Some workers in their late 40s and older are considering “drastic steps” such as getting Botox to look younger to get a job or promotion, according to a charity.
The Centre for Ageing Better described results from polling they commissioned into people’s experiences of and attitudes to workplace ageism as “dispiriting”.
Their small sample of just over 500 workers aged 45 and older found 15% said they would consider getting plastic surgery to look younger if it helped them to get a job or a promotion.
One in five (20%) people in this age group said they would consider Botox or fillers while around two in five (41%) said they would consider dyeing their hair if it helped them to get on at work.
Some 16% of those polled who were aged 45 and above said they had been on the receiving end of inappropriate comments about their age from fellow employees, including colleagues and managers.
Of these, two in five (39%) said this happened frequently.
Carole Easton, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, described it as “dispiriting to see the drastic steps that older workers are forced to consider in order to get a level playing field in the workplace”.
She added: “Many people assume that in this day and age we have the legislation and the HR policies that put an end to ageism in the workplace. But the data, and the experiences we hear from people, tell a different story.
“We’ve heard from jobseekers who are inexplicably passed over for hundreds of job applications despite extensive skills and experience and who say they can feel prospective employers go cold on them the moment they realise their age.
“The persistent and unfounded stereotypes around older workers are consigning too many people to the employment scrapheap with a third of their working lives still to go.”
:: Survation polled 567 people aged 45 and older online between September 15 and 17.
