Age-based bias becoming more prominent at workplaces: Survey

Even as corporates are taking steps to tackle issues like gender bias and even homophobia, 'ageism' or bias against a person for their age, is becoming the new rogue at Indian workplaces, according to a survey.

About 33 per cent of Indian employees face or have faced age-based bias at their workplace, followed by 17 per cent who faced bias because of their physical appearance and 15 per cent of others have faced bias on the basis of their culture or religion, a survey by JobBuzz noted.

Gender-based bias stood at the third pedestal with 14 per cent claiming they faced prejudice because of their gender, it said.

JobBuzz, an employer rating and review platform by TimesJobs, surveyed 1,940 employees to understand the nuances of bias and diversity at the Indian workplaces.

Most respondents in this survey belonged to the IT sector (23 per cent), followed by manufacturing (20 per cent), healthcare (10 per cent) and BPO (8 per cent) sectors, respectively. In terms of age group, most respondents belonged to 25-34 years.

This is surprising since the present mix of the workforce at most companies comprises of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and the Millennials, the survey opined.

Baby boomers were born between 1944 and 1964, Gen X was born between 1965 - 1979 and Gen Y, or millennials, were born between 1980 and 1994.

This demographic is going to change drastically as more millennials will join the workforce in the coming years, and the news of 'ageism' is not a great note for India Inc, it added.

We found that India Inc is biased on age more than physical appearance, culture or religion, gender and race. These are the new areas where the human resource managers and employers should focus their attention to," TimesJobs and TechGig Business Head Sanjay Goyal said.

About 79 per cent of respondents said they were not denied a promotion because of their gender and 62 per cent pointed out that after the #Metoo movement workplaces have become more sensitive towards women. Now, the focus should shift to other issues as well, Goyal added.