New 'Silver Quota' - Are You Employing Enough Older Workers?
Employers are being called upon to pledge to publish their workforce data by age by the end of 2017.
A list of eight major companies, including Co-op, Boots and Barclays, have agreed to introduce a so-called 'silver quota' to increase the number of older workers (50+) they employ by 12% before 2022.
The quota is part of a new government initiative to secure an extra one million roles for older workers in the UK over the next five years. and it will require all participating employers to publish age-related data of their workforce. Warnings by the charity, Business in the Community, show that quotas are needed to avoid an older workers job gap of 7.5 million unfilled roles, which is largely due to the UK's ageing population.
This initiative follows the introduction of gender pay gap reporting in April this year and is another example of the gradual move towards greater accountability for diversity in large organisations.
What Should You Be Doing Now?
Employers are being encouraged to act now to ensure that workers can remain in employment for longer and to support career changes in later life.
As part of this, employers are being called upon to pledge to publish their workforce data by age by the end of 2017. According to Andy Briggs, the government's Business Champion for Older Workers, the UK is facing a "colossal" skills gap, which can be filled by older workers.
It is hoped that by being open about the progress that employers are making, they can demonstrate the benefits of having a diverse team of employees that represents all sections of society, such as the wide variety of talents, skills and experiences.
Best Practice
As a reminder, the stipulation of a fixed retirement age in employment contracts can be considered discriminatory unless it can be objectively justified, which is only likely to be possible in limited circumstances.