Over 50s Shop Assistants Disregarded by Customers

- Half of men want a female shop assistant to be under 34 years old
- 97 per cent of men express a preference to age

A year on from the introduction of the Anti-Age Discrimination laws, which were intended to stamp out ageism in the workplace, a new survey reveals that the British public are a long way from embracing older employees and still favour the young - with men being most likely to discriminate based on age.

The Leadership Factor, the UKís leading source of customer satisfaction data, conducted the research into the British publicís attitudes towards customer service assistants and found that almost all (97 per cent) of men felt the age of an assistant was of concern.

Furthermore, only 10 per cent of all respondents said they would prefer a female shop assistant to be over the age of 45 and just 8 per cent wanted a male shop assistant to fall in the same age group.

Whilst women were more opened minded to the age of their assistant, with 52 per cent expressing a preferred age, the optimum age for both male and female shop assistants was between the ages of 25 and 34. Furthermore, almost half (47 per cent) of men wanted a female shop assistant to be this age.

The research, which was conducted by www.yoursaypays.co.uk, the online consumer panel for The Leadership Factor, questioned respondents on their attitudes towards the age of both male and female shop assistants.

With more than half the UKís population estimated to be over the age of 50 by the year 2020, the findings will cause concern for employers in the retail sector, who face a difficult choice between maintaining customer satisfaction, fulfilling the requirements of the anti-Age Discrimination Laws and filling posts in an ever-aging society.

Typically, 200 age-discrimination claims are lodged with tribunals each month over employees believing they have faced discriminatory behaviour because of their age.

Nigel Hill, founder of the Leadership Factor and author of ëCustomer Satisfactioní, said: ìOur survey results show clearly how both men and women, though particularly men, show prejudice to the age of shop assistants.

ìThis can undoubtedly place employers in a difficult position; employ only young staff and they risk contravening the anti-Age Discrimination laws; employ older staff and they risk denting their profits margins and customer satisfaction ratings.

ìWhilst this seems like a ëcatch 22í situation we believe that you can maintain excellent customer satisfaction ratings by concentrating on the things that matter the most to customers; helpful, friendly and knowledgeable staff.

ìOn these criteria there are no age ëlimitsí and we would suggest that, with the population becoming increasingly aged, employers would do well to recognise the breadth and depth of experience and product knowledge that older members of staff can bring to a team.î

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