that this was unfair to the older workers, who were much more resilient and had to work their way up the corporate ladder, yet they were disrespected and cast aside in favour of their younger counterparts. Older Worker 17 suggested that it would be ideal to have older workers mentoring younger colleagues in the workplace due to the older workers’ organisational and industrial knowledge. Doing so will help the younger generation learn important work processes and build their support network within the organisation and industry (Parker &
Andrei, 2020). These points suggest that workers who are provided support and opportunities for professional growth and actualisation would feel engaged and experience a holistic state of wellbeing (Allan et al., 2019b; De-la-Calle-Durán & Rodríguez-Sánchez, 2021; Oades &
Dulagil, 2017). However, different organisations value different aspects of wellbeing over others (OECD, 2019; Daniels et al., 2018; Abdi et al., 2018; Tan & Tambyah, 2016). This is seen in the emphasis and focus on economic wellbeing and productivity in many organisations in Singapore (Kuan, 2022).
It is evident that older workers seek to contribute to Singapore’s workforce and be recognised as a valuable asset to their organisations, as pointed out by Older Worker 6. For this to happen, they need support from the people they work with and fair opportunities from their organisation. Most importantly, as Draper (2021), Bengtsson (2020) and Niemiec (2018) highlight, older workers want to be treated with dignity and be recognised for their experience and potential to contribute to the workforce.