Employers are taking up the challenge to tackle workplace ageism in response to the Government’s deadline for them to get their act together in a year.
The CBI has hard evidence of how employers are tackling the problem and responding to the voluntary code of practice.
Last week equal opportunities minister Margaret Hodge told Personnel Today that the DfEE will wait until October 2001 to decide whether legislation is needed.
The employers’ body sent letters to the chief executives of its 1,000 largest member companies at the end of May asking them to champion age diversity.
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Dominic Johnson, head of employee relations, said around 100 companies have written giving examples of what they are doing, with more letters arriving daily. “Something mentioned by nearly everyone is that they are not putting age limits in job adverts and are training interviewers to recruit solely on competency,” he said.
Many have removed age from job application forms. Others discourage early retirement and are monitoring the age profile of staff. One major retailer is targeting older candidates through a recruitment campaign.
