This month we focus on age equality. We have two case studies and updates from two organisations that work in the area of age and employment – the Employers’ Forum on Age and The Age and Employment Network.
An issue that has arisen in both of our case study organisations is the age of apprentices. Traditionally, apprenticeships have been regarded as for young people and Government policy reflects this in the funding available. Indeed, as part of the Government’s developing policy on getting young people into work, there is emphasis on expanding apprenticeships.
However, both British Gas and Sainsbury’s have opened up their apprenticeship programmes to people of all ages, regardless of the funding situation.
British Gas carried out a comprehensive audit of all its policies to ensure there is no age bias. Changes as a result of the audit include changes to recruitment processes; in particular, removing all references in advertisements, application forms or job descriptions that may indicate older or younger workers were preferred. It also looked at where it advertised jobs and has since used non-traditional events in order to attract older people. To retain employees through prolonging their working life, British Gas introduced “lifestyle” contracts, which provide for different working patterns for all employees to meet individual needs where possible. One significant change made as a result of its age audit, was the removal of an upper age limit for entrance to the British Gas apprenticeship scheme.
At Sainsbury’s, the age barrier was removed in a transformation of its apprenticeship programme. It now provides apprenticeship training, up to NVQ level 3. It includes key skills such as English and maths, communication skills and customer service, as well as teaching a craft. The earnings potential is quite high, so the scheme attracts more mature employees, and almost one-third of its apprentices are now over the age of 25.
Rachel Krys of the Employers Forum on Age puts forward reasons why employers no longer need to have a mandatory retirement age. Against the background of the Government’s announcement that the review of the default retirement age is to be brought forward to 2010, Krys explains the reasons why some employers are removing retirement ages. She gives examples of organisations that have done this successfully, and addresses some of the common fears that employers have about taking this step.
This is a network that shares expertise on the employment of older workers, and seeks to help create a labour market that uses the talents and skills of people in mid and later life. Chris Ball, chief executive of TAEN, explains the work that the organisation is currently involved in. This includes research into the effect of the recession on older workers. TAEN argues for more effective “age management”, with organisations implementing healthy ageing strategies, and using effectively the knowledge and skills of older workers during a downturn, rather than adopting the wasteful policies of previous recessions where millions of older workers were made redundant and effectively driven out of the labour market.
Gail Cartmail, head of the public sector and assistant general secretary of Unite the union, examines the progress that has been made towards equality for women, and looks at the role of the unions in revitalising the equality agenda.
Michael Rubenstein provides his annual update on discrimination decisions, setting out the legal principles from key cases decided in 2009.
Subscribers to EOR Online can read the full text of all the articles mentioned above as well as our usual news, diary and case reports in Issue 196.
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