Case study

Newham College

Age Positive Champion

Newham College of Further Education is one of the largest colleges in the UK with over 500 staff. We believe that we are successful because of our staff team.

We don't use age limits or age ranges in our advertising - and the number of our staff aged over 50 has increased, now 30 per cent of the workforce

Christine Freestone, Director of Human Resources

OUR AGE POSITIVE GOOD PRACTICE:

Measuring and monitoring our age profile

We hold regular audits which provide us with data about age, which we review and use to inform our equal opportunities plan for the following year. From the measurements taken, management strategies can be developed to ensure effective equal opportunities practices for all staff and applicants.

Advertising and recruitment

We take pro-active steps to ensure we attract staff from all age groups by having targeted advertising and working closely with our advertising agency to ensure that the wording of adverts is not discriminatory or imply age restrictions. We use a variety of publications to advertise, with the aim of getting as many suitable people to apply for the vacancies as possible. We continually monitor success rates of our advertising and recruitment, and make sure that advertising is targeted to the right areas. The number of our staff aged over 50 has increased (now 30 per cent of the workforce). We do not use age limits or age ranges in our advertising. We include the Age Positive logo in our advertising.

Age information given by candidates on their application forms is only used for monitoring purposes and is removed before the selection/interview process. Interview panels decide on a pre-set list of questions based on the requirements of the job, to ensure consistency (and no age-bias). A member of the Human Resources department is present on every interview panel and ensures good practice is maintained.

Training and development

As an Investor in People, we place great importance on the continual development of our staff. Staff are encouraged to improve their job-related skills, regardless of their age. Before any training is delivered, the facilitator adapts to individual learning styles.

Visible policies

Our policies, including equal opportunities and recruitment policies do not allow discrimination against people because of their age. These policies are visible documents on our website and intranet.

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