This document discusses ageing in the workplace. It begins with introductions from Professor Katrina Pritchard of Swansea University and Dr. Cara Reed of Cardiff University. The document then covers various ways of understanding age, including chronological, biological, functional, and subjective definitions. It also discusses generational categories and how attitudes towards age can influence stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Finally, it explores hot topics regarding ageing such as retirement trends and the experience of older women workers.

1. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
AGEING IN THE WORKPLACE
• Professor Katrina Pritchard,
• Swansea University
• &
• Dr Cara Reed
• Cardiff University

2. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
AGEING IN THE WORKPLACE
• About us & Your thoughts on age and
ageing
• Understanding age
• Age and generational categories
• Always ageing: hot topics
• Questions and reflections
Please ask questions in the chat as we
go!
We will pause to address these between
each section but have also left time for
Q&A at the end!

3. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
UNDERSTANDING AGE

4. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
WAYS OF
THINKING ABOUT
AGE
Chronological: number indicating years since birth
or category with membership based on age range,
stage or cohort
Biological: related to expected life span, also
prospective age, years of remaining life
expectancy/healthy life expectancy
Functional: combination of biological, psychological
&/ or cognitive markers
Subjective/Psycho-social: subjective: self
perception; psycho-social: others’ perception
Comparative: dichotomous variable (older vs.
younger)
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12758356/world-cups-ageing-icons-
from-gareth-bale-to-eden-hazard-this-has-looked-a-tournament-too-far-for-many-stars
Also ‘Footballing Age’ according to Sky
Sports!

5. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
YOUNG AND OLD AS ‘BOOKEND’ CATEGORIES
UK:
50+
(HSE,
Unemployment)
USA:
Over 40 (Age
Discrimination)
UK:
16-18 (HSE)
Under 25 (Minimum
Wage)
18-24
(Youth
Unemployment)
smaller category,
transitional (education-work),
lessoning dependency,
risk = time-span of support required
larger category
some excluded from measurement
transitional (work-retirement),
increasing dependency
risk = intensity of support required
YOUNG OLD

6. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
YOUNG & OLD AS ‘BOOKEND’ CATEGORIES
UK:
50+
(HSE,
Unemployment)
USA:
Over 40 (Age
Discrimination)
UK:
16-18 (HSE)
Under 25 (Minimum
Wage)
18-24
(Youth
Unemployment)
YOUNG OLD
• ‘Young’ and ‘old’ are constructed as distinct categories in the labour market but there are similarities in the means
(e.g. regulatory) and measures (e.g. chronological age) of exclusion.
• Competition for resources means that campaign groups often promote one over the other rather than address these
means/measures of exclusion
• e.g. ‘lump of labour fallacy’ suggesting the economy supports a fixed number of jobs therefore young and old are in
competition when the reverse may be true, since more jobs are generated via economically active older citizens
(Börsch-Supan, 2013).

7. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
CATEGORISATIONS & GENERALISATIONS
ATTITUDES & JUDGEMENTS
DIRECT, INDIRECT & ASSOCIATIVE BEHAVIOURS
stereotype
prejudice
discrimination
INDIVIDUAL
INSTITUTIONAL
AGE & AGEISM

8. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
AGE AND GENERATIONAL
CATEGORIES

9. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/sustainable-inclusive-
growth/future-of-america/how-does-gen-z-see-its-place-in-the-working-
world-with-trepidation

10. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
WHAT ARE GENERATIONS?
• Mannheim (1927/1952) and Bourdieu (1993): consider taken-for-granted
influences that cross other forms of categorisation (e.g. social and economic
status).
• Birth cohorts shaped by a shared socio-cultural environment affecting individuals’
values, attitudes, beliefs (Twenge, 2012) vs. an emotional or social affiliation with
an episodic period (‘our time’) (Rosa, 2021)
• Individuals carry these cohort effects with them throughout their lives, shaping
future experiences and behaviours.
• Provides for a means of understanding how being ‘young’ etc. might be different
for different cohorts.

11. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
GENERATIONS
• But cohorts are very poorly defined with limited consideration of
how specific socio-cultural events impact these groups
• And often invoked as a proxy for age or a demographic category
(younger and older) conflating different conceptions of age (e.g.
Boomer for old and Gen Z for young)
• And evidence for significant and lasting difference is hotly debated
• Researchers do not agree!

12. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
GENERATIONS
‘the preponderance of the evidence paints a very consistent picture of
increased individualism and the traits related to it (materialism,
narcissism, self-esteem, lack of trust)’
(Twenge and Campbell, 2010, p.86 on Generation Y/ Millennials ),
VS.
‘behavior is more likely to be affected as a result of maturation, life
stage, the economy, or other environmental factors than it is some
fundamental shift in generational attitudes’
Deal et al (2010, p. 197)

13. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
ALWAYS AGEING: HOT TOPICS

14. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
RETIREMENT
• Traditionally based on gendered assumptions about transition from breadwinner to
pensioner
• 1970s-1990s focused on early retirement to open up the labour market but now
radical shift towards later (state support) for retirement and for (various forms of)
working longer
• “Exit routes have been closed, benefit levels are lower, and the duration of these
benefits has shortened”. (Hyde et al., 2018)
• Now: partial, flexi retirement, bridge-jobs and ‘unretirement’
• Covid-19 has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in retirement and in retirement
preparation
• Pandemic effects – retirement deferred and brought forward

15. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
POST-COVID
ECONOMIC
INACTIVITY BY AGE

16. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
THE ‘PROBLEM’
OLDER WOMAN
• Older women are positioned as “cranky” within
organizational, welfare and biological discourses (Irni,
2009) in contrast to the notion of peace and serenity in
retirement
• Less clear separation between paid and unpaid work,
more divergent working lives and less access to funding
for retirement (e.g. pension)
• APPG report October 2022 ‘entrenched
taboo….underpinned by sexism and ageism’ highlighting
this is a ‘particular challenge for those from minority
backgrounds’
• Impact of successful ageing discourses and neoliberal
emphasis on resilience at work: menopause as an
individual problem that women must fix

17. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
REFLECTIONS & QUESTIONS

18. © 2022 Katrina Pritchard and Cara Reed. All rights reserved.
THANK YOU!
Please do connect with us on LinkedIn & Social Media!
Katrina: Cara:
@ProfKPritchard @reedcara
@ProfKatrinaPritchard@mastodon.online
breakingbinariesresearch.wordpress.com
@breakingbinariesresearch