Study reveals age bias in workplace
Younger employees underestimate their older colleagues, according to new research.
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Older employees face unfair stereotypes in the workplace, according to research that shows younger colleagues often judge seniors as less competent, less adaptable, and less trustworthy.
The study, led by Associate Professor Chad Chiu from the University of Queensland’s Business School, examined attitudes in age‑diverse workplaces in Australia and Taiwan.
It comes at a time when many businesses are putting employees of different generations into closer contact.
“Workplace structures are becoming more and more horizontal, which means we often see people with significant age gaps working in the same roles,” Dr Chiu said.
The research suggests younger workers can form negative opinions when they see older colleagues in roles like their own. Dr Chiu said this often leads to unfair assumptions about performance and career progression.
“Younger workers often make unfair judgments about this – when they work with older colleagues sharing similar job titles they often wonder why they don’t advance to more senior positions,” he said.
“Intuitively, younger workers can jump to a conclusion that their older peers are incompetent and less trustworthy, making them reluctant to collaborate with them.”
The consequences of these assumptions can be serious. When older workers are excluded from collaboration or information‑sharing, managers may misinterpret the situation and assume the older employee is underperforming.
“What is worse is that their immediate supervisor thinks the older worker is not performing well because nobody wants to share information or projects with them, or work with them in general,” Dr Chiu said.
The findings are based on two studies. The first surveyed 199 employees from 56 professional work teams in consulting and technology firms in Taiwan, measuring the level of trust younger workers placed in older colleagues.
The second involved 177 Australian participants aged 22 and over, who were presented with a scenario involving a 55‑year‑old engineer responding to an urgent production issue.
“Younger people expressed lower levels of trust in our engineer,” Dr Chiu said.
“They may have thought of them as a nice or supportive colleague, but they didn’t see them as useful.”
This is an added cause for concern for senior workers, given that a recent survey of more than 600 businesses, conducted by the Australian HR Institute, shows that 70% of employers are excluding job candidates who are 55 or older.
According to the survey, 19% excluded applicants over 55 or with a disability. This is up from 11% in a 2024 survey and 15% in 2025.
But there is some good news.
While the new UQ research highlights persistent age‑based stereotypes, it also points to ways these perceptions can be challenged.
Dr Chiu said older workers may need to be more visible about their skills and contributions, particularly in environments where colleagues have limited information about each other’s capabilities.
“When younger employees receive very little information about their older colleagues’ capabilities, they will primarily rely on surface-level characteristics like age to make a judgment,” he said.
Managers and employers also have a responsibility to support older workers and ensure they have opportunities to demonstrate their value.
“Employers and team managers have a responsibility to give older employees opportunities or platforms to show they are capable,” Dr Chiu said.
“It is a mistake to think they don’t need support because they’re older or more experienced.”
The research, published in the international journal Human Relations, offers important insights for older professionals seeking to sustain their careers, as well as for organisations aiming to build inclusive, age‑diverse workplaces where experience is recognised and valued.
Related reading: UQ News, Human Relations, NSA, ABC
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