Is your age affecting your work?

Surveys regarding the forthcoming Legislation is providing some very interesting opinions and statistics on age as people prepare to adhere to the new laws coming into play for 1st October, including results of a survey which perceived older workers as “unreliable, unskilled and less adaptable to change.” Click here for more facts and statistics.

40 per cent of UK employers believe more than half of employment tribunals cases will contain some element of age discrimination after the new regulations come into force in October.

Nearly a third of the 1,000 respondents to a survey made up of senior managers and HR professionals, perceive older workers as unreliable, unskilled and less adaptable to change.

Half of UK employers think age legislation will have a greater impact than race and disability legislation. 40 per cent believe age will have a greater impact than sex discrimination laws, and almost 90 per cent believe age will have a greater impact than sexual orientation legislation and religion and belief.

Three quarters of people surveyed in a report published by Eversheds law firm and Cranfield School of Management believe that people of all ages will benefit from the new age discrimination laws. Forty-four per cent think employment lawyers will be the big winners.

40% of survey respondents were unaware of the effect of the age regulations on occupational pensions.

HR departments are being left to lead the implementation process in the majority of organisations (65%) and just over half of respondents (55%) believe their board members are not committed to eliminating ageism in the workplace

According to research done by the University of Kent for Age Concern in 2004, age discrimination is the most common form of discrimination in the UK: 29% of respondents said they had experienced it (compared with 24% who cited gender, the next most common)

Department for Work and Pensions statistics for England reveal that Liverpool, Hackney, Camden, Manchester, Newcastle and Luton have some of the lowest employment rates for older workers aged between 50 and 69.

It is predicted that the number of over-65’s will exceed the number of children under 16 by 2007.

According to a research report by CIPD and CMI published in October 2005, 59% of respondents said they had been disadvantaged by age discrimination at work, while nearly a quarter said it had affected their decision-making in recruitment.

A link to the Be Ready Newsletter http://www.agepositive.gov.uk/agepartnershipgroup/pages/newsletters.htm where you can find out more about the forthcoming legislation and what it will mean for your business.

P.S: Keep an eye out for Epic's forthcoming Epic Professional suite of e-learning courseware, designed to help organisations and individuals within both public and private sectors understand and react to the implication of forthcoming legislation and regulation, including The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations