While we are constantly told that workers are desperately needed in the hospitality industry and in remote stations, farms and roadhouses, it seems that grey nomads are not always top of potential employers’ wish lists.
Australia’s Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan, says bias against workers over 50 is endemic, and is a lot worse than previously thought.
She has just announced a new study into the prevalence of age discrimination in Australian workplaces, and has warned that the reluctance of employers to hire older workers is costing the country about $10 billion each year.
The new study will, for the first time, benchmark how aged discrimination in the workplace occurs, who it affects, how people feel about it, and what needs to change for it to stop.
“I expect we’ll find a picture that will be quite frightening,” Ms Ryan told ABC Radio’s The World Today. “I think we will find that there is far more negative behaviour towards older workers than people understand – until it happens to them.”
The interim report, by Roy Morgan research, is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, and Ms Ryan told the ABC she expects the full report to be public by March next year.
She says that businesses need to undergo a ‘sea change’ to see the value in employing older Australians.
“Employers have to say to themselves, I want the best person for the job, not a person that I’m judging by the number of birthdays he or she has had,” she told the ABC. “It’s hard to understand why more effort isn’t being made to ensure those people can work longer.”
The commissioner has also questioned the need for a large influx of foreign workers on 457 or similar working visas, when so many older Australians are still willing to work.
Doing a quick holiday in northern NT at the moment and have found only 1 in about 5 of staff in resorts, attractions etc are Australian. Is this due not only to age but the allowances that do not have to be paid or are not paid to these workers?
At 62 I haven’t worked for 2 years and do not expect to work again. This year I applied for grain harvest positions and got no response, I also applied for the mango harvest in NT, again no response.I wonder if the flood of foreign workers is the real culprit here. Since I’m too old to work I may as well just enjoy my early retirement. Does the $10 billion include the additional social security costs due to people accessing and spending the superannuation earlier than they otherwise might?
Charley, just a heads up about the grain harvest. We too applied on line in July this year for the Qld grain harvest. We have since been told that due to the drought in Qld, there will probably not be a harvest, if there is one, they will be using existing staff. We have, however, worked grain harvest in South Australia in 2012 and Western Australia in 2013, and have been told by our employers that they “love” grey nomads over back packers due to their reliability, age experience, and the fact that they have their own accommodation.
Since the government has brought out a scheme to keep the workforce on the payroll until they are 70 so they can then receive a pension, I think those who choose to retire early should still have an opportunity to perform casual work without any age restrictions. It’s disgusting to know that many businesses think we are “too old” to be of any value or physical work value. All I can say to that is. “Bring it”. We will show you different
My wife and I applied for a casual job in the Pilbara in June on a station that had accommodation. We have the qualifications having owned and operated a motel for 5 years and I grew up and worked on a wheat and sheep farm for 10 years. Didn’t even get a sorry we have some one. I reckon our ages 66yrs and 62yrs were too old for the agency that handled the add. Tony Abbott really needs to get his facts right
I have heard on the grape vine that workers compensation is hard to get for employers if the workers are over 65 am I correct in this?
Hard to imagine that’s the case Peter. When we pay our COMPULSORY Workers Compensation bill every year, they have never enquired as to the ages of our workers. All they care about is the total annual wage bill we pay so they can extort thousands of dollars from us.