The business case for age diversity is common sense.
- The UK workforce is growing steadily older...
- ...which is causing the labour pool to contract
- Employers seeking skilled staff are experiencing chronic recruitment difficulties
- If they are not doing so already, your competitors will tackle their mounting recruitment crises by headhunting your top talent
- This could threaten your company's bottom line
An age diverse company will:
- Challenge ageist stereotypes
- Not use age as a factor in employment decisions
- Benefit from a skilled and motivated workforce
- Recruit and promote solely on ability and potential
- Identify new markets and get closer to its customers
- Become an employer of choice in an increasingly competitive labour market
- Build its reputation as an ethical and intelligent employer
By abandoning their prejudices about what makes a 'younger' or 'older' worker, smart employers are gaining competitive advantage:
- Reduced costs as a result of improved employee retention
- Access to a wider talent pool
- Lower recruitment costs
- Increased return on investment in staff
- Retained corporate knowledge
As the workforce ages and contracts, skilled workers will increasingly come at a premium. Companies that fail to respond to the threat will put their future growth and profitability at risk, while missing out on the benefits of greater age diversity.
Ageism is widespread and affects all age groups. Some define an older worker as 'a woman over 35' and 'a man over 42'. Very recently a leading IT analyst told suppliers to sack all their staff aged over 50 as they are too old to be retrained. At the other end of the scale, a 27-year-old secretary with 9 years experience may be considered too young for a post, despite having sufficient experience.
Employment decisions such as these do not make good business sense.
Age discrimination affects all aspects of employment, not just recruitment. EFA research clearly shows that promotion and training as well as redundancy and retirement selection can all be affected when decisions are based on age.
The business benefits of a mixed-age workforce are now widely recognised. There is clear evidence that both staff turnover and absenteeism are reduced and that motivation and commitment are improved in organisations employing people of all ages.
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