The Age Dimension of Employment Practices

Aims

The Department of Trade and Industry commissioned this work from CROW in advance of drafting legislation to outlaw age discrimination at work. The aim was to establish:

•  how aware managers, younger and older workers and trades unionists are of age discrimination and the implications of the pending legislation, at a range of levels;

•  how important they think it is;

•  how far current practices are supportive of an age diverse workforce;

•  how far current practices are consistent with the proposed legislation;

•  how far they are amenable to change.

Outcomes

A report for the Department of Trade and Industry, to inform the development of the Age Discrimination Legislation, and support to employers in preparing for it.

Methodology

The project began with a literature review, and consultative interviews with a range of national agencies, to establish the issues likely to be problematic for employers.

It then undertook in depth case studies of 14 firms, selected to cover a variety of:

•  occupational sectors,

•  firm sizes,

•  previous commitment to age diversity

•  local labour market conditions

Consultancy support for the project was provided to CROW by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and the Employers Forum on Age.

The project is due for completion in January 2007.

Main findings

• Levels of awareness of the planned legislation were low, but there were examples of employer activities to help older workers stay in work longer.
• The main motivation for change by employers was business need, in terms of recruitment problems and skill retention, rather than fear of forthcoming legislation
• The Government’s decision to set a default retirement age of 65 was unlikely to affect many organisations. Most had retirement age at or above 65 or had already abolished contractual retirement ages. Views were mixed about abolishing occupational retirement ages altogether.
• Legislation may spur some employers to improve appraisal and performance management systems, particularly in relation to older workers.
• Few examples of directly age discriminatory HR policies were identified, but some informants thought that there was likely to be a gap between organisational policy and the practice of individual managers
• Most employers interviewed would allow workers, either formally or informally, to stay in work past the firm’s normal retirement age, but levels of demand for this were reported to be low. Where this happened it was almost always on less secure terms.

 

Funder

Department of Trade and Industry

Leader

Professor Stephen McNair
E-mail: stephen.mcnair@niace.org.uk

Report availability

The report is published in the DTI’s Research Report series as The Age Dimension of Employment practices: employer case studies - [PDF file*] (Employment Relations Research Series No 42). It can be downloaded free of charge.

 

 

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