Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes of non-commercial foodservice dietitians toward hiring older workers who are over fifty-five years of age. Questionnaires were sent to 600 members of Korea Dietitians Association who are working in Seoul, Korea, Data from 233 usable responses were analyzed using the SAS package program. The study showed that dietitians do not have a favorable perception of hiring older workers. Dictitians responded older workers have more serious accidents than younger workers(under age 30). In addition, they think than older workers are harder to train, find it more difficult to adapt to adapt to new ways of working, and are slower in their work. On the positive side, the response did show that dietitians realize that older workers are not absent from work as frequently than younger workers and that they are more cooperate than younger workers. The data also showed that those dietitians who had more positive experience with older workers also perceive the workers in more positive way than those dietitians that have had a negative experience with older workers(p<0.001). Finally, dietitians who are working in industrial foodservice showed more positive attitudes toward older workers than the dietitians who are working in hospital and school foodservice(p<0.01).