Is YOUR business age positive….?

With new Age Discrimination Laws scheduled to come into effect this October, national high street recruitment specialist, Westaff, is looking to help equip local businesses with the knowledge required to ensure their own employment practices align with the new government plans…

Devised to rule out age discrimination, harassment and victimisation within the workplace, the new government legislation will see local businesses forced to review their approach to hiring and firing staff.

The move is also supported by the TUC which has claimed that a demographic time-bomb is building with a rapidly aging – and growing - workforce being pushed into early retirement.

Westaff’s Area Manager, Liz Robinson, confirmed that the new legislation will be an excellent step forward for both employers and workers whilst reinforcing a strong message to businesses who may have previously discounted potential employees purely on the criteria of age:

“We need to dispel the myth that once a worker reaches the age of 50, they are no longer an attractive employee. The midlands has a pool of mature, yet highly skilled, candidates who have found it difficult to find employment in the area – especially those looking for temporary work,” she says. “Equally, many local businesses are finding it hard to unearth good candidates and here we have a group of skilled professionals that really want to work.”

“Additionally employment and employers alike are set to benefit with positive impacts anticipated on recruitment, pay, benefits, pensions and retirement resulting from an extended working ‘life’ of employees. It’s really a win – win situation - we just want to help local businesses understand the skills and be open to the opportunity.”

Westaff itself has been working to similar guidelines since 2005 when it was awarded ‘age positive status’ a Government and industry approved mark which denotes that the receiving company does enforce strict age-positive practices.

Robinson reinforces Westaff’s commitment to creating a smooth transitional period for its clients and the local business community in general:

“We aim to maintain and grow our position as the local recruitment specialist of choice and, with continued legislation unrolling in the employment arena,” says Robinson. “We are pleased to help and support local businesses evolve their recruitment policies with enhanced service, information, support and guidance – just call your local branch or drop in for a chat.”

Hints and Tips from Westaff UK on how YOUR business can embrace the new Age Discrimination Laws that come into effect on the 1st October 2006:

1) Remember there is ‘direct’ discrimination and ‘indirect’ discrimination. ‘Direct’ discrimination is where an individual is treated less favourably because of age – so a job profile suggesting a candidate is likely to be in his or her 30s would be directly discriminatory. An example of ‘indirect discrimination can be where a specific qualification or length of previous employment required automatically excludes an older person e.g. a qualification that has only been available in very recent years.

2) Age is very deceptive visually. An individual should not be treated differently because they look particularly young, or indeed, particularly old.

3) Any application forms – or advertisements – should have age related material removed from them as the requirement to prove that age is NOT a deciding factor in recruiting an individual will be essential.

4) Bear in mind what might constitute an age ‘related’ phrase – e.g. words such as: energetic, vibrant, seasoned, or ‘mature for their age’ – may not be appropriate for an employer to use.

5) An employer must no longer use any terminology that states an employee’s Employment Contract automatically ends when the employee reaches 65 as this will amount to unfair dismissal. Instead, the employer must write to the employee between 6 months and 1 year prior to the proposed retirement date to inform them of their intention to ‘retire’ that employee.

6) Finally, the age limit for bringing unfair dismissal claims will be removed. Therefore, any dismissal of an individual over 65 for reasons other than retirement will now need to be carefully undertaken in accordance with statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures.

To see what Westaff can do for you, please visit www.westaff.co.uk