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Age discriminationEquality, diversity and inclusionLetters

Ageist attitudes are the real barrier for over-50s

by Personnel Today 19 Sep 2006
by Personnel Today 19 Sep 2006


In your news story ‘TUC report claims one million over-50s are jobless through employers’ ageist attitudes’ (PersonnelToday.com, 14 August), I strongly disagree with Susan Anderson’s statement that the over-50s lack the necessary skills in literacy and numeracy which is, in her opinion, why organisations do not employ them.

My experience is that, generally, older people have better basic literacy and numeracy skills than many school leavers and graduates. I think the problem is due to ageist attitudes that prevail in our culture.

Companies must educate their recruiting managers to open up their minds and become free of age bias. Only when these blocks are removed will UK organisations benefit from recruiting from a broad pool of applicants whose ages are disregarded and who are recruited for their skills, knowledge and experience.

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Kay Jewell

HR development adviser, Resourcing Area of Expertise, BAA

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).

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