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Attitudes to age changing in UK Plc
They have to... but is IT dragging its feet?

By Tony Hallett

Published: Thursday 23 October 2003

Almost a third of employers have a policy in place addressing ageism at work and two-thirds of staff believe their organisation's board or senior management are committed to stop making personnel decisions using age as a criterion.

Those are some of the headline figures of new research into ageism, indicating a mixed working environment is inevitably a healthier one.

The study was conducted by Cranfield School of Management and shows progress is being made. It was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions as part of its Age Positive campaign.

Malcolm Wicks, Age Positive Minister, said in a statement: "Employers can only benefit from age positive policies. Having both [old and young] helps increase morale, improve productivity and reduce costs. The need to end ageism at work is becoming more urgent."

However, while the research shows attitudes moving in the right direction, it also shows the mountain still to be climbed. While 57 per cent of those surveyed said they avoid using age limits and age related words in job ads, that still implies up to 43 per cent don't. In some countries, age-related recruitment is illegal.

And while 55 per cent said they don't use age as a criterion for redundancy, it still shows a lot of companies do.

Legislation is coming in the UK to address this issue but it is still at least three years away.

Shaun Tyson, Professor of Human Resources at Cranfield, said developing a policy on age is the first step organisations must take.

Full details of Cranfield's 'This Age in the Workplace' study can be received through http://www.cranfield.ac.uk .

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