Almost one third of Australians have suffered some sort of discrimination at work, with age the most common form of prejudice.
A survey of more than 1900 workers in Australia found one in 10 were victims of age discrimination, both young and old.
The research by global HR firm ADP found of those reporting age discrimination, 21 per cent were aged over 55, while 38.5 per cent were aged between 18 and 24.
The sectors with the highest levels of age discrimination were education, health, IT finance and hospitality.
Age prejudice was closely followed by discrimination on the grounds of gender (eight per cent), and appearance and nationality (both at five per cent).
ADP Australia managing director Eddie Megas said the issue certainly was not unique to Australia, but he expected people would be surprised how common an experience it was.
“We have work to do to with age discrimination in the workplace,” he told AAP.
The survey found that more than half of workers are unaware of who to contact in the event of discrimination at work.
Only one third said they would be comfortable raising a claim in the event of discrimination at work.
“As a minimum, business owners and managers need to educate themselves on anti-discrimination laws,” Mr Megas said.
“Not only is discrimination illegal, but employers have a duty of care to protect their teams from harassment or unfair treatment at work.”
