GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Setting up an age review
GSK do not see diversity as a separate initiative but simply about sophisticated management practice - this applies equally to age issues.
GSK believe diversity helps improve business performance through a better understanding of and responsiveness to the needs of employees, customers and other stakeholders. Age can be a defining difference between us and how we see the world; this is important to GSK as a business as it affects employee, consumer and patient attitudes and behaviours. We hope our Age Review will highlight how we can turn understanding of age issues into a business opportunity.
So far the business has identified areas in the employment cycle where the new laws are likely to impact, sought advice and learning from colleagues in the US and put together a team to conduct and advise a thorough review. GSK are core members of the EFA and have sought their advice and guidance. Following an EFA led in-house workshop GSK came to the conclusion that age laws are a catalyst for a rethink and came up with the following broad questions:
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Setting up an age review
GSK do not see diversity as a separate initiative but simply about sophisticated management practice - this applies equally to age issues.
GSK believe diversity helps improve business performance through a better understanding of and responsiveness to the needs of employees, customers and other stakeholders. Age can be a defining difference between us and how we see the world; this is important to GSK as a business as it affects employee, consumer and patient attitudes and behaviours. We hope our Age Review will highlight how we can turn understanding of age issues into a business opportunity.
So far the business has identified areas in the employment cycle where the new laws are likely to impact, sought advice and learning from colleagues in the US and put together a team to conduct and advise a thorough review. GSK are core members of the EFA and have sought their advice and guidance. Following an EFA led in-house workshop GSK came to the conclusion that age laws are a catalyst for a rethink and came up with the following broad questions:
- What do we value and want to reward? Does loyalty and therefore service matter?
- Are GSK sufficiently rigorous in our managerial decision-making for a legal environment where any decision could be challenged, on discrimination grounds, by anyone?
- What are GSK really looking for when recruiting, managing talent and promoting? Can we be more subtle, more precise?
- Is succession planning a good enough justification for a contractual retirement age?
- Is age different to ethnicity or gender, could it ever legitimately affect an employment decision?
- How should GSK amend its graduate recruitment programme?
- With job descriptions the organisation needs to define proven competencies rather than using service related proxies?
- What will the business do about age and chronology on application forms?
- Is our employee proposition attractive to different generations and is there competitive advantage in understanding this better?
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