London, Jan. 5: A third of workers over 50 have experienced age discrimination at work, according to research. Ageism is so rife in the workplace that people have only five years in their working life during which they are unlikely to be judged “too young” or “too old” for a job, it says.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said that although age prejudice was much worse for people over 40, one in 12 under-35s had been told they were too young.

Twice this number believes they have been rejected for being too young but have no evidence.

The CIPD said such “ill-founded bigotry has shrunk the perceived perfect age to a lamentable half a decade during an average working life of nearly 50 years”.

It also warns that organisations fixated by youth are in danger of alienating millions of potential older customers. The report’s authors give Barclays as an example of a company which now has an “inclusion” charter to cut out age bias.

Gloucestershire Housing Association says older workers bring a “wealth of experience” and display a calmness and sense of perspective that comes of “having seen it all before”.