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Age is no barrier
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06/10/2006
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New regulations on age discrimination came into force on 1 October, pushing the issue of age to the top of the agenda again. The age discrimination regulations give new rights to employees and new responsibilities to businesses in Britain, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of age when recruiting, promoting, determining salaries, providing pensions or providing training.
Prompted by the Government’s obligation to adopt a European Directive on employment, the undercurrent of the legislation is to encourage employers to tackle age discrimination in the workplace and recognise the benefits that older workers bring.
The irony is that, regardless of legal requirements, the reduced flow of new entrants into the sector should have already prompted technology companies to value the contributions made by older workers.
UCAS figures have shown a marked year on year drop in the number of applications for electronic and electrical degree courses since 2002, with applications received this year down 17.7% on those in 2005. These figures, combined with those showing a decline in students taking relevant A level subjects, point to a worrying mismatch between the number of potential entrants to the profession across all levels and those leaving the profession to retire – just at a time when the industry is desperately in need of skilled employees.
Meanwhile, the existing engineering population is getting older. The Engineering Technology Board’s 2005 Engineering Survey found that the overall age profile of registered engineers in 2004 had a median age of 50. And there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that, whether it is IT or electronics design, ageism is rife in technical occupations.
A recent survey of IT professionals by The IT Job Board asked what benefits they believed older workers offered organisations. Some 43.1% responded with management/people skills, 42.8% cited experience directly related to the job, 41.5% suggested life experience, 36.3% believed they offer loyalty and 27.7% thought that lack of commitments to a young family that can conflict with work, was a bonus. Nevertheless, 50.6% of respondents believed their search for work has been hindered because they were too old, 36.7% said it had taken longer to get a job, 22.8% didn’t get their preferred position and 5.1% had been forced to take a pay cut.
Commented Ray Duggins, managing director of The IT Job Board: “Although the new laws rightly prevent ageism at either end of the spectrum, our research conveys that, in the technology sector, it is older workers that are getting the raw deal.”
So will the new age regulations help address the matter? Alf Roberts, chief executive of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, commented: “Generally speaking, we believe companies choose employees on the basis of suitability for the job, since employee competence is key to competitive advantage.” However, he adds: “Since age, like gender and race, is not something we can choose, IET supports the introduction of legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of age.”
Concludes Roberts: “With the average age of a Chartered Engineer currently in the mid 50s, there are real concerns about the declining interest amongst younger people in engineering as career. The new legislation, if it carries the message that you don’t have to retire at 60, or even 65, may help in mitigating shortages over the next decade. However, it cannot be a long term solution to the declining interest in science, engineering and technology.”
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Author
Vanessa Knivett
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