Impact of Age and Gender Diversity on Employee Performance in an Organisation - A Case Study of Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of age and gender diversity on employee performance in an organisation. A descriptive research design was adopted with Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA) being the focus organisation which has a total of 103 employees from various units. Stratified and random sampling techniques were used to draw a sample size of 50 respondents from various hierarchical levels. The main data collection instruments were self- administered questionnaires and interview guides. A set of descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, the mean and standard deviation were used to generate tables, bar graphs and pie charts to present the results of the study using SPSS version18. The key findings of the study were that both age and gender diversity have a bearing on the performance of an employee and ultimately on the organisational output. It was ascertained that employees felt comfortable working with either older or younger employees. Others felt positive about being involved in teams that consist of employees with varying ages as this improved their performance. Furthermore, the study found out that gender diversity has a high predictive power on employee performance. On the other hand, organisations that create an inclusive environment for all employees irrespective of gender and create policies that eliminate discrimination from the workplace can greatly benefit from gender diversity. A significant relationship between gender diversity and work performance has shown that employees like to work with the opposite gender so long as they can carry out their job professionally. The study concluded that age diversity is a very crucial resource for firms that intend to have sustainable workforce, higher production, productivity and profitability.