Ethics of Age Discrimination

Ethics of Age Discrimination

Introduction

The attitude of employees within the workplace can create a positive or negative work environment. A lack of respect among those within an organization can create a toxic workplace, and can create harmful views of the company. When employees are displeased with their organization, it can be quite evident to those that do business with the company. This can drive a negative trend in regards to business partners, market share and may potentially have an impact on company finances.

When a company and its employees or leaders are not behaving ethically, rumors begin to spread and organizations begin to weaken and ultimately crumble. In the following, the unethical behavior of the employees and leaders within a previous company are described. The appropriate behavior and steps which needed to be taken will be addressed, as will details on how to determine the effectiveness of the implemented process. Lastly, a brief summary of the author’s personal code of ethics will be provided prior to the conclusion of the paper.

Unethical Behavior

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines age discrimination as “treating someone (an applicant or employee) less favorably because of his or her age” (eeoc.gov). Additionally, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was created explicitly to protect against age discrimination of those forty and older. This type of discrimination can include, but is not limited to hiring, firing, laying-off, pay, job assignment, promotions and fringe benefits. Harassment is included as part of the ADEA, as it is illegal to harass a person or make offensive remarks due to his or her age.

As mentioned in the introduction, there are several drawbacks to treating older employees unethically. One of these includes a fostering a negative work environment. This type of behavior is not going to go unnoticed by others, and when this type of discrimination is visible, poor perceptions of management are created. Workers may become less interested in increasing productivity when constantly being worried about what type of discrimination, age or otherwise, may cost them their job. This can also cause a culture of mistrust within the company, creating resentment and hostility among co-workers, spreading negativity and hurting relationships within the organization. This type of discrimination hampers teamwork within a company and results in low job satisfaction.

An additional disadvantage to allowing age discrimination can be the loss of patronage from clients and/or vendors. Negative news tends to travel fast, and if it is well known that a particular company is not squashing occurrences of discrimination, clients and customers will be less likely to offer said company their business. The same argument