Age in the workforce is likely to be an issue of increasing importance during the next decade for many reasons. For one, the workforce is aging worldwide in most developed countries;13 by estimates, 93 percent of the growth in the labor force from 2006 to 2016 came from workers over age 54.14 In the United States, the proportion of the workforce age 55 and older is 22 percent and increasing.15 Legislation has, for all intents and purposes, outlawed mandatory retirement. Moreover, the United States and Australia, among other countries, have laws directly against age discrimination.16 Most workers today no longer have to retire at age 70, and 62 percent of workers age 45 to 60 plan to delay retirement.17

Stereotypes of older workers as being behind the times, grumpy, and inflexible are changing. Managers often see a number of positive qualities that older workers bring to their jobs, such as experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and a commitment to quality. For example, the Public Utilities Board, the water agency of Singapore, reports that 27 percent of its workforce is over age 55 and the older workers provide workforce stability.18 Industries like health care, education, government, and nonprofit service often welcome older workers.19 However, older workers are still perceived as less adaptable and less motivated to learn new technology.20 When organizations seek individuals who are open to change and training, the perceived negatives associated with age clearly hinder the initial hiring of older workers and increase the likelihood they will be let go during cutbacks.

Now let’s take a look at the evidence. What effect does age actually have on two of our most important outcomes, job performance and job satisfaction?

Few issues initiate more debates, misconceptions, and unsupported opinions than whether women perform as well on jobs as men do. In reality, few—if any—differences between men and women affect job performance.25 Though in general men may have slightly higher math ability and women slightly higher verbal ability, the differences are fairly small, and there are no consistent male–female differences in problem-solving ability, analytical skills, or learning ability.26 In the workplace, one meta-analysis of job performance studies found that women scored slightly higher than men did on performance measures.27 A separate meta-analysis of 95 leadership studies indicated that women and men are rated equally effective as leaders.28

Yet biases and stereotypes persist. In the hiring realm, managers are influenced by gender bias when selecting candidates for certain positions.29 For instance, men are preferred in hiring decisions for male-dominated occupations, particularly when men are doing the hiring.30 Once on the job, men and women may be offered a similar number of developmental experiences, but females are less likely to be assigned challenging positions by men, assignments that could help them achieve higher organizational positions.31 Moreover, men are more likely to be chosen for leadership roles even though men and women are equally effective leaders. A study of 20 organizations in Spain, for example, suggested that men are generally selected for leadership roles that require handling organizational crises.32 According to Naomi Sutherland, senior partner in diversity at recruiter Korn Ferry, “Consciously or subconsciously, companies are still hesitant to take the risk on someone who looks different from their standard leadership profile.”33

Worldwide, there are many misconceptions and contradictions about male and female workers. Thankfully, many countries have laws against sex discrimination, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Other countries, such as Belgium, France, Norway, and Spain, are seeking gender diversity through laws to increase the percentage of women on boards of directors. Gender biases and gender discrimination are still serious issues, but there are indications that the situation is improving.

Race is a controversial issue in society and in organizations. We define race as the heritage people use to identify themselves; ethnicity is the additional set of cultural characteristics that often overlaps with race. Typically, we associate race with biology and ethnicity with culture, but there is a history of self-identifying for both classifications. Laws against race and ethnic discrimination are in effect in many countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.35

Race and ethnicity have been studied as they relate to employment outcomes such as hiring decisions, performance evaluations, pay, and workplace discrimination. Individuals may slightly favor colleagues of their own race in performance evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises, although such differences are not found consistently, especially when highly structured methods of decision making are employed.36 Also, some industries have remained less racially diverse than others. For instance, U.S. advertising and media organizations suffer from a lack of racial diversity in their management ranks, even though their client base is increasingly ethnically diverse.37

Finally, members of racial and ethnic minorities report higher levels of discrimination in the workplace.38 African Americans generally fare worse than Whites in employment decisions (a finding that may not apply outside the United States). They receive lower ratings in employment interviews, lower job performance ratings, less pay, and fewer promotions.39 Lastly, while this does not necessarily prove overt racial discrimination, African Americans are often discriminated against even in controlled experiments. For example, one study of low-wage jobs found that African American applicants with no criminal history received fewer job offers than did White applicants with criminal records.40

Workplace policies, both official and circumstantial, regarding individuals with physical or mental disabilities vary from country to country. Countries such as Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan have specific laws to protect individuals with disabilities.41 These laws have resulted in greater acceptance and accommodation of people with physical or mental impairments. In the United States, for instance, the representation of individuals with disabilities in the workforce rapidly increased with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990).42 According to the ADA, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations so their workplaces will be accessible to individuals with physical or mental disabilities.

As we mentioned earlier, disabilities include observable characteristics like missing limbs, illnesses that require a person to use a wheelchair, and blindness. Other disabilities may not be obvious, at least at first. Unless an individual decides to disclose a disability that isn’t easily observable, it can remain hidden at the discretion of the employee. These are called hidden disabilities (or invisible disabilities). Hidden disabilities generally fall under the categories of sensory disabilities (for example, impaired hearing), autoimmune disorders (like rheumatoid arthritis), chronic illness or pain (like carpal tunnel syndrome), cognitive or learning impairments (like ADHD), sleep disorders (like insomnia), and psychological challenges (like PTSD).48

As a result of recent changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008, U.S. organizations must accommodate employees with a very broad range of impairments. However, employees must disclose their conditions to their employers in order to be eligible for workplace accommodations and employment protection. Since many employees do not want to disclose their invisible disabilities, they are prevented from getting the workplace accommodations they need in order to thrive in their jobs. Research indicates that individuals with hidden disabilities are afraid of being stigmatized or ostracized if they disclose their disabilities to others in the workplace, and they believe their managers will think they are less capable of strong job performance.49

In some ways, a hidden disability is not truly invisible. For example, a person with undisclosed autism will still exhibit the behaviors characteristic of the condition, such as difficulties with verbal communication and adaptability.50 You may observe behaviors that lead you to suspect an individual has a hidden disability. Unfortunately, you may attribute the behavior to other causes—for instance, you may incorrectly ascribe the slow, slurred speech of a coworker to an alcohol problem rather than to the long-term effects of a stroke.

As for the employee, research suggests that disclosure helps all—the individual, others, and organizations. Disclosure may increase the job satisfaction and well-being of the individual, help others understand and assist the individual to succeed in the workplace, and allow the organization to accommodate the situation to achieve top performance.51