ACAS Age Discrimination Guidance
Workplace experts Acas have launched new guidance to help employers and line managers manage an age diverse workforce.
Over 50s now make up nearly a third of the UK workforce (with numbers increasing), yet research suggests only one fifth of employers are thinking strategically about their ageing workforce. We think it makes good business sense to recruit and retain the best people for the job.
Research has found both young and older workers feel they are discriminated against in the workplace — and stereotypes and myths prevail, largely unchecked. So how can employers address this in their recruitment, training and job design?
Workplace experts Acas have published new age discrimination guidance to help managers prevent unfair treatment at work, and eradicate bias against older and younger workers. Acas is encouraging employers and managers to read the new guidance and help raise awareness of these issues in workplaces across the UK.
One area of the guidance focuses on how employers should act when it comes to performance management. This is an area we’ve highlighted before, and the evolution of performance management within Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is a step in the right direction. The removal of ratings, and proper performance discussions should help eradicate some of these discrepancies — especially when it comes to older, more experienced colleagues who we’ve found are being dragged through the performance improvement process.
Stereotypes cause harm
Acas highlights the risks of stereotyping employees and job applicants because of age — making assumptions about age is one of the most likely causes of age discrimination.
Stereotyping often leads to poor decision-making when recruiting and promoting or deciding who gets trained — this is often hard to challenge because discrimination may occur as a result of unconscious biases. It’s therefore important that decision makers undertake regular training to highlight potential biases.
The consequences of allowing stereotypes to remain unchallenged include
de-motivation of staff and a breakdown in trust amongst colleagues. It can also lead to grievances and discrimination claims. There are some simple ways of avoid these sorts of problems…
- people should be judged on their job performance or quality of their job application — not assumptions relating to their age
- having a diverse mix of colleagues in a team or project — shared goals can bring people together
- encouraging different age groups to swap ideas, knowledge and skills.
Watch your (ageist) language!
We’ve talked in the past about the importance of language when it comes to being inclusive. It’s important to avoid using derogatory or abusive terms, they’re never ok, but they may also be discriminatory. When it comes to discrimination, how the recipient perceives the words matters more than the intention of the person saying them.
The work environment should be safe for everyone and small comments such as saying someone is ‘over the hill’ or calling them a ‘snowflake’ can quickly create a hostile environment.
Chris says: “It’s usually pretty straightforward to work out if you’re being offensive or not. If you intend to cause harm to someone, highlight their difference, or you’re making assumptions about them or their appearance, then you’re probably causing offence and should stop.”
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues that we’ve discussed here and you want to talk to us confidentially, or if you want to give us any feedback on what’s been happening in your workplace: contact us at equality@accordhq.org
