Age Discrimination in Employee Recruitment
Recruiting employees can be prone to structural and personal biases that favor younger employees. For example, favoring football and baseball players for remote sales roles because you think success in sports proves the ability to be self-motivated and disciplined in a remote work environment could lead you down the path of a gender discrimination claim.
Online recruitment tools like LinkedIn, Indeed, or Zip Recruiter can be a great way to get a diverse applicant pool. But suppose your recruiter updates the settings on those online recruiting tools to see photos of applicants. In that case, the recruitment process might slant in favor of employees who look like the recruiter.
Remote work makes it easier to recruit employees with disabilities and those from historically underrepresented groups. This is helpful, and I encourage employers to look for additional ways to tap into previously underutilized talent pools. It will make your company stronger. But one of the most significant issues I caution against is a tendency for age discrimination in recruiting, especially for remote roles. I believe age discrimination is the most common danger in recruiting employees. There are two sides to this issue.
On the one hand, some employers tend to favor younger candidates based on the assumption that younger employees will be more adept at highly technological work often required by today’s workplace. On the other hand, some companies tend to discriminate against younger recruits for remote roles based on negative stereotypes about work ethic and younger employees using remote work as a cover to slack.
These stereotypes can be harmful. While it’s true the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) generally protects employees 40 and over, some states, like Michigan, also have laws protecting younger employees from age discrimination. That means age discrimination can cut both directions, and you must avoid harmful stereotypes against older and younger remote applicants.
The key is consistency. Do you allow younger employees with similar experience levels the same remote privileges you grant older employees? To protect employee relations, you should communicate why certain employees get to work remotely while others do not. Otherwise, your employees will resent you, especially if remote privileges break down along generational lines (or any other line, for that matter).
Further, a fixation on generational labels can cloud judgment and create confirmation bias in both negative and positive ways. Research has proven that most employees, regardless of their generation, seek the same things: decent pay, respect, camaraderie, meaning, and flexibility. So don’t overfocus on stereotypical generational differences. A multigenerational workforce is compatible with a productive, cohesive, collaborative remote workforce.
Generational biases harm companies because employers may disregard qualified employees and undermine their culture. So make sure you address potential biases head-on. Doing so is the right thing. Plus, it will make your company stronger and less prone to costly lawsuits.
