According to Danielle Johnson, National Director the tech industry is well known for having a youth centric culture. With the median age of employees at major tech companies being under 30, people approaching 50 become outliers.
“Over a third of tech workers in Australia report experiencing age related discrimination and signing up to the Age Inclusive Recruiter program is part of our commitment to changing that narrative.’ said Johnson
Launched this month, the APSCo Age Inclusive Recruiter program aims to recognise recruiters who demonstrate a strong commitment to fostering an inclusive work environment that values and supports employees of all ages.
Lesley Horsburgh, CEO, APSCo Australia, said: “We launched the Age Inclusive Recruiter program to challenge the age bias that’s been limiting the tech industry.
“In a world of talent shortages and longer working lives, overlooking experienced candidates simply doesn’t make sense and we are absolutely delighted to welcome Sirius as a foundation member and look forward to working with them and other APSCo members to help tackle age discrimination in the workplace,”
“The timing couldn’t be better for this initiative as new research from AHRI and the AHRC again shows a persistent reluctance by HR managers to hire people aged over 50,” Horsburgh said.
Agencies that commit to being an Age Inclusive Recruiter agree to:
- Raise awareness of the issues created by ageism with hiring managers and employers
- Provide education and training for their recruiters to help them champion the reduction of age discrimination throughout the hiring process
Richard Spencer, Founder of AgeInc said, “Prejudice against people aged over 50 in the workplace is based solely on outdated stereotypes, including that older people are technologically inept, although nothing could be further from the truth,”
“We’re delighted to partner with APSCo and Sirius to help raise awareness of age discrimination as well as to help their members and individual recruitment consultants advise their clients on how best to achieve more age inclusive recruitment.” he said.
