Case study

HBOS

HBOS is the UK's largest mortgage and savings provider. We are firmly committed to valuing and respecting all aspects of age diversity in employment. The practices we have in place demonstrate a workplace culture where everyone is encouraged to reach their full potential, irrespective of their age, and where a range of experience and mixture of ages is clearly a positive advantage.

'Age is the one aspect of the diversity agenda that we all experience. The impact of demographic ageing is only just starting to be felt and will open up new markets requiring a different emphasis on products and services. People like to do business with like people, so it's important that our workforce represents the many communities in which it operates. If we don't employ a good mix of colleagues, we are not going to excel at meeting our customers needs. With this in mind, we have removed our previous compulsory retirement age of 62 with effect from the introduction of Age legislation.'

Charlotte Sweeney, Head of Diversity

HBOS culture

To be able to have the best and most highly motivated workforce, HBOS state the importance to their employees of a culture where everyone is encouraged to develop to their full potential irrespective of their age. Recruiting and retaining the best talent, regardless of age, not only meets HBOS business needs, but is consistent with their values of fairness, dignity and respect, which HBOS believes keeps them at the forefront of leading-edge employers.

Advantages of an age diverse workforce

Recognising that today's demographics are tomorrow's business has already earned HBOS a national profile on age diversity.

The practices we have in place visibly demonstrate a workplace culture where everyone is encouraged to reach their full potential, irrespective of their age, and where a range of experience and mixture of ages is clearly a positive advantage.

By attracting and retaining an age diverse workforce we have the potential to increase sales and improve customer service, whilst at the same time retaining skills, talent and expertise. The majority of our workforce is aged between 26 and 45 (almost 60%) with 21% aged between 16 and 25. Currently 19% of HBOS colleagues are aged over 45.

Age discrimination can impact on young people as well as those who are older and an essential part of our business is to make sure colleagues remain confident that any promotion decisions within the organisation are based on competency, focused on development and consistently applied irrespective of age.

Case study

Tom was a manager of a local retail store and felt that he'd taken things as far as he could in that role.

"I wanted to try something different. To try and find a job that would let me develop new skills (at that point I was 47) and give me the chance to build a career. That's when I saw an advert for Halifax Retail Contact Centres. I knew someone who worked there who was very positive about the place, and I felt they would give me the chance to learn new things. I knew nothing about banking so it was a bit of a leap of faith when I initially applied for the position of mortgage advisor. I was then offered the chance to join as a customer service consultant and I jumped at it (even though I had no idea what I'd be doing!).

I talk customers through the application process for opening a bank account or savings account and there's a lot of variety in the work. Initially I spent three weeks being taught all about the systems we'd be using. It was quite intense, especially for someone who had no knowledge of computers. But the trainers were great and recognised that people had different levels of knowledge and adjusted their training accordingly.

It's the sort of place where people are willing to listen to what you have to say no matter what level you're at. It's also a good place if you want to learn new skills, I mean look at me, I'm 51 now but still picking up things and adding to my knowledge all the time. If you show enough ambition they'll help you achieve your potential. We have people from all ages and backgrounds."

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