Goodbye default retirement age

At long last this final piece of discriminatory legislation is being trashed. The CBI are still rabbiting on about the huge problems this will create for employers. Maybe they should talk to the many large and also smaller employers who have never used this to see just how they manage. I think it might be something to do with training their managers properly to conduct performance reviews. Sad also to see that the IOD appear to have changed their minds and also are objecting. Wonder how all those US companies manage having had to deal with this situation now for the past 20 years!

Mandatory Retirement in the UK, Canada and the USA

TAEN has produced a most enlightening summary of how the US and Canada compare with the UK in how they deal with mandatory retirement.   The US abandoned it in 1986 and the Canadians in 2009. There is an excellent review of the arguments typically advanced by employers to justify mandatory retirement. Without exception the research clearly shoots down each one:

• younger employees are more productive than older ones
• Wage premiums and monitoring costs would increase
• Older workers need to make room for the young
• it facilitates workforce planning

Read this. It is fascinating and makes you wonder just what the CBI is frightened of. Inadequate managers is the term that comes immediately to mind.

The CBI view on Default Retirement Age

Never let it be said that I do not listen to opposing views so go to Personnel Today again to read what Katya Hall from CBI has to say about this vital issue. Of course I still think she is wrong and portrays British management as a very poor set of performance managers. She also has little idea of just what can be achieved by involving older workers in restructuring jobs. Anyway - judge for yourself!

Harriet Harmon finally 'comes out'

The minister responsible for equality has finally spoken, hopefully on behalf of the G'ment, stating that a major shake-up in the law is vital to smash the idea that people are 'past it' once they hit 65.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Miss Harman, said it should be scrapped. Older people would also be given the right to request flexible hours from their employer. People would not be forced to work beyond 65, but would have the option to choose to - meaning they could stay on into their 70s or even their 80s. Like parents with young children, they should also get a legal right to ask to work part-time or from home, or make a range of other variations to their hours, Miss Harman said.

The change in the law would cover staff who have already signed contracts that say they will retire at the normal age.

Having reported this good news the Mail then goes on to comment how unpopular this will be with employers. Clearly the reporter has not done his research. The majority of employers have not signed up for default retirement. The CBI still stands out as the one organisation that has little confidence in managers being able to conduct proper performance reviews. They also seem to be blissfully unaware that all the research we have on older workers states that they do not want more of the same. They want to 'downsize' their jobs. Most are prepared to accept less money for less stress and for fewer days at work. And the upside is that with the demographic timebomb shortly to explode they will be grateful not to lose the expertise and wisdom of this older worker group.

Such a shame that it has taken the Hague case and years of wasted time and distress caused to those approaching 65 for the G'ment to join the other political parties and most other relevant organisations in putting a stop to what Ms Harmon actually calls the 'last legally permitted discrimination' which is against the elderly.

Default retirement age - has the penny finally dropped?

Well to 2010 at least. The new equality bill is creating problems as clearly kicking someone out of their job at 65 is to put it mildly discrimination based on age. Explaining the change in the timing of the review, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Evidence suggests that allowing older people to continue working, unfettered by negative views about ageing, could be a big factor in the success of Britain's businesses and our future economic growth." Has the penny finally dropped? Well the TUC think so. The IOD think so. The Tories and Lib Dems think so. We are just left with the Taliban in the CBI still disapproving. They say its research had suggested that 81% of those who asked their employer to keep working had been allowed to do so. In which case why make such a fuss. Listening to their comments about the workplace, the workforce and management practices remind me of a living model of employment in the 1950's. Many legal cases are queuing up to be heard on this so abandoning this will also keep a great deal of money outside of lawyers pockets - which must be a good thing also!