Just over half of workers in Ireland have either experienced or witnessed discrimination in the workplace, according to a survey.

The survey of 1,400 people, by recruitment firm Matrix, found that 20% of workers had personally experienced discrimination, while 32% had witnessed it.

Inequality in relation to pay and age (30%) was the most common form of discrimination, according to the firm’s 2023 Workplace Equality Survey.

This was closely followed by gender discrimination (25%).

Other types of workplace discrimination experienced or witnessed by respondents included:

• Discrimination against people with a disability (17%),
• Discrimination based on nationality (16%),
• Discrimination based on being a member of the Traveller community (14%).

Pay inequality

According to Matrix, 44% of respondents said that they knew a colleague of the opposite sex (and with the same role or responsibility) who was being paid more than them. Of those, more than half (56%) were female.

The firm described this finding as “deeply concerning”, adding that it was encouraging to see that more people were willing to address the issue with their boss.

When asked how they would respond to a colleague of the opposite sex being paid more for the same work, the majority of those surveyed said that they would take action, with almost half saying that they would address the issue with their boss.

‘Fewer opportunities’ for over-50s

On age, more than two-thirds of those surveyed said that workers over the age of 50 had fewer promotional opportunities then their younger colleagues.

This represented a jump of 19 percentage points on last year’s findings.

When asked at what age it might be difficult to move job, nearly half (48%) said that those aged 50 and above would struggle.

More than two-thirds of workers surveyed also believed that parenthood impacted a woman’s career progression.