By Andy McCue, 14 September 2006 14:55
NEWS
Companies continuing to discriminate against older staff will put themselves at a competitive disadvantage in the future, according to IT industry body Intellect.
New employment laws come into force on 1 October when it will become illegal for companies to deny a job or promotion to anyone because of their age, while job adverts will not be able to call for "young" or "enthusiastic" workers or specify a minimum number of years' experience.
Beatrice Rogers, senior programme manager for the knowledge economy at Intellect, said ageism is not endemic across the IT industry but that it is an issue.
She told silicon.com: "It is ageism against young people coming into the industry and ageism against the older people not seen to be as dynamic or useful."
But she warned that companies continuing to discriminate against workers on grounds of age are missing a trick as the UK faces an IT skills shortage.
Rogers said: "One of the factors the EU and the UK have to face is that we are becoming an ageing population. If you continue to discriminate against older people you will have a much smaller pool of resources to tap into. In today's society business cannot afford to be ageist."
Further reading
♦ Leader: Ageism in IT - what do you think?
Graham Benson, IT director of the Web Factory, the IT services arm of online retailer Play.com, said a high performance team requires a mixture of competence, experience and capability.
He told silicon.com: "It is imperative that we continue to balance the raw enthusiasm and commitment of youth with the greater level of experience and expertise often held by those that have 'been around the block' a few times."
Employment arbitration body Acas warned that almost a quarter of companies currently specify maximum recruitment ages and many also use age to fix a starting salary.
Rita Donaghy, chair of Acas, said: "Organisations need to be aware of the changes they need to make so that they don't discriminate and miss out on valuable skills."
But Intellect's Rogers also warned that the government is offering little incentive, particularly to small and medium-sized businesses, for companies to invest in lifelong learning and training.
She said: "Lifelong learning is going to be increasingly important and we are going to continue to need to develop skills throughout our life. But it's very difficult for businesses to claim any training against tax. There is no incentive to invest in skills."
Editor's Note: We want to know what you - our readers and members of the IT workforce - think of the new anti-ageism legislation and ageism in IT in general. How much of a problem is it? Will the new legislation help or hurt? Let us know by posting a Reader Comment below or emailing us at editorial@silicon.com.
Comments
There are 19 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Why is 'enthusiastic' considered to be a young adjective? I know plenty of keen older people, and lots of new graduates who really can't be bothered!
2. anonymous
New anti-ageism laws are fine, though it's a bit sad that they are needed. However, like so many other regulations, they are completely useless unless they are enforced and monitored. How do we know that an employer is discriminating on age when the rejection letter includes euphemistic phrases such as "...there has been a huge response to our advert..." and "...we have many other candidates who match our requirements more closesly."
I worked for more than 20 years, writing, sub editing and laying out pages electronically, yet after being redundant at 57, have been unable to find work of any kind suited to my skills - and I'm only seeking part-time, preferably from home!
3. Bob Gear
I can see how asking for enthusiasm could be construed as indirectly seeking someone who is young (although I think enthusiasm and initiatve are essential attributes in any prospective member of staff and are not necessarily attributes of age).
But - can anyone explain why a job ad should not ask for a minimum number of years of experience as an (admittedly rough) guage of someone's level of experience and ability to do the job?
4. RMW
i work in a dept of about 30 and there are more senior members than juniour. Thats not because our policy is to ignore younger candidates, it just that we have uncharacteristically low turnover and most staff have been onboard for 5+ years (great company I guess!!). However, one thing that concerns me about your article is that you will no longer be able to specify a minimum period of previous experience. That seems ill thought out because not all roles have the available time to train and prepare inexperienced staff. Some times we just need the job done! A more common sense approach would better and more likely to succeed and save a lot of employers and candidates wasting their time with unsuitable jobs applications
5. Steve Miller
I am 57 and have many years of experience of interactive training design and technical writing. I am also a competent Windows application programmer. I have given up sending my CV off for contract or permanent posts without even getting a reply. I am retraining as a plumber.
6. Tony Nicholson
I am a 64 years old professional Buyer of 35 years experience and for the last 5 years have found it extreemly difficult in finding work apart for a couple of 3 mth contracts. I am well aware there are younger people out there with a simular experience spread as me, but the one thing I have an advantage over them is I will not be looking for another position in 4 years because I want promotion. this new legislation will not change anything, companies will still reject me on age as they always have because you can't prove that is what they are doing.
7. anonymous
I am the manager of a recruitment company, and often our clients specify that they require a number of years experience in a certain discipline.
My question.
How can someone who is entering into a market have enough skills to qualify for a role if they have no previous experience?
Also, obviously we need to comply with the new laws regarding advertising, but someone who has 5 years experience in a field will be be better able to perform than someone with 12 months, and if the employer needs an experienced hire rather than an inexperienced one, how can we identify this in our adverts if we can't advertise for a minimum amount of experience?
There is no point someone applying for a role if they don't have the requisite skills - it is a wasted application. By not allowing us to specify how much experience is required (and years of experience is a good benchmark) the number of applications will increase, as will the frustration of the applicants as we are having to be vague in our Search Criteria.
Has this been thought through properly?
(Posted by someone with a workforce ranging from 21 to 52 years old, who hires on ability and only discriminates against stupidity!!)
8. anonymous
Does this mean that we will receive applicants CV's with no in depth details of experience? seems we will see even more large corporates using software to filter out " unsuitable" applicants.
9. Stan Lewis
I think experience adds a lot to a the processes of developing and deploying IT systems. New technical skills are difficult to acquire but many IT skills are non-technical and thus very relevant to older staff. I qualify as an older IT person myself and am still designing and producing systems after many years in the industry. I still enjoy the work too!
10. Drew Edgar
Stealth Tax!
One of the first acts of Chancellor Gordon Brown was to remove from those 30 and over, the tax relief provisions awarded in the Thatcher years, to those who paid for their own tuition/course fees out of their already taxed income.
This serves to demonstrate the duplicitous & deceitful nature of Brown, an unheard of former academic and his ilk.
11. anonymous
So why do engineers need several years of experience to become chartered and, would you choose a fresh graduate over a seasonned surgeon for an operation on yourself?
The loophole to look for is based on the use of Temporary Staff. Permanent posts can then be offered later to those most suitable. The EU themselves have used this approach for initial recruitment.
12. Radical Meldrew
Woe is me. My company presently has a finite '60 and out' generous pension scheme which I have been looking foreward to with eager expectation.
It is now going to be changed to 65 to allegedly align with the new anti-ageist ethos recommended by government departments that still retire at 60 !!
Helpful legislation does not always suit or benefit everyone. Bugger !!!
13. Simon
I don't get the complaint about lack of tax incentives for training. If an employer offers training, then all the VAT is reclaimable, and all related expenses are allowable as a business expense (ie can be offset against taxable profits).
Contrast this with personal training where the chancellor takes ... wait for it ... a 100% cut - yes you read that right, if I go and pay for a course myself then for every pound the course costs, the chancellor takes another whole pound ! Work it out, you start with the basic price and add VAT, then you allow for the income tax, employees national insurance, and employers national insurance - the end result is that for evey pound the course costs, the employer has had to make two pounds for the employees to be able to pay for it.
This stinks, and certainly doesn't create any incentive for people to self-improve. The only exception is if the qualification is a requirement of the job - which I assume means occupations where certain qualifications are legally required, for example a gas fitter getting Corgi registered.
14. JonesTheCurry
I understand companies are still able to ask for date of birth but are not able to use it as a (dis)qualifying criterion. Duh!
15. anonymous
All IT companies and HR are in denial about ageism and there is huge snobbish attitude to employing older people in IT. Once IT people reach 30 there is a gradual slide towards becoming one of those older people and once you hit 40 ish its bye bye to getting a job.
Ageist legislation has been in force in Ireland for a number of years and it is not at all effective and does not hinder employers continuing to discriminate against older people. Age legislation is just a waste of time and gives the impression that action is being taken to prevent employers from discriminating against older people.
Employers will always have the upper hand and no legislation can force employers to change their attitute and recruit older people.
16. Anthony Bissember
Bravo to the government. But how late it is for us highly experienced senior professionals.. Agencies will find a way around the law. With over 34 years of IT experience project managing leading edge technology projects. I still get the quoted note - " We found other candidates with the required experience that reflects the our client's specified requirements". This is BS. Who are the recruitment agencies fooling. True the corporations are loosing out. I see the daily screw-ups by the younger inexperienced IT professionals with their arm length degrees that continue to not understand how to apply and manage technology in meeting the corporate business requirements. Hopefully I will no longer be asked to provide my DOB as a key to an agency serach engine
17. Eric the Disillusioned
A note to all employers - use web 2.0 sites to advertise your recruitment requirements and ignore the middleman. You can make your own mind up about candidates experience , enthusiasm and appropriateness for the role then. I suspect that you are more qualified that the 20-something recruitment 'executive' to make that call. If you don't have the time to do this then you should just realise that your recruitment agency has been failing you all along.... or that you are not a very good employer in the first place.
18. anonymous
I have never put my DOB on an application form.
It should not even be a consideration during the selection process.
19. Jimoh Alabi
"Enthusiastic" <> "young in years", so I wonder why an employer couldn't use that word in a job description. "Enthusiastic", according to my Webster's, means "having or showing great excitement or interest". If you've been in the IT field for 20 years and you haven't gotten out of it yet, it should be obvious that you are "enthusiastic"! Which is a GOOD thing!
Most "isms" are stupid, but ageism is particularly so. Most of the IT recruiters are so young and clueless that they don't realize that that "old geezer" that they are passing over for a job may have just the right combination of skills, interest and most of all, real-world (as opposed to "book") experience that the job needs!