A new study from the Employers Forum on Age (EFA) revealed that one in six (16%) workers feel they have been discriminated against when applying for a job or promotion at some point in their career because of favouritism in the workplace. Age is the most common reason (17%), closely followed by favouritism/the other candidate fitting the company’s ‘personality’ better (16%).
The findings from the research back up a theory that there is a tendency for people to recruit workers who bear similarities to themselves or to others in their company and this is done, for the most part, unconsciously. In total, over a third (35%) of respondents felt they have been discriminated against when trying to move company or applying for a more senior position in the same company. Age is the most common reason (17%), closely followed by favouritism/the other candidate fitting the company’s ‘personality’ better (16%). Workers in the North were most likely to feel they had fallen victim to favouritism, with 22% in the North East, 20% in Wales and 19% in the North West believing that they had been discriminated against for this reason, compared to 11% in Northern Ireland and 12% in the South West.
The study also found that 62% of employees said that all, most or some of their colleagues are similar to them. When asked what it is they had in common with their co-workers, age was found to be the most common factor (68%), followed by gender (62%) and social background (53%). In addition, unconscious bias in the private sector is more prevalent than the public sector with 29% v 35% respectively saying they felt part of a very varied workplace.
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