SAN JOSE, Calif. and
VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/
-- Visier, developer of the leading people strategy platform,
has revealed the results of its study citing that systemic age
discrimination exists within tech hiring practices. The Visier
Insights™: The Truth About Ageism in the Tech Industry
report uncovers a paradox: despite receiving more Top Performer
ratings as they age than their Non-Tech counterparts, Gen Xers in
Tech are being hired 33% less (and Baby Boomers 60% less) than
their workforce representation, while Millennials in Tech are being
hired almost a whopping 50% more than their workforce
representation. In notable contrast, in Non-Tech, Gen Xers are
being hired only 22% less than their workforce representation.
Simply put, a Gen Xer has a significantly lower chance of being
hired in Tech. For Baby Boomers, the chances of being hired in Tech
and Non-Tech are the same.
Download the Ageism in Tech report.
"Balancing a team's skills and experience is critical for Tech
leaders, and can make or break a company," says Dave Weisbeck, Chief Strategy Officer, Visier.
"As our Visier Insights research shows, Tech companies that design
a recruitment strategy around Millennials alone are shortsighted,
overlooking the performance and experience that Gen Xers and Baby
Boomers bring to the table."
The Tech Sage Age
While the Visier Insights: The Truth about Ageism in Tech
report predictably finds the average age of Tech workers to be
younger than their Non-Tech counterparts (38 years old, compared to
43 years old for non-tech workers), the report clarifies some key
misconceptions related to the salary lifecycle, resignation rates,
and perceived value of older workers. In reality, experience and
maturity are more valued in Tech than in Non-Tech industries: from
age 40 onwards, non-manager workers in Tech enter the "Tech Sage
Age" and are increasingly likely to receive a Top Performer rating
as they age, mature, and gain experience, compared to Non-Tech.
"It's more important than ever for business leaders to be
acquiring the best and brightest talent available, regardless of
age," says Weisbeck. "With Visier Workforce Intelligence, our
mission is to provide leaders with the workforce insights they need
to make more informed people decisions -- driving better business
outcomes."
Key Report Findings
Based on an analysis of 330,000 employees from 43 large U.S.
enterprises, a subset of Visier's workforce database, the Visier
Insights study found:
- Key Finding #1: Systemic Ageism Exists in Tech Hiring
Practices: The study found that while older Tech non-managers
are consistently rated higher performers than their Non-Tech
counterparts, they are less likely to be hired. From age 40
onwards, non-managers in Tech enter what Visier has coined as the
"Tech Sage Age" and are increasingly likely to receive a Top
Performer rating as they age, mature, and gain experience, compared
to Non-Tech. Despite this, while in Tech 41% of available talent is
Gen X, Gen X makes up only 27% of new hires (a ratio of 0.67). In
contrast, having a similar proportion of available Gen X talent
(45%), in Non-Tech, Gen X makes up 35% of new hires (a ratio of
0.78).
But it's not all bad news for older Tech workers. Despite
finding evidence of ageism in hiring, older Tech workers do not
take a hit in salary.
- Key finding #2: Older Tech workers do not experience
a drop in salary: Older Tech workers as a group do not
experience a reduction in average salary that is any different from
their counterparts in Non-Tech industries. Rather, workers in Tech
experience the same salary lifecycle as their counterparts in
Non-Tech.
- Key finding #3: Newly hired older Tech workers are on
average paid equitably: Older Tech workers that are newly hired
do not—on average—experience a lower wage. Rather, newly hired
workers are paid the same average salary as more tenured workers,
across all age groups.
- Key finding #4: Older Tech Workers Resign at Lower
Rates: For both Tech and Non-Tech industries, resignation rates
are highest for Millennials, dropping as workers age, and
stabilizing at an average rate of 10% for Gen Xers and Baby
Boomers. The message to employers: hiring more Gen X and Baby
Boomer talent will provide more stability in their workforce and
reduce turnover costs.
How Business Leaders Can Root Out the Risk of Ageism in their
Workforce
There are a number of important steps employers can take to
acquire the best and brightest talent available, regardless of
age:
- Review your workforce data to understand the current state of
age equity within your organizations to find any signs of potential
bias in hiring, promotions, salary levels, turnover, and
performance ratings.
- Keep in mind that, as with ethnic and gender equity, age equity
is a cultural issue – if pockets of ageism exist within your
organization, you will need to devise plans to address them not
only via better HR practice and policy rollouts, but through
culture change.
- Consider implementing a version of the Rooney Rule for age,
specifically for teams or roles where the workforce is less diverse
in age: for every position you have open to fill, consider one or
more older candidates (or candidates that will help create a more
diverse team, in general).
- Develop hiring practices that reduce the potential for
intentional or unintentional bias in the screening out of older
applicants.
Do you have more ideas? Share them with @visier or use
#VisierInsights.
For more information, visit: www.visier.com
Find data-driven HR insights and tips at www.visier.com/blog
Follow Visier on Twitter @Visier
Visier and Visier logo are trademarks of Visier, Inc. All other
brand and product names and logos are the trademarks of their
respective holders.
About Visier
Our curiosity, the desire to understand, is inseparable from
what it means to be human. But, in the hype of big data analytics,
we've forgotten that data does not equal knowledge.
Visier was founded to focus on what matters: answering the right
business questions, even the ones a person might not know to ask.
Questions that shape business strategy, provide the impetus for
taking action, and drive better business results.
Visier is dedicated to transforming business analytics, to
providing leaders with clear answers to critical business questions
— out-of-the-box, without the hassle and cost of data management,
statements of work, and long and risky development projects.
Visier lets companies say goodbye to data quality problems, to
complexity, to costly tools, to endless service fees, and to
guesswork. A people strategy platform designed by domain experts
for leaders, Visier lets leaders say hello to clarity, to
confidence, to meaningful answers — and to better business
performance. Say hello to Visier. Outsmart, outperform.
For more information, visit http://www.visier.com.
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SOURCE Visier