Although women lead healthier, longer lives, the cruel perception that they reach their
sell-by date and become "old" sooner than men is widespread in the workplace, research shows.
A survey of more than 2,600 managers and personnel professionals showed that age discrimination is not only rife in the workplace, but is
shot through with inconsistencies.
Six in ten managers reported being a victim of age discrimination - usually because they were turned down for a job for being too old or too young. Yet more than a fifth admitted that they used age as a recruitment criterion.
Although the survey found widespread agreement that older workers were better than younger colleagues when it came to reliability, commitment, loyalty and customer service, these qualities were not necessarily considered to be deserving of advancement.
More than half of respondents believed that workers between 30 and 39 had the best promotion prospects, with only 2 per cent citing 50-year-olds or above.
Dianah Worman of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said that there was anecdotal evidence that people were considered old at different ages in different sectors.
"We heard of one man working in IT who said he was considered too old by the age of 28," she said.
There was no evidence to suggest that older workers were less valuable to companies than younger workers, in fact the opposite was often true because older workers often brought experience, she added.
The findings also suggested that the Government's ideas on age in the workforce may also be
out of step with reality.

(Agencies)尽管女性往往比男性更健康，寿命更长，但研究结果显示，在职场中普遍存在着一个残酷的观念：女性的“保质期”通常比男性结束得更早，她们“老”得更快。
一份对2600多名经理人和专业人员进行的调查显示，年龄歧视在工作中不仅普遍存在，而且充满矛盾。
60%的经理人认为自己是年龄歧视的受害者，大多因为他们曾经因年纪太大或太小而被拒绝接手某项工作。然而，超过五分之一的经理人承认年龄是他们招聘员工的标准。
当提到员工的可靠性、责任感、忠诚度和客户服务时，调查发现人们认为年纪大的员工要比年轻的员工更好，然而这并不是决定工作晋升的必然因素。
超过半数的受访者认为30到39岁的员工最有希望获得提升，只有2％的人认为50或50岁以上的员工更有优势。
来自英国特许人事和发展协会的黛安娜·沃曼说各种迹象显示，在不同的领域，被视为“年纪大”的具体年龄有所不同。
“我们曾经听一位在IT行业工作的员工说，他虽然才28岁已经被认为太老了。”她说。
没有证据显示年纪大的员工对公司的价值不如年轻人。事实往往正好相反，因为上了年纪的员工往往拥有丰富的经验，她补充说。
该调查还指出，政府对于工作年龄的看法可能与实际情况不符。