Dawning of a new age

The timing couldn’t be better. It has long been thought, and justifiably so, that older workers have been at a disadvantage in the UK labour market.

On 1 October 2006, the government introduced The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. This is the biggest change to employment law in the last 40 years and nearly every workplace in the UK will be under scrutiny as the scheme unfolds.

I have witnessed many incidents where a recruitment firm seemingly has the perfect candidate to match a client’s requirements, only to be informed that the candidate is “too old”. This discrimination is frustrating: even if the candidate possesses all of the required skills to match the job criteria, invariably that candidate will be immediately rejected. In a market place starved of skilled people, age should be of little concern. We should respect the attributes an older or more experienced person can bring to a company, and the new policy aims to support this.

At TH Associates we deal with employment on a daily basis and expect to be in the spotlight with regards to ensuring equal opportunity regulations are adhered to. We embrace the new measures taken to eradicate age discrimination in the workplace.

We are only too aware of the difficulties faced by employers when recruiting. The construction industry is heavily under-subscribed with quality staff and this issue will last, particularly with the increased workload the 2012 Olympics will bring.

Although the directive revolves around the impact it will have on the older working population, in recruitment and employment terms it has a significant impact on all job-seekers. The problem affects younger staff too. This is particularly relevant when we look at salary levels, which history would suggest are as much about the age of the employee as their actual duties.

We tend to forget the prejudice shown towards the younger end of the labour force, and this must be addressed

“I can’t pay a 28 year old that kind of money!” a client recently told me. This, despite the fact that in the same sentence I was told the candidate was perfect for the role. If the candidate was older, he would have secured the position. If the candidate is perfect for the role and fulfils the criteria, surely they should be offered the position, regardless of age?

In recruitment the most difficult candidates to place in work are at both ends of the age spectrum, old as well as young. We tend to forget the prejudice shown towards the younger end of the labour force. The most common problem is the client’s insistence they cannot take a younger member of staff as they don’t have enough senior members to mentor that person. So immediately, through no fault of their own, the younger candidate is rejected. This has enormous implications for the future of the UK construction. Not only are we rejecting older candidates because they are deemed too old for the roles, we are now starving the industry of younger candidates who could learn from these older counterparts.

To rectify this problem, in the short term we must look at securing the services of older, more experienced and knowledgeable candidates, while looking to build for the future by employing younger individuals in conjunction with their older colleagues.

The new legislation is a huge support to us, as we can focus on finding the best candidates for our clients regardless of their age, sex, race or orientation. We will not have to change our approach to recruiting. We always focused on the key attributes of the candidate and their ability to fulfil a role rather than age, sex or race.

The challenge now is for recruitment consultants to find a way to educate clients to hire people in a professional way that respects the new law, and ensures staff are chosen purely based on their capability to fulfill that vacancy.