Bridging the age gap

The Springboard Age Awareness Conference, held in London earlier this month, opened with a scene that was all too familiar to many in the audience.

Actors from forum theatre training company Erica Harley Associates played out some of the prejudices and stereotypes that can affect older - and younger - people's prospects of employment and promotion.

Delegates were given the chance to criticise and correct an interviewer's technique step by step, exposing many assumptions that employers make about how a person's age affects how they might perform at work.

Come October, complaints against such practices will be subject to the new Age Discrimination Regulations.

But the law isn't the only reason for licensees to give some thought to the age of the people they employ.

Martin-Christian Kent from the sector skills council for hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism, People 1st, presented the conference with some dramatic stats on how, if it maintains its current recruitment policies, the hospitality industry will soon run out of people to employ.

A diminishing labour pool

Already, 36 per cent of the industry's workforce is aged 16 to 24 - an age group that accounts for only 11 per cent of the labour pool.

"This problem will grow increasingly acute," warned Mr Martin-Christian. "We are focusing on a very small, diminishing labour pool, a third of which will be gone by 2021 - and the sector is growing, too.

"The question is how do we go about targeting different people? It will take a very different approach to the ways we have traditionally recruited."

Christine Ashdown from the Department for Work and Pensions also encouraged delegates to review their approach to recruitment.

"The hospitality industry has a higher proportion of younger employees than any other sector, and it is less likely to employ people aged over 55 than any other sector," she said.

"There is a common myth that older workers are a liability, but we know that health is more influenced by what you eat and drink than your age.

"We know that younger workers are more likely to have an accident, that older workers take less short-term sickness and that people in their 50s, 60s and 70s can do the work just as quickly as younger people in the same job."

In one case study from the retail sector, which is closest to hospitality in terms of the age profile of its employees, DIY firm B&Q took a positive approach to recruiting older staff and saw absenteeism drop by 40 per cent, retention rise by 83 per cent and profits climb by 20 per cent.

"Employers should look at these positive case studies and question their own recruitment practices," said Ms Ashdown.

Further advice:

• Go to www.agepositive.gov.uk
• Call 0845 715 2000 or email apg@isky.co.uk for a free information pack on the legislation and what you can do about it
• Contact the ACAS helpline on 0845 747 4747 or online at www.acas.org.uk
• Access more facts and figures at people1st.co.uk