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Adapting employee appraisals to avoid age discrimination & lift the “Silver Ceiling”
11/25/2025
Older employees often face barriers that unfairly hinder their career advancement, referred to as the “silver ceiling”. Managerial stereotypes and subtle forms of age discrimination can lead to workers as young as 48 being systematically overlooked for promotions. In the context of aging workforces and people staying longer in the workforce, the silver ceiling poses a significant challenge to organizations and society more broadly. A new study sheds new light on why this ceiling exists and outlines how companies can adapt employee appraisals to avoid discriminating against older workers and ensure they can better identify talent.