Ageism Is Still An Issue

Increased awareness of age laws spells trouble for employers.

86 per cent of Brits know it's illegal to discriminate on age at work, but 16 million workers have witnessed ageist practices at work in the last year alone, according to a leading think tank on age issues. The Employers Forum on Age (EFA) is calling for more change on the ground as employer / employee expectations just don't match.

On 1st October 2006 age discrimination became unlawful. Twelve months later, awareness of the legislation has almost doubled to become widespread - yet new research commissioned by EFA has found that employers are still not abiding by the rules.

The EFA research reveals that almost nine out of ten people know it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of age at work, compared to just 51 per cent this time last year. Shockingly the survey also found that ageism is still endemic in the workplace, with 59 per cent of workers claiming to have witnessed ageist behaviour in the workplace during the last twelve months alone, compared to 61 per cent when surveyed just before the legislation came in.

Sam Mercer, Chief Executive of The Employers Forum on Age says, "It is great that awareness of age discrimination issues among British adults has increased at an impressive pace since the law was passed twelve months ago. This proves that the laws served a purpose in terms of getting ageism on the radar. However, it is bad news for those employers who are still falling well short of the required standards of practice. On average 200 age discrimination claims are lodged every month with the Employment Tribunal Service, no employer can afford to bury their head in the sand and hope this issue will just go away."

Nearly one third of workers are aware of an older person getting paid more than a younger person for doing the same job. One in three see people being managed differently depending on their age - an increase from 23 per cent last year. Over one in eight have had a younger person in the workplace overlooked for promotion in favour of an older person, irrespective of experience - this is down from last year which was 23 per cent.

Over more than a quarter said that people of a similar age to the rest of the team are recruited to ensure a good 'fit'. This has not changed in the 12 months since the laws came into force.

The EFA research also found that there is a long way to go in ensuring that ageism is properly understood, with less than half of those surveyed correctly identifying that it is an issue which can affect anyone of any age and a third believing that it only affects older people.

One area where older people are specifically affected is retirement, explains Mercer. "A staggering 92 per cent of people surveyed think they should have the right to work for as long as they like if they are able to do the job, regardless of their age. However one in five (21 per cent) said that their employer would not give them this right, and instead would use the default retirement age of 65. This disparity between employees' expectations and the flexibility employers are prepared to offer will inevitably lead to tension. It is time for employers to think seriously about following in the footsteps of some leading EFA members and removing mandatory retirement ages."

Mercer concludes, "Age discrimination laws have been in effect for one year, and good progress has been made in some areas. However, ageist attitudes are still ingrained and changing that culture is a much bigger task, but one which cannot be avoided."

More information can be found at: www.efa.org.uk

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