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
FINDINGS...................................................................................................................................................19
RESEARCH OUTCOMES..............................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................................................................20
REFLECTION & RECOMMENDATION OF ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES ..............................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................23
APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................................25

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). Other than this, ageism is when someone is treated in an unfavorable manner due to the
age. Its main focus on that the experience get at workplace and protected through law. In order to
prevent it, Age Discrimination in the Employment Act is applied effectively. This us federal
legislation that protect the people of 40 years age or older from the age based employment
discrimination. As the old staff members bring with more experience, true ideas and also
problem solving approached which provide the benefit to business.
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 influence on the performance of employees at workplace in negative
manner. This demotivated 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. 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. The age discrimination develops
negative impact on the organisational performance as well as productivity. In this, company
treated the old employees in an unappropriated manner. The old employees have more

experience than the young employees and if company will not treated them properly then this
develops the negative impact on their performance level as well as firm growth.
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).
Discrimination theory
Social identity perspective- This theory holds that the employees are motivated to protect self
esteem and also attain the positive as well as distinct social identity. Drive for the positive social
identity can be result in the discrimination that either harm to out group and providing the
preferential treatment to in groups.

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).
Cost- It is one of the main factor that need at the time of conducting an investigation.
When researcher conducts research then it need to focus on developing the money management

plan and set it on the basis of research activities. From this, researcher can able to complete the
whole investigation and getting the positive outcomes properly. The cost involved in research
consists printing, stationary, internet charges and others.
Initial Investment 100000
Operational Activities 20000
R&D Activities 40000
Stationary expenses 10000
Internet charges 30000
Access- It is necessary that researcher should have the proper access about collection of
information from the different sources. Without the access, it is unethical to gather information
and data effectively. Other than this, to collect the authentic information and data, proper access
should be required to researcher.
Ethical consideration- In this, ethics is one of the important concept while conducting
the research related activities effectively. It is related to the values, norms and the principles
which should be followed at the time of conducting an investigation. It is necessary that an
investigator should keep the information and data of respondents confidential. Other than this,
researcher should follow all the ethical principles such as confidential, anonymity, data privacy,
authenticity and others.
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:

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 get over 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
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
25
5
a) Yes
b) No

Interpretation: According to the opinion of 5respondents, they work for Sainsbury from 3 to 5
years. 7 respondents 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
5
7
18
a) 3 years to 5 years
b) 6 years to 8 years
c) 9 years to 12 years
10
15
5
a) Age
b) Gender
c) Religion

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
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
3
27
a) Yes
b) No

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
10
10
10
a) Reduce employees
performance
b) Poor communication
c) Arise conflicts

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
12
10
8
a) Refusing to hire older
employees
b) Treating older employees
differently
c) Firing older employees

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
10
7
13
a) Provide training
b) Retirement rights
c) Redundancy procedures

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
10
10
10
a) The Equality Act 2010
b) Age Discrimination in
Employment Act (ADEA)
c) Employment Equality (Age)
Regulations 2006

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.
Q10) What is the negative impact of discrimination at workplace?
Impact is not limited to the physical but mental impact as well on staff member
consisting depression, loss of the self control and developing the anxiety disorders that leading to
staff member become hostile to attempting suicide. The discrimination has impact on the staff
members and working environment. Employer should focus on prevention of discrimination
from occurring at workplace.
Q11) Recommend ways by which company can retaining the old employees which have
more experience in order to gaining competitive advantages.
Preventing the workplace from discrimination helps in sustain the staff members and
make them loyal towards company. In order to retain the employee at workplace, it is necessary
to provide the positive working environment, flexible working hours, positive communication,
include them in decision-making etc.
10
12
8
a) Everyone to have equal
opportunity to work
b) Sustain experienced
employees
c) Develop skills regardless of
age

FINDINGS
The data has been collected by using the primary and secondary method of data
collection. The findings is based on the literature review part in which secondary sources has
been used for collection of information. It stated that the set objectives has been meet effectively.
To understand age based workplace discrimination concept.
It has been analysed from above mention information that discrimination develops the
negative impact on the organizational productivity and profitability. Age discrimination is related
to not to treat the old employees as equal to the new. The older employees have the more
experience and they have the capability to provide the information and the proper job role to the
new employees so that they can understand their work and take the responsibilities in an
appropriate manner. So, age based discrimination at workplace is not better for the
organizational productivity.
To analyse impact of age based discrimination on the performance and productivity
From the above mention information, this has been studied that impact of the age
discrimination is negative on the performance and growth of business. In regards to this, reality
of the ageism and its issues make this problem significant as another. There is a need to company
to find the appropriate and effective ways to get over from the age discrimination issues and the
old staff members can sustain at workplace for longer period of time. There has been examined
about the Age Discrimination in the Employment Act that protect the old employees from the
age discrimination issues and retain them effectively that helps in enhance organizational
productivity.
To determine ways to prevent workplace from age discrimination
There has been different ways studied about prevention of the workplace from the age
discrimination such as Redundancy procedures, Retirement rights and Develop policy. These all
are helpful in preventing workplace from age based discrimination. From this, the positive
working environment will be developed and old employees can able to work effectively and also
provide the training to new employees.

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. In
conducting the present investigation, I used the different and authentic sources to collection of
information from primary and secondary sources. With the help of conducting the present
investigation, my research and analytical skills enhanced effectively and I can have the ability to
conduct similar kind of investigation in future. I have the proper access about gathering of
information from various methods of sources. With the help of this research, I can able to
perform the any kind of research in future and getting the positive outcomes. 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. For
overcome from the time and the cost issues, I developed the time management plan and money
management plan in order to divide the activities accordingly. From this, I can able to manage
the research activities as per the money and time in order to getting valid and positive outcomes.
In this present investigation, findings are based on the literature review in which information has
been gathered by using secondary sources for an instance books, journals, articles and some
other sources.
Alternative Research Methodologies
It is necessary for an investigator to use the effective methodology for collection of
information and data within less period of time. 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. The main reason behind using questionnaire is that it provides the authentic information
and gather the large data within less period of time. It helps in analyse the opinions and
viewpoints of different respondents on specific subject area. Furthermore, interviewing is often

known as an alternate approach that researcher may use to gather data from chosen respondents
according to specific subject area. In interview methodology, there has been communication
among the two person on the specific area. This method is costly and more time taking to collect
the information. In the interview method, interviewer observe the response of interviewee
regarding the questions of specific subject area.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Assari, S. and Moghani Lankarani, M., 2018. Workplace racial composition explains high
perceived discrimination of high socioeconomic status African American men. Brain
sciences. 8(8). p.139.
Axelrad, H. and James, J. B., 2016. Employers’ attitudes toward older-worker job seekers: a
comprehensive review with recommendations for action. The Aging Workforce
Handbook: Individual, Organizational, and Societal Challenges, pp.489-512.
Biglio, M. L., Perceived Age Discrimination in the Labor Market: Age Group Differences
(Doctoral dissertation).
Cherry, M. A., 2019. Age Discrimination in the on-Demand Economy and Crowdwork. Berkeley
J. Emp. & Lab. L.. 40. p.29.
Dipboye, R. L., 2016. Discrimination as high-risk behavior in the workplace. Risky business:
Psychological, physical and financial costs of high-risk behavior in organizations,
pp.199-226.
Egdell, V. and et. al., 2020. Age management in the workplace: manager and older worker
accounts of policy and practice. Ageing & Society. 40(4). pp.784-804.
Gözde, K. A. Y. A., EU AGE DISCRIMINATION IN LIGHT OF EU’S DEMOGRAPHIC
CHALLENGES AND ECJ CASE LAW.
Jones, A. L., 2016. Implicit bias as social framework evidence in employment discrimination. U.
Pa. L. Rev.. 165. p.1221.
King, S. P. and Bryant, F. B., 2017. The Workplace Intergenerational Climate Scale (WICS): A
self‐report instrument measuring ageism in the workplace. Journal of Organizational
behavior. 38(1). pp.124-151.
Nelson, T. D., 2016. The age of ageism. Journal of social issues. 72(1). pp.191-198.
Reavley, N. J., Jorm, A. F. and Morgan, A. J., 2017. Discrimination and positive treatment
toward people with mental health problems in workplace and education settings:
Findings from an Australian National Survey. Stigma and Health. 2(4). p.254.
Temple, J. B. and et. al., 2019. Discrimination and disability: Types of discrimination and
association with trust, self‐efficacy and life satisfaction among older Australians.
Australasian Journal on Ageing.

Wainwright, D. and et. al., 2019. Extending working life and the management of change. Is the
workplace ready for the ageing worker?. Ageing & Society. 39(11). pp.2397-2419.
Online
Doyle, A., 2020. Types of Discrimination in the Workplace. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.thebalancecareers.com/types-of-employment-discrimination-with-
examples-2060914>.
Gellner, U.B. and Veen, S., 2020. The Impact of Aging and Age Diversity on Company
Performance. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228270538_The_Impact_of_Aging_and_Age_
Diversity_on_Company_Performance>.
Smith, A., 2020. Five Tips for Avoiding Age Discrimination. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/Pages/avoiding-age-discrimination-.aspx>.

APPENDIX

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) What is the negative impact of discrimination at workplace?
Q11) Recommend ways by which company can retaining the old employees which have
more experience in order to gaining competitive advantages.

Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________ Student ID:
______________________
Centre Name: _____________________
Tutor: ________________ Date:
___________________
Unit: ____________________
Proposed Title: To analyse the impact of age based discrimination on the productivity
and performance of employees; a study on Sainsbury.
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a
question, objective or hypothesis)
Title: To analyse the impact of age based discrimination on the productivity and
performance of employees; a study on Sainsbury.
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.
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?
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.
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project

Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you
are studying, personal interest, future plans, knowledge/skills you
want to improve, why the topic is important):
Present research is taken into consideration on influence of age based workplace discrimination
over productivity of an organisation. At workplace, age discrimination is major issue because
sometimes an organisation gives the more importance to younger employees than the older.
Researcher conducts present investigation in personal and professional context. In the personal
context, researcher can able to enhance its personal knowledge as well as skills. Other than
this, in professional context researcher can able to understand issues which arising from the
age discrimination at workplace and the ways to overcome from them effectively. By
conducting present investigation, researcher can perform similar kind of research activities in
future.
Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question,
objective or hypothesis:
Age based workplace discrimination
According to opinion of Eric Dyson (2020) Age discrimination is related to treating an
employee less favourable because of age. At workplace, age discrimination is practice of
letting age of person unfairly become factor when deciding who receives new job, promotion
and other benefits related to job. The decisions regarding terminating staff members cannot be
based on age. The discrimination can be occur when a person that inflicted discrimination over
40. This is unlawful to harass any employees on the basis of age (O'Loughlin and et. al., 2017).
It is necessary for company to take the appropriate and strict actions if any kind of
discrimination related to age occurs at workplace because it develops the negative impact on
the productivity and growth of business.
There are some theories related to discrimination at workplace mention below:
Disparate Treatment theory- Some people are not as favourable as some others because of
their ethnicity, colour, age, faith, sex or national origin by an employer as other equally
qualified individuals. The plaintiff must show that the acts of the respondent were focused on

prejudice in order to claim unequal treatment (Marcus and Fritzsche, 2016). Distinctions in the
treatment among equally qualified individuals are basis of disparate treatment theory. There is
comparative evidence among like-minded people.
Allport's theory- It highlights the individual characteristics and internal cognitive as well as
motivational processes that impact behaviour. Some people were very sensitive to theocratic
and dictatorial ideas and were therefore prone to being highly detrimental in profound
personality characteristics (Sargeant, 2016).
Impact of age based discrimination on the performance and productivity
On the basis of Andrew Mayfair (2020) The age discrimination can have negative impact on
working environment of an organisation. It mainly influence on productivity as well as
performance level of an organisation (Stypinska and Turek, 2017).
Negative impact of age discrimination
The age discrimination at workplace develops the negative working environment because it
caused the distrust within an organization. Knowledge of age discrimination through
employees will develop negative environment and also develop the poor perception regarding
management of company. In context to this, employees may be concerned that they could lose
their jobs because of age. In this manner, age discrimination impact on organisational
performance and productivity (Marchiondo, Gonzales and Ran, 2016).
Ways to prevent workplace from age discrimination
As per opinion of Jathan Janove (2020) it is necessary for company to take the appropriate
actions to prevent the workplace from age based discrimination and also enhance the
productivity level (Solem, 2016). There are some ways to prevent workplace from age based
discrimination given below:
Discrimination and Diversity Training- It is necessary for firm to provide the training to
supervisors as well as staff members on diversity and discrimination. This will help them to
understand advantages of age diversity and repercussions of discrimination at workplace

(Marchiondo, Gonzales and Williams, 2019).
Develop Policies in Place and Enforce Them- This is not enough to assume that staff
members will understand not to discriminate on the basis of age. It is necessary to define the
policies and should inform everyone at workplace regarding policy to the new staff members
(Gordon, 2018).
REFERENCES
O'Loughlin, K. and et. al., 2017. Age discrimination in the workplace: The more things
change…. Australasian Journal on Ageing. 36(2). pp.98-101.
Marcus, J. and Fritzsche, B. A., 2016. The cultural anchors of age discrimination in the
workplace: A multilevel framework. Work, Aging and Retirement. 2(2). pp.217-229.
Sargeant, M., 2016. Age discrimination in employment. CRC Press.
Stypinska, J. and Turek, K., 2017. Hard and soft age discrimination: the dual nature of
workplace discrimination. European journal of ageing. 14(1). pp.49-61.
Marchiondo, L. A., Gonzales, E. and Ran, S., 2016. Development and validation of the
workplace age discrimination scale. Journal of Business and Psychology. 31(4). pp.493-513.
Solem, P. E., 2016. Ageism and age discrimination in working life. Nordic Psychology. 68(3).
pp.160-175.
Marchiondo, L. A., Gonzales, E. and Williams, L. J., 2019. Trajectories of perceived
workplace age discrimination and long-term associations with mental, self-rated, and
occupational health. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B. 74(4). pp.655-663.
Gordon, P. A., 2018. Age diversity in the workplace. In Diversity and inclusion in the global
workplace (pp. 31-47). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Fisher, G. G. and et. al., 2017. Age discrimination: Potential for adverse impact and differential
prediction related to age. Human Resource Management Review. 27(2). pp.316-327.

Online
Dyson, E., 2020. Age Discrimination in the Workplace: What Employers Need to Know.
[Online]. Available through: <https://www.peoplescout.com/insights/age-discrimination-in-
the-workplace/>.
Janove, J., 2020. How to Avoid Ageism. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/how-to-avoid-ageism.aspx>.
Mayfair, A., 2020. The Consequences of Age Discrimination at Work. [Online]. Available
through: <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/consequences-age-discrimination-work-
15806.html>.
Section Four: Activities and timescales
Activities to be carried out during the research project
(e.g research, development and analysis of ideas, writing,
data collection, numerical analysis, tutor meetings,
production of final outcome, evaluation, writing the
report):
How
long
this will
take:

Milestone one: _________________
Target date (set by tutor): ____________________
Milestone two: _______________________
Target date (set by tutor): ______________________

Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely
to use and why? What your areas of research will cover:
In conducting the research methodology, there has been used research
onion that is developed through Saunders et. al. The different layers
included in research onion are mention below:
Research Philosophy- In this present investigation, the Positivism
research philosophy will be used.
The main reason behind using this philosophy is that it comes up with the
research questions that an investigator can be test. It is helpful in
providing the detailed information and explanation regarding the specific
research area.
Research Approach- There will be deductive research approach.
It is suitable because it helps in providing the relevant answers of
research questions. It gives the specific and relevant information.
Research Choice-There will be Quantitative research choice used
because this is able to give the in- depth understanding related to the age
based workplace discrimination.
The reason of using quantitative research choice is that it summarizes the
data supporting generalizations of the study phenomenon. The key aim of
this research choice is to be concentrated, reasonable and impartial.
Research Strategy- Survey will be used as the effective research
strategy as this will help in collecting relevant information from large
sample size.
The survey strategy will be suitable because this is less expensive and
time-consuming to gather data from surveys. It is important to clarify the
characteristics of large populations and to ensure the reliable sample
results that can be collected.
Data collection- There will be primary method of data collection used
because it provides the fresh and authentic information regarding the age
discrimination at workplace.
It offers authentic data and information of selected population, and it is

the key reason for using primary data. The cost-effective method of data
collection is less costly.
Sampling – In this, random sampling will be used as it is part of the
probabilistic sampling.
This method is chosen because it gives the equal chance to sample
respondents. It assures that estimate the results obtained from sample as
long as the entire population had been analysed.
Population- Through using random sampling method, 40 sample sizes
will be chosen.
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be
submitted for another qualification and is appropriate.
Agreed: ________________ (name)_______________ Date ______________
Comments and agreement form project proposal checker( IV
sampling)
Comments (Optional):
I confirm that the project is appropriate.
Agreed /Disagree: (Name of the IV)
Date

Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants
or the use of data collected form human participants are required to gain
ethical approval before commencing their research. Please answer all
relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed
research fully with your unit tutor. Please complete this form in good time
before your research project is due to commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: To analyse the impact of age based discrimination on the productivity
and performance of employees; a study on Sainsbury.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your
project:
⮚ Interviews Yes No
⮚ Questionnaires Yes No
⮚ Observations Yes No
⮚ Use of personal records Yes No
⮚ Data Analysis Yes No
⮚ Action Research Yes No

⮚ Focus Groups Yes No
⮚ Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.
Will your research involve human participants?
Yes
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults: 18>
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
By using random sampling method.
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you
are doing:
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How
will it be made clear to participants that they may withdraw consent to
participate at any time?
The consent from participants will be obtained by email method. It will be
in written form.
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of
omitting questions that do not wish to answer? Yes No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical
issues arising from this
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be
asked for their informed consent to be observed. Yes
No

Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them
a brief explanation of the study)? Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?
(This could be a brief summary of your findings in general) Yes
No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance
with the Data Protection Act (1998) Yes No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Researcher will have to access data and personal information.
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
It will be stored in personal computer.
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?

It will be stored in personal computer.
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
It will be kept for 2 years and in word format.
Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes No
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise
ethical concerns? If so, please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that
may arise because of your research. Please consider/address all issues
that may apply. Ethical concerns may include, but are not limited to the
following :
⮚ Informed consent.
⮚ Potentially vulnerable participants.
⮚ Sensitive topics
⮚ Risk to participants and /or researchers
⮚ Confidentiality/anonymity
⮚ Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
⮚ Data storage and security, both during and after the research
(including transfer, sharing, encryption, protection).
⮚ Reporting
⮚ Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s Research
and Ethics Policy: Yes No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with my
Unit Tutor: