1 PREAMBLE
It is an integral part of the Isle of Wight Council’s equal opportunities policy that there is a commitment to recruiting and retaining employees whose skills, experience, approach and attitude are appropriate to the requirements of the job, regardless of age. This policy commits the Isle of Wight Council to promoting age diversity within the workforce by valuing the contributions of its employees whatever their age and/or stage of their working life, challenging the general acceptance of “ageism” at work and seeking to eliminate age stereotyping from the workplace.
The Isle of Wight Council will aim to ensure that employment opportunities, career progression, employee support systems are all equally accessible to people regardless of their age and are available throughout the organisation. The Council’s aim is to ensure that all employees, regardless of their age, background, occupation or location are productive and contented and that their contribution and effectiveness is maximised.
The elimination of discrimination on any grounds, including age, is in line with our Equal Opportunities Statement. The Isle of Wight Council intends to uphold and exceed the guidance provided in the Government’s Code of Practice for Age Diversity in Employment and promote the notion of inclusion and diversity.
The Isle of Wight Council recognises that there is a persuasive “business” case for promoting diversity within the workforce and will therefore regularly monitor the balance in the age profile of its workforce to ensure that this policy is being fairly and actively applied.
The Isle of Wight Council recognises that employees in different occupations and with different personal circumstances have needs and requirements often unrelated to age and/or length of service. However, this policy recognises that for some individuals and groups of employees an age diversity policy will help in the recognition and resolution of specifically identified issues which, whilst not affecting all employees, may be more relevant for people at certain stages of their working life.
The overall aim is to ensure that all employees feel included (not excluded) and can contribute effectively to the overall aims and objectives of the Council’s.
Some examples of where age may feature as a factor affecting particular groups of employees are set out below. It is important that the policy framework assists in raising awareness of these issues and then responds sensitively and appropriately particular in helping to overcome any negative stereotyping about the abilities of younger/older people and ensuring the personal development and educational needs of older workers receives the same level of attention as other workers.
4 BUILDING ON GOOD PRACTICE
The underlying principle of this Policy on Age Diversity is that people are judged, not by their age, but according to their skills and abilities at work. This principle must continue to be applied when adopting special measures to overcome or minimise age barriers and at each stage of the employment cycle through the following good practice;
Recruitment and Selection:
All recruitment and selection decisions must be made on the basis of the skills, abilities and attitudes needed to do the job. Candidates should be selected on merit by focussing on job-related and not age-related criteria.
· Age limits or age ranges in job advertisements will be avoided
· Advertisements will be targeted to reach and attract a wide age range
· All those involved in selecting staff will be trained to avoid basing decisions on prejudices and stereotypes about particular age groups
· Selection decisions will focus on the skills, experience and potential of the candidates and not age
· Although details of age will be sought as part of the routine compilation of personal data, this will not be used to determine the appropriateness of appointment or promotion to any position within the Council
Career progression and internal job changes:
Promotion opportunities should be made available to all staff who demonstrate the potential and ability to do the job and internal applicants encouraged, ensuring that they do not feel debarred on grounds of age.
· Promotion opportunities will be available to all staff who have demonstrated the ability or the potential to do the job
· Opportunities for flexible late career development will be developed
· Encourage internal applicants for job vacancies and ensure that they do not feel debarred on the grounds of age
Flexible working practices and the modernisation of work:
Working time and other aspects of employment should be regularly reviewed to ensure the Council responds flexibly to the changing needs of employees over their working lives.
· The range of flexible working schemes, which are available to employees, will be publicised.
· Employees of all ages will be encouraged to be involved in the implementation of changes in work organisation and conditions
· Caring responsibilities will be recognised
A healthy workforce:
Work processes and the organisation of work should enable employees to perform well and ensure their health and capacity to work are optimised.
· Employees will be encouraged to maintain healthy lifestyles and safe working practices. Since health issues affect people at different stages of their working life, the Council must always respond sensitively and appropriately
· Advice and training will be provided for managers to enable them to reduce stress levels in our workforce
· Workplaces and work processes will be creatively designed to prevent work-induced illness and disability
Learning, training and development:
Access to training opportunities for employees of all ages will be encouraged. The more that training and development is seen as an integral part of the workforce then the more willing to learn people of all ages will become and the more relevant ‘lifelong learning’ as a concept will be.
· The age of participation on training programmes will be monitored to ensure that age is not used as a barrier to training and development
· The different learning styles and needs of employees of different ages will be addressed
· A range of mid-life/career planning courses will be developed and an “entitlement” to a career review for all employees over the age of 50 or with 20 years service introduced
· Employees will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own future and personal development
Retention and redeployment:
The experience and skills acquired by employees throughout their career should be maximised and retained wherever possible.
· A redeployment scheme will be developed to retrain and redeploy staff, eg women returners, who have taken career breaks
· Flexible working patterns, eg job sharing, job swaps and sabbaticals, will be encouraged
· Reasons for leaving will be monitored
Retirement:
Subject to relevant legislation and regulations, employees should be given as much choice as possible in the way they retire and employees will be allowed the freedom to work beyond normal pension age if they wish.
· Pre-retirement support will be made available for all employees, including the encouragement of all retiring staff to attend pre-retirement courses and to seek advice, information and counselling before retirement
· The Council’s retirement policies and the pension fund regulations will be kept under review and staff regularly informed of changes
· Subject to pension regulations and the Council’s policy for early retirement, opportunities for flexible and phased retirement and for the option of working beyond the usual age of retirement will be kept under review
In order to ensure that this policy statement achieves its objectives, the Isle of Wight Council will:
· Communicate the policy widely and ensure all employees are aware of their entitlements and rights
· Brief managers in their responsibilities to implement the policy
· Continue to monitor and publicise workforce data including age profiles
· Provide training in age awareness, fitness programmes, stress management, mid-life career planning and pre-retirement planning
· Discuss the policy regularly with trade union representatives
· Require Directorates to identify action areas and report on improvements
· Introduce age monitoring into recruitment, training, promotion and harassment procedures
· Ensure that age-related issues are incorporated into the corporate training plans
· Devise a mechanism to consult and receive feedback from different age groups within the workforce
The implementation of the policy will be reviewed annually and developed further.
i:Codes in draft/Age Diversity