It is often thought that the older workforce are those that suffer from age discrimination in the office, but the younger generation are just as much at risk.

Recently a 20 year old woman won the case against her former employer who dismissed her for being too young, which managed to create headlines in the national press.

Following on from this, a snapshot survey from office support recruiter la crème has confirmed that prejudice in the workplace due to age does indeed affect the young as well as the old.

La crème conducted a snapshot survey of office personnel all in their twenties about whether they had faced any kind of age discrimination in the workplace.

Out of 135 respondents, 81 (60%) answered that yes, they had experienced unfair treatment because of their youth.

Commenting on the survey Jo Stuteley, UK Director of la crème, said: "Many people don’t realise that age discrimination affects the younger members of the workforce as well as the older ones. The young seem to be especially affected within the organisation rather than at the application stage, whereas for older employees it seems to be the other way around."

"We in the recruitment industry are working towards dismissing the negative assumptions connected with age and highlighting the advantages that each individual can bring to a business."

Tony Bourne, Partner and Head of the Employment Unit at Glovers Solicitors, says that the laws connected with Age Discrimination have caused massive changes.

"This has been the biggest change in employment law since the Sex Discrimination Act in so much as it affects every single employee and potential employee."

"Much of the media coverage so far has centred on discrimination against 'older' employees, but as this recent case shows, discrimination on the basis of age – whether that’s 16 or 60 – is illegal."

Pinpointing whether Age Discrimination in the workplace does exist is a potentially difficult matter. While younger workers often lack the experience of their older counterparts, that does not always mean they are less qualified for the job in hand.

Similarly, older workers who do not possess the more modern skills of some of their younger counterparts cannot simply be overlooked, because their years of experience and knowledge can never be underestimated.

Bosses in the workplace face the difficult task of trying to balance the skills, enthusiasm, experience and knowledge of their entire workforce, without trying to show bias towards different age groups.

The article Young workers face 'ageism' worries originally appeared on 999 Today