Heytea won’t hire people over 25? We should not just be angry about age discrimination in recruitment
2024-08-18
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□Fan Chuanlong (Chongqing University)
On August 16, The Paper reported that a netizen was rejected for applying for a job at a Heytea store. The reason given was that the store only recruited employees aged 18-25, while the netizen was 28. Once the incident was reported, it immediately attracted widespread attention. In the comment section of the news, some people expressed anger at the company involved, and some strongly condemned it. However, what should not be ignored and deserved deep thought was the concerns of many people: If they don’t recruit employees aged 25, what about those aged 35 and 45?
In fact, the issue of age discrimination in corporate recruitment has been frequently searched and seen on social media. Before this, there have been stories such as "A 26-year-old girl was rejected for being too old when applying for a job at Luckin Coffee" and "A 23-year-old was rejected by HR for being too old when looking for a job." On some social media platforms, many netizens also shared their experiences of being "rejected" because of their age during the job search process: "A 25-year-old was rejected for being too old when looking for a job" and "Are people born in 1997 already rejected when looking for a job?"...
It is undeniable that there are indeed some types of jobs with high labor intensity, and employers are worried that older employees cannot stay up late or cannot keep up with the learning ability, etc., and regardless of the discrimination and illegality of such "realistic considerations", are there also realistic considerations for the relevant recruitment positions in HEYTEA stores? Is the labor intensity involved too high? Can a 28-year-old employee not bear it? The answer is obviously no.
The one-size-fits-all recruitment principle of focusing only on age, regardless of whether the applicants are qualified or experienced, not only reflects the bias of the employer, but is also detrimental to the long-term development of the company itself. For companies, using age as a rigid or even absolute standard for recruitment, on the one hand, limits their own scope of employment, not only increases recruitment costs to a certain extent, but is also detrimental to the long-term stable construction of the workforce; on the other hand, such an arrogant and harsh employment principle also undermines the company's image in the minds of consumers. Amid the condemnation of the companies involved, some voices have already emerged to boycott the products of the companies involved. A company that does not work hard on its products and lacks a sense of social responsibility will find it difficult to win the trust of consumers, let alone gain a foothold in the market.
In addition, only employees aged 18-25 are recruited. Such age discrimination is not only not conducive to creating a good job-seeking environment, but also suspected of infringing on the rights and interests of workers and violating relevant laws. According to the Labor Law, workers have the right to equal employment and choice of occupations. The Employment Promotion Law also stipulates that employers recruiting personnel and professional agencies engaging in professional intermediary activities must provide workers with equal employment opportunities and fair employment conditions, and must not implement various employment discrimination.
The paradoxical phenomenon of being despised for being "too old" at a young age makes many workers angry, but they should not just be angry. They should also reflect deeply on the causes of the problem, expose the adverse consequences that may result from the problem, and seek solutions to the problem.
Opposing age discrimination in recruitment and creating a good job-seeking environment requires joint efforts from all parties and calls for joint action from all parties. For employers, they should change their views in a timely manner, fully realize the development and changes of the labor force population, and respect the legitimate rights and interests of workers. After all, consumers of corporate products are also workers, and companies that do not respect workers will not be supported by consumers. Relevant government departments should also strengthen supervision, strictly enforce the law, and resolutely prevent such incidents of infringement of workers' rights and interests from happening. In addition, the majority of workers cannot remain silent, let alone be angry, and should use legal means to safeguard their rights.
