Case study

London Borough of Enfield

Age Positive Champion

Enfield is one of the largest boroughs in London and has over 10,000 employees.

We are committed to equality of opportunity in all we do. We do not discriminate on the grounds of age in any aspect of our recruitment, retention or employment.

Tim Strong, Assistant Director Human Resources

OUR AGE POSITIVE GOOD PRACTICE:

We do not use age to determine an individual's suitability for any post.

We do not use age discriminatory language is used in our recruitment process.

We have eliminated completely the use of age limits and age ranges in job advertisements.

We share these policies with our contracted recruitment agency and with Jobcentre plus.

This approach means we have a wider pool of applicants to recruit the most suitable person for the job.

All officers involved in the recruitment process are trained in non-discriminatory practices.

At interview, all applicants are asked a similar set of questions. These procedures minimise any potential for discrimination.

Every employee irrespective of age is subject to a formal, annual performance appraisal that is linked to the overall business objectives. At these appraisals individual training needs and career aspirations are discussed. There is no discrimination in terms of age for either internal or external training courses. Priorities are determined by the needs of the employee or the job.

We have employees of all ages ranging from 16 to 80. We have 113 employees across a diverse range of occupations. who are working beyond our usual retirement age (65).

Over 31 % of the workforce is aged over 50. We now employ more people over the age of 60 than under the age of 21.

We acknowledge that not everyone wants to stop working. To allow our employees choice, they have the option to continue working. This does not compel people to work longer; it merely allows employees the choice to work as long as they are able to so do, based on mutual agreement.

The HR Advisor in the Chief Executive’s Department is 60 years old. She says, "I asked for reduced hours when I reached 60 as I decided that I did not want to continue to work full time. I am now working 18 hours per week; this is helping me adjust to the prospect of retirement and is allowing me to fulfil my role as a carer."

BENEFITS OF OUR GOOD PRACTICE:

We benefit substantially from employing and retaining older workers - high ommittment, enthusiasm, dedication and hard work.

We have high levels of staff retention, which helps minimise recruitment costs, recoup investment in training and development and retain valuable knowledge and experience.

We have a low rate of absenteeism. We find that our older workers have few periods of short-term sickness and this reliability is highly valued. All this assists the Council in providing a better service to our local community.

Our policies relate equally to employees of all ages. Local Government has an ageing workforce; only 6% of local government employees are under the age of 25, compared with a national economy average of 15%. At Enfield 4% of employees are 24 or under, 48% are 45 or over. The effective retention, development and motivation of older workers is important, enabling a better transfer of skills and knowledge to younger workers, retaining expertise, know how and contacts. To build a balanced age profile we acknowledge that continuing efforts must be made to encourage employing younger people too.

Our next steps

Continuously review all policies and procedures from an equalities viewpoint

Develop the bi-annual Staff Survey to identify factors that are an issue for people of different ages. Analyse the findings with a view to developing internal initiatives (benefits, retirement procedures, recruitment/ promotion policies) and raising internal awareness of the importance of an age diverse workforce.

• Develop a Modern Apprenticeship Scheme to attract younger people into the organisation.
• Regular mailing of our managers via ‘hr essentials’, enhancing their concept of age diversity.
• Develop and analyse exit interviews including specific reference to age issues.
• Developing our diversity training for managers that will be inclusive of age issues.

We intend to build on and strengthen our flexible retirement policy and review it in line with the government’s forthcoming changes to rules on occupational pensions.

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