2025 in Review: Increasing anti-ageism advocacy but little practical workplace change
In our final 2025 newsletter we take a snapshot of the year and reflect the extent opportunities for the older worker and age inclusive workforces have improved over the past twelve months. This is the third year we have undertaken such a review. The hope is always that we can celebrate the tangible progress we have seen over the year in reducing ageism in the workplace. Disappointingly in Australia in 2025, consistent with our conclusions in 2023 and 2024, the evidence again suggests little real progress has been made and eliminating workplace ageism continues as a major work reform challenge.
Certainly, there appears an increase in the number and range of voices, both locally and internationally, committed to actively promoting age inclusiveness and the economic benefits of longevity. This is to be applauded and encouraged. Yet, despite more data becoming available supporting the need for our government and business community to significantly change their management of age and ageing, we continue to witness a preference to support status-quo management practices and maintenance of government and business policies that reflect historical thinking and a bygone demographic era.
Some Good News
Nonetheless, in 2025 there was a continuation of global initiatives working to address ageism and the impacts of demographic ageing. These include:
The release of The WHO Ageism Scale: Manual and User Guide. The World Health Organisation has developed an Ageism Scale to help measure ageism and evaluate the impact of interventions aimed at reducing its existence. This is an extensively tested and practical tool designed to assist researchers, policymakers, civil society organisations, healthcare professionals and anyone else who has interest in addressing ageism. It is updated regularly as new versions of the scale are developed.
The British Government openly acknowledging the UK is an ageing society, experiencing historically low fertility rates, people living much longer and population increases being driven by immigration. The Government understands these demographic shifts can be expected to have wide-ranging implications for the economy and society, requiring policy responses in a number of areas. To understand the implications of this demographic change, the Government has launched an inquiry to investigate the impact of ageing on the UK economy and society, the policies necessary to adapt to this future and the broader behavioural changes that may be required.
New Zealand revising their Pension entitlement eligibility laws without creating a financial penalty, unlike Australia, for those pensioners who wish to continue working. The Institute of Public Affairs notes because of the structure of New Zealand tax policies one in four New Zealand pensioners’ work which has helped to reduce job vacancies to pre-pandemic levels. The IPA notes vacancies in New Zealand are just five per cent higher today than 2020, compared with Australia where vacancies are 60 per cent higher.
The increasing release of Reports and White Papers by both the established players eg OECD and World Economic Forum and new entrants to the ageing and longevity economy field such as McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and Baker Mckenzie, a global legal firm. Broadly a summary of the headlines of these reports is:
how unprepared society is for the significant demographic shift underway and without further policy action, changes in behaviour or productivity improvement, population ageing will weigh significantly on economic growth and the capacity of OECD countries to continue improving their living standards.
economists should not lose sight of the fact that increasing life expectancy is a fundamentally positive development and acknowledge it is far from clear that the economic drawbacks of population aging are as intractable as they are commonly depicted.
the idea of an ageing society as an economic and financial burden needs to be reframed with the development of a longevity economy. We need to rethink how people can contribute to society at all stages of life and be supported in economic roles over time.
the embrace of the older worker is a critical initiative to lift productivity and economic growth as artificial intelligence will not be the ‘silver bullet’ solution industry might imagine it to be.
government action will be the engine of change more than industry initiative.
In early, 2024, we reported on the French Club Landoy initiative, a forum developed for French companies who have committed to a Charter combatting ageism and developing best practice approaches to improve employability outcomes for those 50 years and over. This initiative began with 32 companies in 2022. Pleasingly, strong growing participation continues with 306 companies committed to the Charter as of May this year.
We recently reported of emerging signs that European companies might be at the forefront of new thinking around age management with some companies beginning to embrace longevity as a business strategy and seeing value in the use of a specialised Chief Longevity Officer (CLO) role to guide their change effort. The French cosmetics company L’Oreal and the Portuguese insurance company Fidelidade are identified as two established European companies who are early movers in this space. Chief Longevity Officer roles have also been adopted by a handful of biotech startups, Venture Capital firms and companies in the hospitality sector.
Longevity hubs are continuing to develop and strengthen globally. Whilst ground zero remains the United States, new hubs are being established in Dubai, Japan, Milan, Newcastle in the UK, San Paulo, Tel Aviv and Thailand. A longevity hub is understood as any hot spot characterised by a disproportionate level of innovative activity aimed at the older population and related markets. A driver of innovation promoting a longevity mindset is the tapping into an underserved demand of the world’s ageing consumers. Locally, we would like to recognise a micro-scale example of an evolving longevity hub the Central Coast Health and Wellbeing Lab. Keep up the good work Courtney Molloy and team.
In Australia, while there appeared an increase in anti-ageism advocacy activity, still there appeared very little real progress in ‘ageism busting’ in the business community. The positive developments include:
The release of reports by AHRI and National Seniors Australia exploring employer attitudes to older and younger workers as well the perceived existence of ageism. AHRI’s report noted employer biases against older and younger generations continue to exist hindering Australian workforce productivity. The NSA report reached similar conclusions observing ongoing discrimination by employers against older job seekers and ageist attitudes towards older workers within workplaces.
A major submission by EveryAGE Counts to the Federal Government Economic Roundtable exploring ways to improve Australian productivity. The submission presented that an entrenched negativity towards older workers reinforced the traditional narrative of ageing as a process of decline and older people as non-productive. The submission advocated understanding increased longevity as a dynamic force and the marginalisation of a skilled, experienced and knowledgeable older worker labour pool as counterproductive when the Roundtable focus was about increasing national productivity and economic resilience. EAC noted every age group has a role to play in strengthening Australia’s economic performance.
The continuing work of Robert Fitzgerald as Age Discrimination Commissioner in engaging with business and unions to develop pathways for the establishment of age inclusive workplaces.
A voice of business, Paul Nicolaou, Executive Director at Business Sydney, forcefully advocating the value of older workers to the economy. The importance of this intervention is, in the recollection of this writer, the first time a senior member of the established business community has both articulated an understanding of the demographic change underway and reframed our ageing population not as a problem to solve but as a business solution that is being ignored. This intervention by Paul was refreshing as it is a businessperson and not an anti-ageism advocate calling for the scrapping of outdated rules limiting the ability of older people to work, the ending of age discrimination, and getting in his words ‘this powerhouse of talent back to work.’
Now, the Bad News
Yet despite all this positive focus and effort to draw attention to the economic and social drawbacks of ageism, age exclusive workforces and the perils of intergenerational inequity the message continues to largely fall on deaf ears both within government and the business sector. Wherever you look, ageism remains a prevalent business behaviour. Internationally, a non-exhaustive list of reports, articles and studies confirms this ongoing trend:
A 2025 OECD report on managing ageing public services highlights that across OECD countries, employment rates decline significantly for people over 50
Forbes magazine citing a survey by MyPerfectResume that 99% of US workers over 40 report some ageism in the workplace (stereotypes, bullying, pressure to conceal age).
According to AARP research, 90 percent of US workers age 50-plus believe that age discrimination against older workers is common in the workplace today.
The International Labour Organisation’s 17th barometer on the perception of discrimination at work found that “a quarter of unemployed seniors claimed to have been told that they were too old for the job during an interview”.
A Swedish Uppsala University study involving the sending out of 6,000 fictitious job applications and stated age of applicants found from the age of 40 onwards the probability of being contacted by an employer decreased. The probability then dropped more as the age increased, and for those approaching retirement age, the likelihood of being contacted by the employer was very low.
The French Club Landoy initiative has found that despite more companies signing up to support its anti-ageism Charter, amongst their members the recruitment and mobility of older workers still remains low and there may be less enthusiasm for the initiative within the small medium enterprise sector.
The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment decision-making is also proving problematical in tackling ageism. AI is being found to disproportionally impact both older and younger workers because the data used to train the algorithms is often drawn from historical sources that reflect their own patterns of bias. A strong argument exists that AI as it is currently configured is inherently ageist.
Australian business seems to closely mirror the international ageism data. In 2025 we learnt through an AHRI survey of its members:
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of HR professionals now classify workers aged 51–55 as 'older'.
56 per cent stated they are open to hiring workers aged 50–64 ‘to a large extent'.
This drops to 28 per cent for those 65 and over, and more than one in six (18 per cent) say they won't hire this age group.
41 per cent are open to recruiting jobseekers aged 15 to 24 ‘to a large extent'.
Further reinforcement of an Australian business ageist outlook was confirmed in a recent accounting software Reckon poll reported on Channel Nine News finding Australians aged 55 and above face a major obstacle in the form of being perceived too old for the job by prospective employers.
Disappointingly, we are seeing no real interest by the Federal or State Government in taking the initiative to change this situation. Despite the EveryAGE Counts submission to the Economic Roundtable on productivity improvement there appears little interest in taking its recommendations on board. As an aside, Treasury received over 660 submissions from a variety of interest groups to assist Government thinking on addressing productivity and economic resilience improvements. What has happened to them? There has been no sharing of content or suggestion of whether any ideas might inform further Government thinking on economic reform. There has been no Government response on their potential feasibility and what any next steps may be in either progressing or curtailing them. This seems a remarkably shortsighted action and at odds with the whole notion of introducing new thinking to tackle our national productivity problem.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary we can currently assume our Federal Government continues to position population ageing as an ongoing economic and fiscal challenge reinforcing the older population as a social and economic burden. The conclusion is hard to escape that our Federal Government continues to frame ageing as a problem, assuming older people are non-productive and resource consumers and bad news for the economy. Innovative thinking around managing age and longevity does not appear a political priority for the Government.
A Christmas Wishlist
Getting into the festive spirit, our Santa wish list for 2026 includes:
The Australian Government, like its British counterpart, openly acknowledging the need to undertake an inquiry to investigate the impact of ageing on our economy and society. Many of the political issues troubling us now including housing affordability, immigration and population levels, skill shortages, productivity and growth challenges, health care sustainability, the need for taxation reform, declining fertility rates and intergenerational inequity are all connected by the issue of an ageing population and the emergence of longevity as a new social factor. A more holistic exploration of the interaction between longevity and these social and economic challenges offers a stronger opportunity to energise the debate on the need for major economic reforms by building a coherent foundation for the need for change.
Local business leaders realising ageism might be holding their companies back and working to bring the older worker ‘in from the cold’ in their business communities.
HR and Recruitment professionals becoming more influential in challenging potential client/ line manager ageist stereotypes and promoting more age diverse hiring practices. Critical to this will be not becoming unquestioning disciples of AI use in recruitment decision-making.
Our Final 2025 Remarks
Many older Australians would welcome the opportunity to continue working. Economists recognise increasing older worker labour participation will benefit our national productivity. Through pension eligibility management, Governments are expecting people to work longer. Yet there is a contradiction between the push for people to have longer working lives and an employer reluctance to employ or maintain the working lives of older workers. Right now, it appears organisations are not structured to support a world characterised by increasing age longevity. This makes no sense.
We all know what a self-defeating attitude ageism is. For the individual stung by ageism in their career, it robs the person of respect, self-confidence and most powerfully their hopes and dreams. For business it robs productivity, innovation and growth opportunities. And for society, it robs community, compassion and intergenerational equality possibilities. We know the destructive power of ageism and yet we continue to allow it to flourish. As people we seem to be our own worst enemy.
We wish all our supporters a very happy and relaxing Christmas break with family and friends. We thank you for your engagement with our musings over the year and hope we might have increased your awareness and stimulated your thinking in the creation of age friendly workplaces. We remain optimistic momentum is building for eliminating work-based ageism and look forward to working with you in 2026 to make this goal a reality.
References
AHRI (2025): Older and Younger Workers: What Do Employers Think?
AARP (2025): AARP Is Fighting to Ensure Older Workers Get a Fair Shot (May 16)
Baker McKenzie (2024). Global Initiative on Ageing.
The Conversation. (2025). AI is inherently ageist. That’s not just unethical – it can be costly for workers and businesses. (April 22)
Coughlin. J.F. & Yoquinto, L. (Eds). (2024). Longevity Hubs: Regional innovation for global ageing. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Goldman Sachs (2025). The Path to 2075-The Positive Story of Global Aging.
Forbes (2025): Workplace Ageism Is Hurting Employees and Businesses Alike (Jan30)
IPA Research (2024). New Zealand Pension Model Roadmap to Solving Australia’s Worker Shortage Crisis.
McKinsey Global Institute (2025). Dependency and depopulation? Confronting the consequences of a new demographic reality.
National Seniors Australia (2025): Elements of Ageism: 4 Experiences of exclusion and discrimination
Nine News (2025): Older Australian job seekers facing unique obstacles in tighter employment market: study (Oct 28)
OECD Employment Outlook 2025: Can We Get Through the Demographic Crunch?
OECD (2025): Managing an ageing public service through tailored policies for older workers
Voxeurop (2025): Ageism: the number one vector of workplace discrimination in Europe?
World Economic Forum (2025). Future-Proofing the Longevity Economy: Innovations and Key Trends White Paper.
Future of Jobs Report 2025: Insight Report.
