Australia Post has defended reports its CEO Ahmed Fahour ‘complained’ about his over-fifty employees at a Senate Estimates meeting yesterday, claiming the mail giant is ‘passionate about diversity' in the workplace.
Fahour was under fire for reportedly lashing out at the older generation of Australia Post employees, allegedly commenting the over-fifty demographics were less interested in gaining new skills and more focused on retirement.
“We’ve got an unusual situation where 45 per cent of our employees are above the age of 50 and some of those groups of people are thinking less about new skills, new training and they are thinking more around 'I want to retire one day and keep it as simple as possible until that point'," Fahour told the Senate.
The mail giant has since responded to the reports, claiming Fahour’s comments had been taken out of context and defending Aus Post’s culture of diversity and value of experience.
“A media report today has misrepresented comments made by Australia Post's managing director and Group CEO at a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday. Australia Post is passionate about diversity and equality for all. We are proud of our workforce and the fact we have people of all ages working alongside each other,” Australia Post’s statement reads.
“The experience of our workforce is an invaluable asset, and one of which we are incredibly proud of. Our people know their communities and know their customers. Any comments to the contrary have been taken out of context and do not reflect the views of Australia Post's CEO or our broader management team.”
Age discrimination is a critical issue in many industries. Experts quickly criticised Fahour’s comments for propagating a damaging stereotype about the older workforce.
The initial comments were made during a meeting between Fahour and the Federal government where discussions took place regarding his multi-million-dollar salary and the group’s $36m turnaround profit.
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