Fit for work or fit for nothing?

You probably have not heard of Listawood, a small company in Fakenham, Norfolk which makes promotional mouse mats and novelty mugs. But while bigger companies struggle, it has grown in size from 8 staff to 180 in the 14 years that staff Manager Janice Bolt has been there. And she knows why.

"We don’t discriminate on age. We are a family company – caring, flexible. Flexibility works both ways - all ages of staff are prepared to do that – and I have ages from 16 to over 60. The advantage is you keep your loyal staff. I went to a recruitment day recently and there were local people there had been made redundant by a local employer and they said to me ‘I'm not going to find a job because I'm 55 or I'm 58’ but age doesn’t worry us when we look for staff. We have no retirement age here. One gentleman here he hit 65 two years ago, now he works three days a week and I have a couple of ladies over 60."

Listawood’s latest line is a mug which looks plain until you put a hot drink in it when the design magically appears. They call it the WoWMug – because everyone who sees it says ‘wow’. And that is often the reaction to Listawood’s policy of choosing the best person for the job regardless of their age – or youth. Officially it’s an anti-ageist policy. But to Janice it is just common sense. When I asked her what advantages there were in employing older workers she says with a chuckle.

"You often find you get a lot more work out of them! They’ve had a lot of experience, they know what work’s about."

Listawood is one of dozens of companies, including household names like B&Q, Sainsbury, Tesco, and Nationwide Building Society, which have taken up the challenge to end age discrimination. They realise the value of older workers and are either actively recruiting them or encouraging older people to stay at work while they are fit, healthy, experienced and, above all, mature. Some, like Listawood, have even stopped setting a company retirement age.

They have become what are called Age Positive Champions, supporting the Government’s campaign to make sure employers recruit the right person for the job, regardless of their age. Company after company which has joined Age Positive lists similar advantages. Older workers take less time off sick, work harder, are less likely to move to another job, and, yes, are often more flexible and easier to train than younger people. It’s what the Government calls the ‘business case’ for not discriminating against older people.

It also helps companies find the right person for the job. Why exclude more than 10 million people aged 50 to 65 when you are trying to find the ideal recruit for that vacant post? Especially as three million or so are not in work – but may want to be. Sainsbury has gone even further, launching recruitment campaigns targeted specifically at the over 65s [SAINSBURY STILL TO CONFIRM]. And like many other employers, the company removes age details from job application forms before candidates are considered.

These companies are at the forefront of what we might call the grey revolution. But many others are lagging behind. They still expect everyone to leave at a fixed age and often refuse to recruit people over 50 because they consider them too old. A poll done for Age Concern by ICM published earlier this year found that seven out of ten people – of all ages – believed there was discrimination on grounds of age. And two out of three thought there should be a law against it. Well, soon there will be – thanks to the European Union.

On November 27 2000 the EU passed what it calls a Directive which will end discrimination at work on grounds of age. Each EU member now has to pass its own laws to implement the Directive. Britain will not do that until December 2 2006. Other EU countries will start three years earlier. But our government insisted on its right to take extra time "to address and resolve the many complex and sensitive problems so that the eventual legislation is helpful to employers and employees."

The delay annoys veteran campaigners like Philip Walker, chair of the Campaign Against Age Discrimination in Employment.

"We are all cross about it. The rest of the EU has to have it in by 2003 but the UK Government got an extension to 2006. The principle point we are fighting on employment discrimination. It is well hidden but two and a half million people are having trouble with age discrimination – that’s a government figure."

Once the new law is in place it will prohibit discrimination at work (or in job-based training) on grounds of age and bring us in line with other countries including Australia, New Zealand, and the USA. No-one is quite sure how wide the scope of the new law will be in the UK. But it will almost certainly cover

· Recruitment - Job adverts will no longer be able to specify "young person" "in your 20s and eager to learn" or any of the other euphemisms that mean ‘over 50s not wanted’. It will also ban discrimination the other way – adverts that specify "mature" will not be allowed. It will be unlawful to consider age as a factor when recruiting staff.

· Promotion - Employers will not be able to refuse promotion on grounds of age or to consider the employee’s age when deciding between candidates for promotion.

· Pay - Different rates of pay based only on age will be banned – though it will allow experience and length of service to be recognised.

· Training - Access to training or vocational guidance will have to be given regardless of age, though there are provisions to exclude people close to retirement who would not be able to take advantage of it.

· Retirement - Employers will not be able to fix arbitrary ages at which people will have to stop doing specific jobs or types of job. However, it may still be possible for an individual company or the Government to fix a general retirement age and ask people to leave once they reach it. The Government has not decided yet how to implement this rule. Employers will be able to specify a minimum age at which people can retire and draw a company pension.

There will be some exceptions to the rules. The armed forces will be able to opt out altogether. And no employer will have to keep an older person in their job if they stop being competent to do it. But it will be a major step towards equality for older people who want to work.

Of course, not everyone wants to work after 60 or 65 – many of us are only too glad to retire after a lifetime of hard work. But as people live longer, many people are finding it hard to save enough for a decent pension. Actuaries and pension experts are predicting that people will work until they are 70 or more in future. Flexible retirement will become more important than ever.

There is also a cash boost from the Government for people who work after pension age – 60 for a woman, 65 for a man. National Insurance contributions, which cost up to 10% of your wages, are not paid by anyone over that age – a big tax break for older workers. Unfortunately, the employer has to pay the same National Insurance whatever the age of their workers. One way the Government could encourage employers to keep older workers on would be to abolish their National Insurance contributions too.

Some lawyers are trying to challenge age discrimination using existing laws. At the moment people lose all their employment rights at 65. From that age employees cannot get redundancy pay and cannot go to an Employment Tribunal to claim unfair dismissal. So an employer can dismiss people of that age with impunity - or so people thought. But several cases are now being brought to tribunals claiming that this rule breaks sex discrimination laws. The argument goes like this – far more men than women are economically active at 65. Imposing a cut off date of 65 is a rule that affects far more men than women and therefore indirectly discriminates against men. That is unlawful. This ‘indirect discrimination’ claim has been used many times, but only in the past to get women rights to pensions and other work-related benefits which favoured men.

None of these cases will be decided for some time. But if the individuals win, it could hasten end of work-related age discrimination in the UK – and could affect the way the Government deals with retirement age in the new law. One way or the other, within a few years no employer should be able to say ‘Fit for work at 64; fit for nothing at 65’. And not before time.

Government’s Age Positive Campaign 

Consultation on the Directive 

Campaign Against Age Discrimination in Employment

Saga Magazine would like to hear your experiences of age discrimination – at work, by financial services, from government departments, in shops, at the hospital – anywhere that you feel you have been treated badly or unfairly just because of your age. We would also like to hear about good examples of companies which operate positive policies towards people over 50 and do not discriminate on grounds of age. Write to Age Discrimination, Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, FOLKESTONE, Kent CT20 3SE

August 2002

e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@paullewis.co.uk