工程師，你遭遇了年齡歧視嗎？

對工程師而言，主管大都有年齡歧視的問題（除非你失業(yè)）。

在電子產(chǎn)業(yè)中，除非你正在失業(yè)，否則年齡并不會有負面影響。然而，以下的數(shù)字卻不會說謊。

EEtimes在上周針對工程師的年齡及其對就業(yè)所帶來的影響進行了一次簡單的調(diào)查。

這項調(diào)查收到了800份回覆，其中63%表示他們從未感覺自己因為年齡而錯過了晉升或其他職場中的機會。近90%的受訪者表示，在工作場合中，他們從未被告知年齡會是一個問題（別驚訝，這是因為今天嚴格的人力資源規(guī)則所致，但反正我們只是想做個測試）。

在你的公司里，你是否感覺你因為年齡問題，被剝奪了晉升或其他、團隊任務等）？

有──37.06%

沒有──62.94%

真正讓事情變得有趣的，是從這個問題開始：“在應征工作時，你自認都符合條件，但你是否感覺因為年齡而遭到拒絕？”

近45%的受訪者表示，他們因為年齡而無法獲得所應征的工作。

在應征工作時，你認為你是合格的，但你有沒有感覺因為年齡而遭到拒絕？

有──44.43%

沒有──55.57%

現(xiàn)在，很清楚，這兩個問題都是很主觀的，它們都直接詢問受訪者的‘感受’。在現(xiàn)實中，沒有人會告訴求職者，他或她是因為年紀太大而被拒絕。

為了獲得這個問題的真正答案，我們曾經(jīng)嘗試問受訪者，是否曾經(jīng)有人對你說，你已經(jīng)‘超出資格’，這往往被視為一種委婉的年齡排斥。56%的受訪者表示他們曾被告知這一點。但是這可能出于其他原因，如應征者本身的問題，是否為長期失業(yè)者，以及應征者是否僅為了獲得一份工作，愿意應征一個遠比他/她過去薪資來得低的職位。

依照年齡層來對此次的回覆進行分類，也同時揭示了一些轉變。年輕的工程師們（介于20出頭到30多歲），比較不相信他們已經(jīng)獲得一份工作或晉升。隨著年齡遞增，只有年齡列入60-69歲的族群強烈感受到他們因為年紀關系而無法獲得工作（有58%受訪者感覺他們已經(jīng)通過了）；而在70歲以上的受訪者中，只有48%有這樣的感受。

種族問題

我們同時也想測試來自不同種族背景的各種專業(yè)意見，結果顯示，在大多數(shù)情況下，種族都不會對進步或工作造成妨礙。只有約15%的受訪者表示他們因為種族背景失去了工作或晉升機會。

這帶給我們什么啟發(fā)？也許唯有時間才能改變一切。我僅能想像在大約30~40年前或許有可能發(fā)生有關種族背景的問題。在未來幾年內(nèi)，有關這些問題的回應──對年齡的看法，是否會有所轉變？（中國應該不存在民族歧視這個問題吧？）

數(shù)字中的真相？

或許如此，但對于那些急于在金融海嘯后找到一份工作的年長工程師而言，這些改變卻不夠快。事實上，根據(jù)調(diào)查，有16%的受訪者表示他們目前沒有工作，其中有一半的失業(yè)時間至少兩年。其中50歲以上的族群占了80%。

事實上，參與此次調(diào)查的受訪者中，有60～80%的失業(yè)者年齡層在50歲以上。

以下，也許是數(shù)百份回覆所提及的主管評論中，最不客氣的一些：

一位管理者說：“這是第一次有一個人年紀比我大的人為我工作。”而后，另一位不同的上司說：“你考慮退休嗎？”

“工作37年，離開工作崗位并接受心臟手術后，收到HR的一紙通知，沒有任何面對面接觸，或是與任何管理階層洽談的機會。”

“世界是殘酷的，生活是不公平的；而你，得適應它。”

中國的工程師們，年齡有沒有對你們的工作產(chǎn)生影響？不妨分享下你的故事。

原文：Age survey results： Life‘s good if you’re employed

Age survey results： Life‘s good if you’re employed

Brian Fuller

For engineers， ageism is in your head （unless you‘re unemployed）

Age doesn’t appear to be a negative influencer in the electronics industry， unless you‘re looking for a job. And then， the numbers don’t lie.

That‘s the take-away from the latest EE Life survey we fielded last week， as part of a series of pieces on engineers and the workplace.

Nearly 63 percent of the 800 respondents said they’ve never felt they missed out on promotion or other opportunity at work because of their age. Nearly 90 percent said they‘ve never actually been told that age was an issue in the workplace （not surprising， given today’s stringent HR rules， but I wanted to test the question anyway）。

Have you ever felt you were denied a promotion or other opportunity （salary increase， team assignment etc.） at your company because of your age？

Yes 37.06%

No 62.94%

Where things get interesting is in this question：

“In applying for a job at which you believed you were qualified， have you ever felt you were turned down because of your age？”

Almost 45 percent of respondents said they have felt they didn‘t get a job because of their age.

In applying for a job at which you believed you were qualified， have you ever felt you were turned down because of your age？

Yes 44.43%

No 55.57%

Now clearly these two questions are subjective in nature because they ask how respondents “felt.” And no one in reality is going to tell a job applicant that he or she was turned down because they were old.

（We did try to get at this by asking whether you’ve ever been told you were “over-qualified，” which is often seen as a euphemism for age. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they have been told this. However that could be for other reasons， such as an applicant， long unemployed， applying for a job below his or her traditional pay grade just to get a job）。

Slicing the data by age reveals some variation in response. Younger engineers （those in their 20s and 30s） are far less likely to believe they‘ve been passed over for a job or a promotion. The delta narrows with age， but only those who listed their age as being 60-69 feel very strongly they did not get a job based on age （58 percent feeling they have been passed over）; Of those over the age of 70， only 48 percent felt this way.

Ethnic diversity

We also wanted to test how our exceptionally diverse profession views ethnic background， and the results suggest that， for the most part， ethnicity is little barrier to advancement or jobs. Only about 15 % of respondents to questions about losing out on a job or a promotion felt that happened to them because of their ethnic background.

What’s the lesson？ Maybe time will help. I can only imagine what the responses to similar ethnic-background questions might have been 30-40 years ago. Could it be that the responses on questions about the impact of age change as well over the coming years？

Truth in numbers？

Perhaps so， but then again it‘s never fast enough for older engineers who are struggling to find jobs after the Great Recession. In fact， according to the survey， of the 16 percent of all respondents who said they are currently out of work， half have been jobless for at least two years. Of that， 80 percent are over the age of 50.

Indeed， 60-80 percent of all survey respondents who have been unemployed for any length of time are 50 years or older.

This was perhaps the most poignant comment about the hundreds of responses：

“Quote from supervisor： ’”This is the first time I had someone older than me working for me.“ Later quote from different supervisor： ”“Have you considered retiring？”

Laid off after 37 years; after heart surgery; notified by HR; no contact or discussion or meeting with anyone in management chain.

It‘s a cruel world out there. Life isn’t fair; get used to it.“