The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the TUC have launched a guide to help employers understand age discrimination laws.
The guide, Developing a new mindset on age and retirement, includes advice about sending age-related birthday cards and running graduate recruitment schemes. It is aimed at employers and trade union representatives and intends to provide comprehensive guidance across all aspects of the age laws, which came into force last October.
The guide is based on the issues focus groups identified as key concerns, one of which was confusion about employees sending one another birthday cards which might be seen as ageist.
Dianah Worman OBE, CIPD diversity adviser said: “The guide will contribute to creating age diverse workforces, helping employers to implement the new age regulations without falling into the trap of political correctness while still meeting business needs.
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“We hope the guide will reassure employers and blow misconceptions out of the water. The age regulations will fail if they result in unintended consequences. Employers should not think that graduate recruitment schemes and practices that reward loyalty are automatically unfairly discriminatory – it is making sure they are free from unfair age bias that is important. The guide reflects the business case for employing older workers and should give a boost to their recruitment and retention in the workplace.”
Sarah Veale, the TUC’s head of equality and employment rights said: “The new age laws were a long time coming, but sensible employers have nothing to fear from them. The best way of making sure that their workplace is a bastion of good age practice is to work hand-in-hand with a union to ensure that employees have a say in how things are to be done.
