As of October 2006, sweeping changes were made to age discrimination legislation affecting your company. From business practices to recruitment advertising wording, are you complying?
In an ideal world, jobs would always be offered to the candidate best qualified for the role. Age, race and a hundred other factors would never come into the equation. However, this isn’t an ideal world – while the majority of companies abide by common sense (i.e. not taking the above factors into account when recruiting), there are some that don’t. To help stamp this out and to make the workplace fairer for all, the Government has produced new regulations to ensure that every job applicant gets the best possible crack at every vacancy.
As a responsible Arun business person, you’re probably nodding your head and looking at your company age profile, wondering if this article can carry any further relevance for you. However, did you know that, when recruiting for a new position, describing your company as ‘young and dynamic’ could be seen to be discriminating against the older worker? Or by stating that you require a specific number of years’ experience for a particular role, unless it can be justified, you could find yourself running up against the new laws? Age discrimination works both ways and even something as simple as asking for a candidate’s date of birth on your application form can leave you open to complaints being levelled against you…
With your recruitment advertising, the key to staying within the letter and spirit of the law is down to what is called ‘objective justification’. If you make a statement linked to age, how certain are you that if the candidate does not meet the age criteria then they can’t do the job in question?
An obvious example here is driving – you could objectively justify asking that candidates be over 17 due to licence restrictions. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, you could reasonably request that a candidate have a maximum age of, say, 64, if the training required for the post of offer will take more than a year. It mostly boils down to common-sense at the end of the day.
The need to ensure that your company complies with all current and developing age related legislation can not be underestimated. By 2010, approximately 40% of the UK’s workforce will be over 45 and by 2025, over half of the population will be over the age of 50. Plus, at the lower end of the scale, people are entering the workplace later than ever before due to their further education goals.
Arguably the biggest and most profound changes to the workplace will centre around the issue of retirement which kicked into gear on 01 October 2006. For example, if your company currently has a compulsory retirement age of 60, then (unless objectively justified) this will be regarded as unfair dismissal because the new Normal Retirement Age (NRA) is 65. There are a number of other stipulations as well regarding the way that you must handle contacting your employee if you intend to retire them at 65 – and they may request that they be allowed to work on beyond this time. This is a request that you should be prepared for and willing to discuss with the employee. It is expected that the UK’s workforce will work later into life in coming years, due to increased life expectancy and therefore longer retirement years (which will need more savings in the coffers on their part!) so we can expect more and more people requesting to work beyond the NRA.
One thing that you should look at as well is service related benefits (if your company has any). Many businesses offer their employees particular benefits relating to their length of time within the company – and once again you’ll have to objectively justify them to ensure that you aren’t breaking the law.
The age discrimination legislation isn’t solely designed to trip companies up and make a lot of lawyers a lot of money. Many companies are seeing this as a positive stick to goad them into reviewing, refreshing and further developing their business practices to ensure that they are offering a welcoming and inclusive workplace. Having a mixed age range in the business environment often leads to many positive benefits for both the older and the younger employee.
In short, the age-related legislation is designed to give both young and older workers a fairer and more level playing field in the workplace. With all of us getting older, it is something that we’ll all be glad of, one day – and something that the next generation coming into your business will appreciate…
If you need any assistance to ensure that you comply with the new age-related legislation, then Wray People Management (01903 713000) will be able to help, and further detail on age-related legislation can be found on their website:
This article is intended as a guide only and not a statement of the law. Professional advice should always be sought when reviewing company policies and procedures.
