Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Age discriminationEquality, diversity and inclusion

Age discrimination: Will you still train me when I’m 64?

by Personnel Today 26 Jul 2006
by Personnel Today 26 Jul 2006

Diversity continues to be a hot topic for many involved in training and, as ageism legislation comes into force this October, it will only get hotter.

Surveys show that more people report facing ageism than any other form of discrimination. For example, a recent poll of 2,682 managers and HR professionals by the Chartered Management Institute found 59% claimed to have suffered from age discrimination at work.

Such attitudes and the impending legislation mean that HR professionals will need specialist training, but what about other employees?

“For training managers, the main implication is the compliance that line managers will need to demonstrate,” says Philip James, director at Aspina Learning Resources. “There are three big areas: recruitment and selection, training and performance, and redundancy, retirement and unfair dismissal.”

Avoid the pitfalls

James says a typical no-no in recruitment and selection will be using ageist language such as ‘experienced’ or ‘dynamic’. In training, it could be prioritising someone for training because they are younger and can therefore supposedly provide better future potential.

Aspina’s training product is an interactive CD-Rom called Age OK!. It explains what the legislation is about, gives checklists for the three main topic areas, offers help from employer and employee perspectives, and suggests steps for a personal action plan.

Another player in the ageism training aids market is BDP Learning’s Skill Boosters. It specialises in diversity topics and is developing a range of blended learning materials on ageism including DVDs and CD-Roms.

BDP Learning’s managing director, Paul White, says: “Most organisations recognise that HR managers will need training on the new regulations. But they may not understand that the legislation has implications for all staff. Inappropriate behaviour, such as continually calling someone ‘Pops’ or ‘Grandma’, could be deemed as harassment. All staff need training to recognise behaviours that are acceptable and those that are not.”

Training will not necessarily be easy though. According to training consultants Phil Clements and John Jones, diversity topics such as ageism demand more from the trainer than other subjects. In their Diversity Training Handbook, they say diversity requires trainers to be resilient to constant negative views and attitudes, believe in what they are doing and ‘walk the talk’. They also need to recognise their own limits.

Future impact

There is another aspect to this, and that is the future impact on corporate training of an ageing workforce. The Third Age Employment Network says that currently 70% of people aged between 50 and state pension age are employed. When this rises to 75%, 500,000 more over-50s will be working.

So, increasingly, training managers will have to ensure that training selection decisions are not based on age, and that older as well as younger employees are offered training.

How prepared are training managers? James claims there is a strong demand for ageism-related training. But, he says: “There are an awful lot of companies who are burying their heads in the sand simply because they don’t fully understand the legislation.”

White says that most forward-thinking organisations will use the Act as a springboard for developing best practice.

“Why would you want to discriminate when you know it’s bad for business? It leads to stress and poor performance, whereas treating each other with respect is good for everyone,” he says.

Case study: Nationwide

About 13% of Nationwide Building Society’s workforce is over 50 – a proportion that is growing steadily. It is something that Darren Palmer, Nationwide’s senior manager, corporate personnel, is very pleased about.

“We have been successful in attracting over-50s into a variety of roles, from secretaries and risk analysts to financial consultants and project managers.”

More than 7% of training course delegates are over 50, and the company monitors this to ensure courses are available to all age groups.

For instance, Nationwide is currently reviewing whether to give additional training and support to first-time managers who inherit teams with age ranges that differ dramatically from their own.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Another initiative involves developing training materials to help tackle age discrimination. This is backed by the Nationwide’s Diversity and Equality of Opportunity Committee and its equal opportunities policy, which seeks to remove barriers to promotion, training and development associated with age discrimination. Indeed, Nationwide’s flexible retirement policy allows employees to work until they are 75.

“All of this means that the immediate impact of age legislation on our training and development activities is likely to be minimal,” says Palmer.


Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Parent-friendly holiday rotas could land employers in trouble
next post
Plans to privatise NHS logistics division leads to vote for strike action by staff

You may also like

One in eight senior NHS managers from black...

1 Jul 2025

Progressive DEI policy is a red line for...

27 Jun 2025

BBC Breakfast bullying and misconduct allegations under investigation

20 Jun 2025

Finance professionals expect less emphasis on ESG and...

18 Jun 2025

Lack of role models a ‘barrier’ for people...

17 Jun 2025

Pride 2025: why corporate allyship still matters

16 Jun 2025

HR is second ‘most sexist profession’ survey suggests

13 Jun 2025

Racism claims have tripled and ‘Equality Act is...

12 Jun 2025

NDA ban vital to tackling misogyny in music...

4 Jun 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+