Impact of Age Based Discrimination on Employee Productivity and Performance

This research project analyzes the impact of age based discrimination on the productivity and performance of employees. It explores the concept of age discrimination, its effects on workplace relations, and ways to prevent it. The study focuses on Sainsbury, a retail chain in the UK.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................5
METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION.......................................................................................7
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS.....................................................................................10
RESEARCH OUTCOMES.......................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................20
REFLECTION & RECOMMENDATION OF ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES.....21
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................22

TITLE: To analyze the impact of age based discrimination on the productivity and
performance of employees.
INTRODUCTION
Background of Research
The discrimination in the workplace is prejudiced and arises when workers are
unfavorably treated due to gender, religion, race, disability, age and some other characteristics. If
company treat some person differently due to possess various characteristics to some other staff
members that is unlawful. There is a discrimination arising on the basis of age and this can
impact on the employee relation at workplace. In an organisation, Age discrimination is an
improper letting of a person's age when determining who gets new jobs, advancement and any
other work advantages. Sainsbury is the United Kingdom's largest retail chain and was founded
in London in 1869 by John James Sainsbury. In this organisation, there are many employees who
are working from the long period of time and company treat them in a better manner. The present
research considered the age discrimination and in this there is discrimination with the old
employees and give the importance to new staff (Assari and Moghani Lankarani, 2018). It
develops the impact on productivity as well as profitability of company. The effect of
discrimination is not limited to the physical but it develops the mental impacts on staff members
consisting depression, self control loss, developing the anxiety disorders which leading to staff
members becoming hostile.
Rationale of Research
Current investigation is based on impact of workplace discrimination on employee
relation at workplace. Discrimination negatively influence on the employees productivity as well
as relations at workplace. This reduces the organisational productivity. Researcher mainly
conducts the present investigation from personal and professional context. In personal manner,
researcher wants to enhance the understanding regarding the workplace discrimination. It can
increase the skills and core competencies. Other than this, investigator can able to get the
understanding about conducting research by performing all the activities of an investigation. This
can help in enhance the professional understanding of an investigator (Axelrad and James, 2016).

Aim
“To analyse the impact of age based discrimination on the productivity and performance
of employees;” a study on Sainsbury, Moor Lane, Clitheroe BB7 1BE, London, United
Kingdom.
Objectives
 To understand age based workplace discrimination concept.
 To analyse impact of age based discrimination on the performance and productivity.
 To determine ways to prevent workplace from age discrimination.
Question
 What do you mean by age discrimination?
 In which manner age discrimination influence on productivity and performance of an
organisation?
 What are the ways through which age discrimination can be reduced at workplace?

LITERATURE REVIEW
Age based workplace discrimination
As per opinion of ALISON DOYLE (2019), Age discrimination in company happens
when age of an individual is unfairly used as factor in employment. It is practice of age letting of
an individual to deciding about promotion as well as some other job benefits. Termination
decisions cannot be based entirely on their age. Older staff members who claim they are
discriminated against to help new staff are typically impacted by age discrimination, but even
cases of younger employees being replaced by older workers have taken place. The old
employees have the more experience as comparison to the new or younger employees. They can
give the training to the new staff members regarding the work and also about the job role (Biglio,
2020).
Impact of age based discrimination on the performance and productivity
According to viewpoint of Uschi Backes-Gellner and Stephan Veen (2014), at workplace,
discrimination issue infleunce on the performance of employees at workplace in negative
manner. This demotivates the employees towards firm and also enhance absenteeism rate. Age
diversity has also been identified as being one of strategic capabilities which will create value
over its rivalry to organizations. The impact of aging on individual productivity has also been
studied regularly; there's been no effects of organizational productivity that are more than the
amount of individual productivity. As workplace ageism has negative effects not only on older
employees but also on the efficiency and output of businesses, the goal should be to prevent the
incidence of ageism and reduce its impact.
Ways to prevent workplace from age discrimination
According to viewpoint of Allen Smith (2020) Workplace discrimination is main issues
for Sainsbury Company and this negatively impact on performance level of staff members.
Arising the age discrimination issue leaving the old and experienced employees from workplace.
In regards, this is more essential for management to take some action for managing age

discrimination in an organisation. It is necessary that all staff members of any age are mainly
protected from the age discrimination. There are some of the effective strategies given below:
Redundancy procedures- Sainsbury should assure that redundancy policy does not
indirectly or directly discriminate against the old staff members. The right to the mandatory
redundancy pay is not constrained by higher or lower level. If the employees are under 18,
employer will pay the mandatory minimum redundancy allowance to them (Cherry, 2019).
Retirement rights- The retirement age is when a staff member selects to retire. It is
necessary for Sainsbury Company to set the compulsory retirement age for the staff members.
Manager can only make employee retire if they can explain it in specific circumstances
(Wainwright and et. al., 2019).
Develop policy- It is essential to organisation to create policy related to age
discrimination so that this issue can be removed. If at workplace, there is any unacceptable
behaviour happen then manager needs to take the strict action immediately. It may include an
individual that has been discriminated against aside (Dipboye, 2016).

METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION
Research methodology is a key component of all research, which systematically supports
the completion of entire research. The researcher uses research onion that consists of several
layers for the ongoing investigation (Temple and et. al., 2019). Various layers considered in the
research onion given below:
Research Philosophy- This layer simply shows the nature or belief of the researcher that
it is primarily of two types and positivism and interpretativism for completion of this report.
Amongst these, the investigator has used Positivism research philosophy as this provides specific
information on impact of age based discrimination on the productivity and performance of
employees (Egdell and et. al., 2020).
Research Approach- Two research approaches followed by researcher in keeping with
the basic criterion of their study are deductive and inductive. The investigator has used a
quantitative method for performing the current studies as a deductive approach, which produces
accurate research results (Reavley, Jorm and Morgan, 2017).
Research Choice- During the research, researchers must select the right method for
several of the main choices. There are primarily three types of research that are mono, mixed and
multi-method. The investigator has adopted a mono-method for present study as the quantitative
method is an option for study that involves reliable and authentic information. The respective
researchers used graphs to analyze the results as self explanatory and assists readers to detect
results by correctly examining them (Gözde, 2018).
Research Strategy- The investigator is based on the strategy to employ the
Questionnaire as their core research technique for the successful execution of this study, as it
allows to collect more data with much less time.
Time horizon- Under this, cross sectional time horizon has been used in conducting the
present investigation. The main reason behind using this is that it helps in provide the time
period on the basis of activities in an effective manner (Jones, 2016).

Data collection- For the present study, a researcher has chosen both primary and also
secondary forms of data collection resources to gather as much information as possible about the
research question which helps achieve research results faster. The questionnaire was primarily
chosen through the survey investigator. This would be completed by 30 employees of Sainsbury
sample population. The researcher was the primary secondary source for books, magazines,
internet publications and other written data (King and Bryant, 2017). The questionnaire
developed for this investigation is as follows:
Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Email address:
Q1) Do you have understanding regarding workplace discrimination?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) How long are you working in Sainsbury company?
a) 3 years to 5 years
b) 6 years to 8 years
c) 9 years to 12 years
Q3) What are different kinds of discrimination arise at workplace?
a) Age
b) Gender
c) Religion
Q4) Do you ever victim of the age discrimination issues?
a) Yes
b) No
Q5) According to your opinion, what is the impact of discrimination in company?
a) Minimize performance
b) Poor communication
c) Arise conflicts
Q6) As per your viewpoint, how does the age discrimination impact workplace

environment of a firm?
a) Refuse to hire older staff
b) Treating older staff differently
c) Firing older workers
Q7) Which strategies company needs to be applied for managing the discrimination at
workplace?
a) Provide training
b) Retirement rights
c) Redundancy procedures
Q8) What are the different legislations applied by Sainsbury to reduce workplace
environment from the age discrimination?
a) Equality Act 2010
b) Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
c) Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
Q9) What benefits Sainsbury can get by getover from workplace environment from the age
discrimination issue?
a) Everyone to have equal opportunity to work
b) Sustain experienced employees
c) Develop skills regardless of age
Q10) Recommend ways by which company can retaining the old employees which have
more experience in order to gaining competitive advantages.
Sampling- Samples are known as an effective means of choosing individuals from the
population at large by the researchers. Two types of sampling are primarily probabilistic and
non-probabilistic. In current research the sample population was selected using a probabilistic
sampling process. For this search, a total of 30 staff members were chosen (Nelson, 2016).

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS
Data Sheet
Q1) Do you have understanding regarding workplace discrimination? Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 5
Q2) How long are you working in Sainsbury company? Frequency
a) 3 years to 5 years 5
b) 6 years to 8 years 7
c) 9 years to 12 years 18
Q3) What are different kinds of discrimination arise at workplace? Frequency
a) Age 10
b) Gender 15
c) Religion 5
Q4) Do you ever victim of the age discrimination issues? Frequency
a) Yes 3
b) No 27
Q5) According to your opinion, what is the impact of discrimination in
company?
Frequency
a) Reduce employees performance 10
b) Poor communication 10
c) Arise conflicts 10
Q6) As per your viewpoint, how does the age discrimination impact
workplace environment of a firm?
Frequency
a) Refusing to hire older employees 12
b) Treating older employees differently 10
c) Firing older employees 8
Q7) Which strategies company needs to be applied for managing the
discrimination at workplace?
Frequency
a) Provide training 10

b) Retirement rights 7
c) Redundancy procedures 13
Q8) What are the different legislations applied by Sainsbury to reduce
workplace environment from the age discrimination?
Frequency
a) The Equality Act 2010 10
b) Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) 10
c) Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 10
Q9) What benefits Sainsbury can get by getover from workplace
environment from the age discrimination issue?
Frequency
a) Everyone to have equal opportunity to work 10
b) Sustain experienced employees 12
c) Develop skills regardless of age 8
THEME 1: Understanding regarding workplace discrimination
Q1) Do you have understanding regarding workplace
discrimination?
Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 5
a) Yes b) No
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
5

Interpretation: It has been stated from the above mentioned graph that there are 25 respondents
which said that they have understanding about the workplace discrimination. 5 respondents do
not have any knowledge regarding it.
THEME 2: You working is Sainsbury Company
Q2) How long are you working in Sainsbury company? Frequency
a) 3 years to 5 years 5
b) 6 years to 8 years 7
c) 9 years to 12 years 18
a) 3 years to 5 years b) 6 years to 8 years c) 9 years to 12 years
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
5
7
18
Interpretation: According to the opinion of 5respondents, they work for Sainsbury from 3 to 5
years. 7respondents said they work from 6 to 8 years. 18 respondents said that they are very old
in this organisation and they have experience of 9 years to 12 years.
THEME 3: Kinds of discrimination arise at the workplace
Q3) What are different kinds of discrimination arise in company? Frequency
a) Age 10
b) Gender 15
c) Religion 5

a) Age b) Gender c) Religion
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
10
15
5
Interpretation: The prejudice is based on the 10 respondents based on their age. Organization
gives new hires more priority compared with old employees. 15 respondents indicated that
discrimination based on gender in an organization occurred. The release and foundation are
acknowledged by 5 respondents.
THEME 4: Victim of the age discrimination issues
Q4) Do you ever victim of the age discrimination issues? Frequency
a) Yes 3
b) No 27
a) Yes b) No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
3
27

Interpretation: 3 respondents said that they face age discrimination issue at workplace and
according to them they are old in an organisation and company give them less importance as
comparison to new employees and also provide them training. There are 27 respondents and they
never face discrimination on the basis of age in organisation.
THEME 5: Impact of discrimination in an organization
Q5) According to your opinion, what is the impact of discrimination
in an organization?
Frequency
a) Reduce employees performance 10
b) Poor communication 10
c) Arise conflicts 10
a) Reduce employees
performance b) Poor
communication c) Arise conflicts
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 10 10
Interpretation: Based on 10 respondents, there is a decrease of the workplace performance
standard in the organizational effect of discrimination. Discrimination has detrimental effects for
the mind as well as its degree of success. There are 10 respondents who state that the lack of
contact between workers and managers contributes to discrimination. Managers do not support
the employees regarding their work and do not appreciate them. 10 remaining respondents said
that discrimination arise at workplace arise the conflict issue and it develops some
misunderstanding among the staff members.
THEME 6: Age discrimination impact workplace environment

Q6) As per your viewpoint, how does the age discrimination impact
workplace environment of a firm?
Frequency
a) Refusing to hire older employees 12
b) Treating older employees differently 10
c) Firing older employees 8
a) Refusing to hire
older employees b) Treating older
employees differently c) Firing older
employees
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
12
10
8
Interpretation: 12 respondents said that refusing to hire older employees and this negatively
impact on the working environment of company. Old employees have the more experience as
comparison to new employees and refusing to hire the old employees developed a negative
impact on organisational reputation. 10 respondents said that treating the older employees
differently is a main basis of is discrimination and it arises negative working environment in an
organisation. There is it 8 respondents which said that main impact of based discrimination on
workplace environment is to firing the oldest staff members.
THEME 7: Strategies company needs to be applied for managing the discrimination
Q7) Which strategies company needs to be applied for managing the
discrimination at workplace?
Frequency
a) Provide training 10
b) Retirement rights 7
c) Redundancy procedures 13

a) Provide training b) Retirement rights c) Redundancy
procedures
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
10
7
13
Interpretation: Based on 10 respondents, preparation is one of the powerful methods for
handling discrimination in a company in the workplace. For the organization, both older workers
and new staff need to be educated. 7 respondents also said the organization would grant the
pension rights. There are 13 respondents which are agree with redundancy procedure is one of
the effective strategy by which workplace discrimination on the basis of age can be managed.
THEME 8: Legislations applied by Sainsbury
Q8) What are different legislations applied by Sainsbury to remove
workplace environment from age discrimination?
Frequency
a) The Equality Act 2010 10
b) Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) 10
c) Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 10

a) The Equality Act
2010 b) Age Discrimination
in Employment Act
(ADEA)
c) Employment
Equality (Age)
Regulations 2006
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 10 10
Interpretation: 10 respondents said that the equality act 2010 should be applied to company
through which workplace environment can be prevent from the age discrimination. According to
them, all the employees have the equal chance and equal pay on the basis of their roles and
responsibilities. There are respondents 10 respondents which said that firm requires to apply age
discrimination in the employment act. 10 remaining respondents said that there is a need to apply
the employment equality regulations 2006. This provides the equal chance to the old employees
at workplace is equal to new employees.
THEME 9: Benefits Sainsbury can get by preventing workplace age discrimination
Q9) What benefits Sainsbury can get by preventing the workplace
environment from the age discrimination issue?
Frequency
a) Everyone to have equal opportunity to work 10
b) Sustain experienced employees 12
c) Develop skills regardless of age 8

a) Everyone to have
equal opportunity to
work
b) Sustain experienced
employees c) Develop skills
regardless of age
0
2
4
6
8
10
12 10
12
8
Interpretation: There are 10 respondents which said that the main benefit company can get
from preventing the workplace environment is to provide the everyone equal opportunity to
work. 12 respondents said that employees will sustain at workplace for the long time if company
can remove workplace environment from the discrimination. 8 remaining restaurant are agreeing
with the skills regardless of age.
RESEARCH OUTCOMES
Covered in PPT

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
Above-mentioned study states that discrimination has detrimental effects on employees'
morale and efficiency. It is necessary for company, in order to build a shared environment so
each employee can perform effectively, to reduce inequalities from their workplace. There has
been discussed about the ways through which the workplace environment can be discriminated
can be prevented from the discrimination such as retirement rights, provide training and
redundancy policies. There has been issue arise of each faces discrimination in which the
company treat older employees less favorable as comparison to the new employees. New
workers are given more attention by the organization and old employees are fired. It has a
negative effect on their level of performance. As the old staff are more talented and experienced
and it is necessary for company to give the more responsibilities to them and also treat the new
employees in a better manner.
Recommendations
 It has been recommended from the above mentioned information that company gives the
training to old employees as equal to the new employees. This will help in enhancing
their abilities and knowledge regarding the specific subject area.
 Company needs to be developed the retirement rights in which the old employees take the
retirement according to them. Company should not pressurize time to take the retirement.
 It is essential for an organization to develop the equality policies at workplace so that the
old employees and the new employees can be treated on equal basis.

REFLECTION & RECOMMENDATION OF ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH
METHODOLOGIES
Reflection
I am pleased to grab this moment to conduct current research because it offers
comprehensive information and also assists me in developing my skills and expertise based on
age discrimination and its effect on the performance of the employee in the workplace. I face
different issues or obstacles at the time of conducting current research, which pose problems in
producing meaningful and accurate outcomes at the end of the study. All through this, time and
cost relationship problems, I fail to gather data against subject and field of research as well. In
addition to this, I used multiple techniques and tools.
Alternative Research Methodologies
For conducting present investigation, I used questionnaire that is main part of primary
method aid in obtaining accurate and credible research topic data and knowledge. It will lead
directly to the achievement of meaningful and reliable results. Furthermore, interviewing is often
known as an alternate approach that researcher may use to gather data from chosen respondents
according to specific subject area.

REFERENCES
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