On 1st October 2011 a seemingly minor piece of legislation came into force. On this day the default retirement age of 65 (or any retirement age which cannot be “objectively justified”) will be abolished.

 

The move will provide further impetus to combating age discrimination in employment and training, putting to rights the anomaly on retirement which has been present since 2006 when the Age Regulations were introduced.  It will trigger the need for a massive make-over in the mindsets of both employees and employers alike.

 

Research shows that 80% of people already believe it is wrong to make someone retire just because they have reached a certain age.  65 will no longer be the magic, but arbitrary age, when workers exit permanent employment, regardless of their capabilities, personal preferences and commitment to work.

 

A major shift in our whole approach to working life will be needed as older workers will have to resign, giving the normal contractual period of notice, just like anyone else of a younger age.

 

Employers will no longer be able to use “retirement” as a reason for “fair dismissal” and the implications of these changes will be far-reaching across the whole workforce.

 

An employee will now have the choice to continue working if they perform well whatever their age.  Depending on their personal circumstances, many will find this a really liberating opportunity.  Others may see the change as their hard-earned right to retire with dignity being taken away after a life-time of grind.

 

Regardless of whether the changes are viewed positively or negatively, what it means for working lives of up to 50 years or more is that individual skills will have to be kept up to date across the decades.  This will be the only way of ensuring that workers maintain their credibility and performance capabilities (and thereby their employability) and applies to workers of all ages.  

 

The common attitude of “self write-off” reflected in statements such as “there’s no point me learning something new now”, or “no-one will want to employ me at my age” will have to go, and quickly.  As will “self-smugness” reflected in “you can’t teach me anything new I’ve been working here for 30 years”.

 

Women in particular, who are already facing an extension to their working lives as access to the state pension age is delayed, need to replace  their self-discriminatory “senior moments” with a deep rooted confidence and recognition of the transferability of their skills, life experience and abilities.

 

Employers have a key part to play in this workplace make-over. They will need to apply more than a temporary gloss to any blemishes in their discrimination policies.  Previous flaws in management practice will need to be cleansed away by applying sound and robust performance management processes with fair treatment to all as the key foundation.  A further layer of lifelong learning and development support will help to ensure that the make-over is set it in place for the long term. 

 

The initial cost for employers of applying these foundations, and continually touching them up, needs to be weighed against the very real threat of age discrimination claims.  Over the last 12 months there has been significant rise (31%) in the number of age discriminations claims lodged as the Employment Tribunal, which is an indication that the legislation brought in 2006 has started to bite.  

 

It is anticipated that with the removal of the default retirement age and the increase in the number of older workers in employment for longer, the number of age discrimination claims is set to rise.  The highest age discrimination claim during the period 2009-2010 was nearly £50,000 with the average around c£11,000.  

 

The way to avoid the damage caused by potential exposure to age discrimination claims is to standardise approaches to all employees about their performance and to tackle performance issues promptly.  Having on-going dialogue with workers about their future plans and encouraging and supporting all employees to develop and maintain their own skills and capabilities will play a key part too.

 

A concern expressed about the removal of retirement age has been in relation to workforce planning and “job-blocking” where the view is that younger people may not be able to move up an organisation because of their older colleagues.  There is no real evidence to back this up.  The reality is that major life events such as care for ageing parents and grand children, along with a change in what is important in life, will motivate many to seek fulfilling work part-time.  

 

Solutions for employers to consider must therefore include more flexible employment (of benefit to employees of all ages), mentoring programmes as well as more proactive sharing of inter-generational experience and skills. 

 

If employers take their employees with them through cultural change with determination to makeover the internal mindset, they are likely to find they attract and retain the skills, experiences and abilities of a broader pool of talent ensuring that they clearly stand out on the cat-walk of the competitive market place.

 

Judith Cork is a freelance writer and runs a consultancy focused on the issues and opportunities arising from the ageing population, providing training and retirement time planning workshops.

Judith's blog