Financial services lobby group claim middle-aged men facing age discrimination

A new report claims men in the financial services sector are facing some kinds of discrimination, including being chosen first for downsizing and missing out on training opportunities, as managers in their 30s prefer to hire and promote those within their own age brackets.

But a human resources expert suggests while age discrimination may be occurring, men aged over 50 are the most likely candidates for redundancy as they make up a large demographic within the industry.

The new report conducted by Westfield Wright for the Financial Services Council questioned 500 respondents, and found that 28% of older workers had experienced some form of discrimination.

These actions included being made redundant before others, a lack of access to training and inflexible attitudes towards health requirements.

This supposed discrimination is occurring most commonly among mid-managers earning average wages of $70,000 per year. The FSC pointed out this was most frustrating due to these workers attempting to save as much as they could before retirement.

“We need to end the concept of full-time work followed by full-time retirement,” FSC chief executive John Brogden said in a statement.

“Australians remaining in the workforce for longer periods will stretch retirement incomes by supplementing superannuation through part-time work as well as reduce our nation’s skills shortage.”

The report claims 27% of workers would be “very keen” to continue working for as long as they are able, while 26% said they would be “somewhat keen”.

And while 49% said they had lost a significant amount of energy, 28% said their discipline had increased, and 59% said they were able to tap into more knowledge and experience. For 27%, productivity had increased as well.

But for Rob Bebbington, head of Mercer’s human capital business, says discrimination in the financial services sector has more to do with gender than it does with age.

“If you were asking, is there gender discrimination generally? Then I would agree, but not necessarily for age.”

Bebbington says it’s more likely middle-aged workers are experiencing supposed age discrimination due to being part of the largest demographic in the industry.

“This is probably reflective of the existing demographic base, I would say. We deal with a number of clients who are actively demonstrating strategies to ensure the continual engagement of baby boomers.”

“I’m not denying the survey found this particular result, but I would suggest there would be a number of players that are doing the opposite.”

Instead, Bebbington says businesses should spend more time worrying about gender discrimination and ensuring equal pay.

“I think in our Australian context we still have quite a long way to go in terms of gender equity. Most of our surveys would suggest these organisations have quite a ways to go in terms of securing the engagement of women.”