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Government rewards anti-ageist employers...
...and the individuals who beat discrimination

By Sylvia Carr

Published: Wednesday 23 June 2004

Individuals and employers are proving ageism in the workplace can be overcome, though IT still has a ways to go to catch up with other industries in this area.

Positive examples of both groups were singled out yesterday with awards from the UK government's Age Positive campaign, an effort of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Malcolm Wick, Minister for Pensions, said at the awards ceremony in London: "I know from my constituency, Croydon North, that age discrimination can be as nasty and disabling as discrimination based on physical disability, gender or race... I look forward to the day when we outlaw age discrimination."

Wick described ageism as "bad for individuals, bad for business and bad for the economy".

He emphasised that the campaign is about giving a chance to "those who want to work", not about raising the state pension age, which he said the government would not do.

The one individual winner from the IT industry was 54-year-old Edwina Goody, who received the individual award for England. Goody worked as a sales manager for Norfolkbroads.com, a portal site for East Anglia, during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

She said: "When I decided to apply for the job at Norfolkbroads.com, everyone I talked to told me I was crazy, because IT is for young people."

But she persisted and got a position in sales, in part because the owner of the company, who was older than her, appreciated her experience and enthusiasm.

As it turns out, Goody's age became an advantage as part of her job was convincing older business owners in the area to let her company build their websites. "Because I wasn't some young whiz kid, they put their trust in me... I told them I was new to the internet too and that it really was worthwhile."

Other national winners included Safeway's 78-year-old Tom Killien from Scotland and 24-year-old David Adams of the Football Association of Wales, the youngest football coach in his country.

Employers were rewarded for combating age discrimination with such tactics as not specifying age in job adverts, removing date of birth from applications and offering support and training to workers of all ages.

The national employer winners were utility company Yorkshire Water (England), supermarket chain Iceland Foods Plc (Wales) and transportation company First Group Plc (Scotland).

In addition, Age Positive named its 100th 'Employer Champion' - marketing services provider Maritz UK - at an evening event.

Maritz and other anti-ageist employers see benefits to an age-diverse workforce.

Jo Betts, human resources director at Maritz, said these include higher employee morale and retention and a wider skill base.

Geoff Pears, diversity manager at British Energy, an Age Positive Employer Champion, added that the positive aspects of older workers are their "maturity, experience and loyalty".

Becky Mason, people networks manager at BT, was "not surprised" that her company was the only IT firm among the 100 Employer Champions. "We know we're a leader in the field of diversity - and our competitors aren't - so we're pleased to be reaping the benefits of that."

BT has found no evidence that older workers can't succeed at or learn IT, according to Mason. In fact, the telecom firm often puts experienced workers on cutting-edge projects, even if they aren't up-to-date on latest technologies, because they can still add a lot the team.

Michael Richardson, a recruiter with Kings Hill Recruitment, another Employer Champion, responded to criticisms of recruitment agencies that won't even interview older and younger applicants.

"Not interviewing applicants is crazy," he said. Sixty per cent of the people his firm places are outside the 20 to 40-year-old range.

The problem, he explained, is that when companies only want applicants in a narrow age range, "most recruiters just take the word of the companies - they don't challenge it or explain the benefits". One benefit of expanding age ranges is filling the position more quickly.

In other awards, solicitors Morgan Cole took home the prize for special contributions to the Age Positive campaign itself. And outstanding achievement awards went to Becky Brewis, a 22-year-old team leader at Barclays, and the Bridgend County Borough Council.

silicon.com is running a campaign against ageism in IT. You can see our full coverage here.