Never too old to work and learn

KEN Curry didn't suddenly become a different person the moment he retired as master of the 110,000 tonne Millennium Explorer, the world's biggest methanol tanker. After more than 40 years at sea, he had built up a formidable range of skills - seamanship and man management, of course, but also impressive IT skills.

They were skills that were to stand him in good stead in his new life as a landlubber.

With 41 years at sea under his belt, Ken was entitled to take early retirement on a full pension at the age of 57 four years ago.

But he soon found retirement beginning to weigh on him. The fact it was a wet, windy, miserable Yorkshire February didn't help.

So he called in at Target Recruitment and Training, the York-based careers agency that specialises in helping older people back into work.

Initially, he just planned to brush up on his IT skills and get a few qualifications. But it didn't take Target chairman Jim MacAuley long to recognise his potential: and soon he had been snapped up as a member of staff. Now he spends three days a week training other people looking for a fresh start.

Ken, who lives near Pocklington, is a classic example of an older person with what in the careers industry is called "transferable skills": skills and abilities built up during a lifetime of employment in one profession which can be usefully applied in another.

Because of the often unspoken culture of age discrimination that operates in many workplaces there are many older workers out there with valuable skills, people who, in their late forties or 50s, suddenly found themselves unwanted on the redundancy scrapheap. Then there are those who, like Ken, opted to take early retirement but still feel they want to contribute.

It is a deep pool of talent which employers are going to have to wake up to, says Jim MacAuley.

"People are living longer and healthier lives, and at the same time the birth rate is dropping," he says. "The country cannot afford to throw people with these sorts of skills on the scrapheap."

It is not only experience and skills that older workers have to offer, according to Peter Hartas of Blue Tree career management services, which has just opened a branch in York after operating successfully in Bradford.

Certain employers tend to harbour a number of myths about older workers, he says - that they are always ill, that they are past their sell-by date. But that is just prejudice. Older people have by-and-large been well trained, are hard working and reliable. They also tend to have excellent 'people skills' - especially important in a city such as York which relies so much on the 'service sector'.

Jim MacAuley says they tend to have better judgement, and are less likely to be trying to change jobs every five minutes, and it is easy to see the advantages to an employer of recruiting or retaining older members of staff.

Whether they want to or not, employers are soon going to have to change their attitudes towards older workers.

The UK population is getting older; and the workforce is too. Government figures show the number of people aged 80 and over will almost double over the next 30 years. Other statistics suggest that in less than ten years time, 40 per cent of people in employment will be 45 or older.

Age discrimination in the workplace simply makes no sense in a society where we are all going to have to work longer to support ourselves into a healthy old age, and where skills shortages across the workforce range from general managers and administrators to bricklayers and plasterers.

"It makes sense for employers to retain valued staff and improve their skills for the modern world of work," Peter says.

One of the problems is that suddenly being made redundant in your mid to later years can be demoralising. Often, Jim says, older people who find themselves suddenly without a job simply don't know how to get back into the world of work.

That is where organisations such as Target and Blue Tree come in; offering everything from IT training to help with CVs, job searching, interview techniques - and even the appraisal of your own skills, so you can identify possible job opportunities.

Ideally, however, older workers should not have to fight discrimination on the grounds of age in the first place.

The good news is that new legislation to be introduced by the end of 2006 may finally help make age discrimination in the workplace a thing of the past.

Under the legislation, being brought in in response to European law, such discrimination would, for the first time, become illegal in Britain.

That may not be uniformly welcomed by employers. "We've had disability, we've got religion and sexual orientation. Age is going to be the kind of straw that broke the camel's back," says one disgruntled employer quoted in a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publication, commenting on the growing amount of anti-discrimination legislation affecting the workplace.

Penny Hemming, Yorkshire and Humber director of employers organisation the CBI, says many employers will be less than thrilled.

"We agree absolutely that it is extremely important to judge people on what they are able to offer, not on their age or sex," she says. "But, in general, the CBI is concerned about the wave of new employment legislation and we think it could be done voluntarily."

Nigel Pendleton who works for the DWP in York believes that ultimately the legislation will work to the benefit of everybody - and that employers will also come to recognise that.

They may begin by complying with the legislation simply because they have to, he admits. Final details have yet to be thrashed out, but the new law seems certain to open the door for the first time for workers to take their bosses to employment tribunals on the grounds of age discrimination.

In the US, Nigel says, the average cost to an employer who is successfully sued for age discrimination is several thousand pounds.

"So employers will start to comply with the legislation out of necessity. But they will soon see the benefits of a mixed age workforce, where older workers can 'mentor' younger people who don't perhaps have the same life skills.

"I see the legislation as being a win situation all round. It will be win for employers, win for individuals and win for the economy."

Let's hope so.

What the new laws could mean for you

Final details of the UK legislation have yet to be finalised - a further round of consultation with employers is expected later this year. But it will cover every area of employment and training, from recruitment, selection and promotion to unfair dismissal, redundancy and retirement.

Information from the Third Age Employment Network says the new legislation will mean:

If you believe you have been discriminated against when applying for a job on the basis of age, you will be able to challenge this as unlawful. Examples where this may apply include: job adverts which stipulate that someone under (or over) a certain age is required, or even that require a certain type of qualification that had only been available for a few years. This could count as discrimination because nobody over a certain age could be expected to hold the qualification.

You will be able to challenge your employer if you are passed over for training or promotion on grounds of your age.

You will be able to challenge your employer if they ask you to retire when you want to go on working.

You will be free to retire when you want and can afford to.

You will be able to go on working part-time with your current employer and, if necessary, top up your earnings with part of your pension income.

You will be able to claim unfair dismissal at any age - even if you are older than 65.

Target recruitment and Training , at 11a Piccadilly, is on 01904 671171. Peter Hartas, who runs the York branch of Blue Tree from his home, is on 07974 403120.

Updated: 09:26 Wednesday, August 04, 2004