Stereotypes against older workers and HR practices: what are the relationships and practical implications?
Dina Guglielmi, Francesca Curina, Rita Chiesa, Guido Sarchielli
Following workforce aging an increase of discriminatory behaviours based on negative stereotypes of older workers can be seen. This paper has two aims: a) to explore how these stereotypes can influence older workers’ choice of maintenance rather than development HR practices of; b) to see if the working needs of employees change with age. 434 older workers between the ages of 50 and 65 years (M = 55.6; SD = 3,5) were interviewed in the public sector of a region in northern Italy. The results shows that negative stereotypes can lead older workers to prefer maintenance HR practices and that age partially affects this relationship.
Keywords
stereotypes; older workers; age; Human Resources; maintenance practices; development practices.
