Age discrimination - Tackling transition

March 1, 2007

Age discrimination – Tackling transition

“From 2007, enlightened employers must start to design and implement radical new age management strategies if they want to generate real business benefits from the ‘demographic time bomb’ and retain engaged, healthy and productive mature workers,” argues Richard Ciechan, managing director of age legislation consultancy In My Prime.

2006 was the year of Age Discrimination legislation and research shows that the majority of public and private sector employers have now taken steps to ensure that their existing policies and procedures comply with its technical requirements. But does this mean we’ve cleared the hurdle? Far from it. From 2007, enlightened employers must start to design and implement radical new age management strategies if they want to generate real business benefits from the ‘demographic time bomb’ and retain engaged, healthy and productive mature workers who are able to fulfil their individual aspirations in respect of their final working years.

Fundamental to doing so is the realisation that moving through one’s career is a transition and should be treated as such. Just as people do not leave work ‘young’ one day and come back the next as ‘old’, so in the workplace of the future people should generally no longer be ’employees’ one day and ‘pensioners’ the next.

In future, ‘retirement’ ideally will be a relatively seamless process, individual in its nature and reflecting the specific needs of both the business and the employee. But numerous changes will be required before this can happen, amongst the most important being:

1. A greater emphasis on flexibility and planning over a longer period of time, focusing on regular career review and appraisal processes and identifying each individual’s needs and aspirations in terms of current and future health, wealth and time issues.

2. Recognition that whereas increased numbers of older workers will continue to want to work, they may not be motivated by the same factors as younger employees. The traditional carrots of salary rises and promotion are unlikely to be top of the list.

3. A framework for all workers which allows them to establish and maintain a good work-life balance, continuously learn new skills, and find new ways of contributing in the workplace.

4. Support for a culture in which mature employees are able to interact on an equal footing with colleagues of all ages.

Age Discrimination by its very nature does not allow for ‘different’ treatment of individuals or groups based solely on the criterion of their age. Thus, there must be a greater focus for everyone on the knowledge and skills required to see people through their lives into a ripe and fulfilled old age. This includes: greater awareness of health and lifestyle issues, including formal health screening; a greater understanding of personal financial planning; and mandatory ongoing training in emerging skills like IT.

Individual life planning and counselling from an early age, flexible and contract working arrangements, and support and information about alternative working options such as self-employment should also be provided. Issues concerning each individual’s work-life balance should be addressed openly and positively. Re-training and mentoring schemes that enable the transfer of accumulated experience must also be encouraged.

It may be that there will be less interest in these topics and less take-up of training from younger people but from an early age employees should be challenged and encouraged to take responsibility for planning and managing their individual futures, alongside their existing responsibility for managing their own attitudes and behaviour. To this extent employers can only be seen as facilitators and supporters, the onus has to lie with each individual to create a fulfilling and rewarding outlook.

Ultimately, growing older affects absolutely everyone. There is no magic cut-off or ‘sell by’ dates when it comes to employee contribution; what is important are the aptitude, attitude, knowledge, skills and motivation of each individual. An engaged and productive workforce is in the interests of employers, workers and the nation as a whole but significant change in any arena is never easy to implement or quick to take hold. That’s why, to avoid further delay, Managers and HR professionals are well advised to pinpoint 2007 as the place to start.

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Research shows that while most organisations (89 percent) claim to have introduced or changed their policies and practices to comply with the Age Discrimination legislation which came into effect on October 1, almost a quarter (24 percent) still do not have an age discrimination policy and only just over half (54 percent) provide training to managers with regard to age discrimination. – Findings taken from the Recruitment Confidence Index (RCI), produced by Cranfield School of Management, November 2006.

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Richard Ciechan is Managing Director of In My Prime – www.inmyprime.co.uk – an organisation that advises employers on issues relating to retaining and developing a mature workforce, in particular in areas such as flexible working policies, financial planning, personal development and work/life balance. For further information tel: 01582 762348 or email: Richard@inmyprime.co.uk