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Our country has a population that is growing older, improved health care and a better standard of living means we are surviving longer and staying physically and mentally more fit than our grandparents did.
This has prompted a reassessment of attitudes amongst both the government and employers how we think about older people in the work place. The latest development is the government’s proposals for the outlawing of age discrimination in employment, which it intends to bring into force in a year’s time. The proposals are currently undergoing consultation, which will end on October 17th.
“Age discrimination prevents people of all ages from realising their full potential in the workplace,” says Alan Johnson, Secretary of State Trade and Industry. “This in turn prevents employers from getting the best performance out of their business and delivering the best service to their customers. We have consulted over a number of years on our plans for legislation in this area. We have said throughout that tackling age discrimination is good for business, good for individuals and good for society.”
It has taken a pretty drastic change in society to prompt this awareness of the prejudices that exist when it comes to age and employment. 10 years ago there were 10 million more people in their twenties in the UK than are now. In fact by 2010 over 45’s will account for over 40% of the working population.
In fact age prejudice in the workplace has repeatedly shown to be more of a problem than many of the other forms of prejudice that come more immediately to mind. A few years ago B&Q carried out research on ageism. This showed that more than 40% of its older employees, before getting a job at B&Q, had found ageism was a major barrier to getting work. For some this had resulted in being unemployed for up to two years.
Since 1979 there has been a dramatic reduction in workers over 50 and this is estimated to cost the economy £16 billion a year on public expenditure and £5illion a year in lost axes. All this when there are two million over 50s in the country unable to get employment and only 9% of people work beyond 65.
Where the problem is worst it is often because the people responsible for taking on new staff are in their twenties or thirties and just can’t grasp the idea of employing someone their parent’s age.
Some of the common prejudices are:
Age determines health, in fact age is a minor element, lifestyle, exercise , diet and smoking all also have an effect on our health, yet these are rarely a barrier to employment. While older people can be more prone to disease, minimising the risks can ensure an older person is a least as healthy as a younger one.
Older people find it hard to learn new things, actually older people are just as able as anyone to benefit from a learning environment that suits their needs.
Older workers take more time off work, again this is a false idea. Younger workers are far more likely to take time off because of short term sickness/non-certified absence, which is the greatest cause of absence and disruption for employers. It is also often assumed that people start winding down as they approach retirement age. According to ACAS older workers actually find that as they get older their ambitions change and they find it rewarding to use their skills in different ways, mentoring younger colleagues for example.
In February the Employers Forum on Age (EFA) carried out a survey that looked into issues of age and work it showed that 93% of over sixties like work, higher than any other age group.
The Age Partnership Group points out several areas that companies tend to treat as standard policy, but that actually constitute age discrimination. These include: offering medicals to the over fifties, advertising for someone to join a ‘young dynamic team’, requesting an individuals age for any reason other than equal opportunities monitoring, moving employees over 60 off heavy manual duties and offering training to only younger members of staff or refusing it to older ones.
“Employers must realise that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to management based on stereo types is flawed,” says Sam Mercer Director of the EFA. “It would make much more sense to find ways to retain and motivate workers, and offer flexibility, training and development irrespective of age.”
Of course new legislation is likely to only offer a partial solution to the problem, but nether the less the proposed rules do represent quite a drastic change to a system that has remained much the same for decades. It will no longer be possible to set a retirement age that is less than 65, unless there is a very good reason to do so. Employers will not be able to discriminate against older workers when recruiting staff, promoting staff or offering training. They will also have to consider an employees request to work beyond 65.
When an employee is due to retire the employer must give them six months written notice, so they have time to plan.
Tool retail, the sector of most interest to Toolbusiness+Hire has always had quiet a good record when it comes to employing people other companies might consider too old. The advantages are many, most obviously the experience an older person has gained, the fact that many of them have been home owners themselves, so have done plenty of DIY and are familiar with the products involved, gives them the knowledge to really help customers. The customers in return like to be helped by someone who seems more reliable.
The leading brand that has shown the greatest interest in taking advantage of the benefits of employing older staff is B&Q. Kingfisher, the retail group that owns B&Q devotes a whole section in its Social Responsibility Policy to ‘Respect for the Diversity of People’ and says that it will ‘create an environment that respects, welcomes and enable our employees to reach their potential for the benefit of the company and themselves’. An important element of this policy is to ensure there is no discrimination on age, as well as on the basis of race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation or religious belief. Put simply this means that the group, as a matter of policy, resists prejudice of all kind and has fully recognised that age prejudice is a much of a problem as any other sort.
In practical terms this policy has reaped benefits for B&Q, it found that by employing older staff it reduced staff turnover by 60% and absenteeism by 39%, which in turn boosted profits by 18%.
Whether a change in the rules seems like a good idea to you or not, the truth is that with a growing number of older people to pay pensions to, the only way the government will be able to make the system work is if more of them stay in work. This will probably mean a more flexible approach to employment, the balance will shift, so that instead of working hard until sixty five and then spending the remainder of their life idle people will choose to devote more time to the work/life balance during their working lives.
But that is in the future in the short term the question remains of what the effects will be as soon as the new legislation comes into force. Similar regulations have been in force in the USA for 30 years without causing any major problems, whilst recent introduction of legislation in Australia and New Zealand seems to have gone off with out any trouble.
However this article itself is guilty of age prejudice. We have focused only on how the law will affect older workers, when it really covers prejudice against any age group, for whatever reason. It is a year before the new rules come into force take the time to check them out.
Useful sources of on-line information:
Age Positive www.agepositive.gov.uk
ACAS www.acas.org.uk
British chamber of Commerce www.chamberonline.co.uk
Business Link www.businesslink.gov
Federation of Small Businesses www.fsb.org.uk
Department of Trade and Industry www.dti.gov.uk
Jobcentre Plus www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk
The Employers Forum on Age www.efa.org.uk
Third Age Employment Network www.taen.org.uk
Trade Union Congress www.tuc.org.uk
Confederation of British Industry www.cbi.org.uk
Equal Opportunities Commission www.eoc.org.uk
Commission for Racial Equality www.cre.gov.uk
Age Concern www.ageconcern.org.uk
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