Just 18% of older employees have access to a mentor, new data shows
Younger workers in Australia face significantly higher rates of workplace discrimination and harassment than their older colleagues, while older employees are being shut out of career development opportunities, according to new research released by Diversity Council Australia (DCA) and the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
The report, Age, Assumptions and Access at Work: Employee Experiences of Age Inclusion in the Workplace, draws on previously unreleased data from DCA's Inclusion@Work Index, a survey the organisation describes as nationally representative. The research examines how ageism plays out for employees already in a role, rather than during recruitment.
Discrimination skews younger, support skews away from older staff
The data show 39% of workers aged 18-29 experienced discrimination or harassment in the past 12 months, compared with 27% of those aged 30-54 and 19% of workers 55 and older. Younger employees also reported higher rates of sexual harassment and everyday exclusion, including being ignored, left out of social activities, and having assumptions made about their abilities based on their age.
Older workers reported a different pattern. While 82% said they did not have to hide or change who they are to fit in at work, only 50% had participated in career development, compared with 66% of mid-aged and 75% of younger workers. Access to mentors or sponsors was lowest among older workers, at just 18%, compared with 41% of mid-aged and 53% of younger employees.
Gender and caregiving compound the effect
The report found age-based exclusion does not affect all workers equally. Younger women reported the lowest levels of team inclusion, at 52%, compared with 61% of younger men. Older women were less likely than older men to receive recognition for their work, 69% versus 81%, and less likely to access career development opportunities, 41% versus 57%.
Younger workers with caring responsibilities reported markedly higher exclusion than those without: 59% experienced discrimination or harassment, compared with 32% of younger workers without caring duties.
“This report shows age continues to play a quiet but powerful role in shaping workplace experiences. Too often, assumptions about someone being too young, too old, not ready, or past their prime influence access to opportunity, recognition and support,” said Catherine Hunter, CEO of DCA.
“What’s also clear is that age does not operate in isolation – factors like gender and caring responsibilities can shape how these barriers are felt. Genuine age inclusion requires an intersectional approach that recognises how workplace policies and practices can compound disadvantage.”
Age discrimination commissioner Robert Fitzgerald said bias is experienced at both ends of the age spectrum and that ageism is "so deeply normalised many simply accept it as the status quo."
Findings build on earlier employer and academic research
The new data extends a pattern DCA identified in its 2023-24 Inclusion@Work Index, which found workers under 30 were twice as likely to have experienced discrimination or harassment compared with workers aged 55 and over.
A separate 2025 survey of 148 HR professionals, conducted by the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) and the AHRC, found employer attitudes mirror the trend from the other direction. Almost a quarter of employers classified workers aged 51 to 55 as "older," up from 10% in 2023. AHRI chief executive Sarah McCann-Bartlett said "one in five HR professionals say their recruitment practices negatively impact older workers, and 23% say the same about younger workers."
Peer-reviewed research published via the US National Institutes of Health has similarly found that younger and older employees face more negative workplace stereotyping than middle-aged staff, with younger employees in some cases evaluated even more negatively than older workers.
The DCA-AHRC report outlines recommended employer actions, including improving access to career development, supporting flexible work arrangements, challenging age-based stereotypes, strengthening complaint processes, and building leadership capability around age inclusion.
