Age Discrimination & Managing Staff
Training
The Equality and Diversity Policy on this website makes clear that opportunities
for promotion and training should be made known to all employees and be available
to everyone on a fair and equal basis. Employers should be aware of this and
ensure that the following recommendations are put into practice.
Where employees apply for internal transfers, employers should take care with
informal and verbal references between departmental heads, supervisors and managers.
Such references are covered by the age discrimination regulations and should be fair and non-discriminatory.
Job-related training or development opportunities should be available to all
employees regardless of age - employers should monitor the training to make
sure no particular age group is missing out.
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It is important to review the style and location of training to ensure:
- that there are no barriers to any particular age group participating;
- that it is suitable for people of all ages; and
- that everyone is encouraged to participate.
Promotion
Employers should beware that a requirement for a certain length of experience
for promotion must be objectively justified. If this requirement is essential
for this role this should be sufficient. A qualification requirement (e.g. media
studies in the case of older people) may disadvantage certain age groups and
must be objectively justified.
Using length of service to calculate an employment benefit will be lawful if:
- its aim is to recognise experience, reward loyalty or encourage motivation;
- the employer reasonably concludes there will be a business benefit in doing
this; and
- the employer applies the length of service criterion to all staff in similar
situations.
A length of service requirement of five years or less, or one that mirrors
a similar requirement in a statutory benefit, will be lawful.
Staff Awareness
However large or small an organisation, it is good practice for employers to
have an Equality and Diversity Policy and to train all employees and update
them on a regular basis. This will help to reduce the likelihood of discrimination,
harassment and victimisation taking place and may help to limit liability if
a complaint is made. Attention is hereby drawn to the Equality and Diversity
Policy on this website.
All employees should be aware of company policy on age discrimination and train
particularly those who make decisions that affect others. Age discrimination training should apply
not only to those who recruit and select but also to those involved in day-to-day
decisions about work allocation, performance appraisal, etc. Supervisors and
managers also need training in recognising and dealing with bullying and harassment.
Performance
Performance Appraisal systems should work fairly and without bias. Subsisting
preconceptions about age can influence judgements about people. Should these
preconceptions appear in performance appraisals through use of inappropriate
comments - such as 'does well despite their age' or 'shows remarkable maturity
for their age' - they will undermine the whole basis of a fair appraisal system.
Such comments could also lead to further age discrimination when decisions about
promotion or work allocation are being made.
Changes to the retirement age are due to be introduced around 2011. Fairness
in the appraisal system will become more important as a consequence, but employers
should remember similar principles must be applied to those starting out on
careers. Young people must be assessed on actual performance, not on preconceptions
about their age.
Other Policies during employment
Employers should consider whether to keep a record of the age profile and turnover
rate of their workforce. This will make it easier to establish if age discrimination
is occurring, and be useful to establish whether a length of service criterion
used in calculating an employment benefit has a real business benefit.
