Case study

Sainsburys

Age Positive Champion

We are committed to providing a working environment where everyone feels valued, respected and able to contribute to the business, and to employing a workforce that recognises the importance of diversity within the organisation.

It makes sound business sense to maximise on the changing demographics of Britain by investing in the older worker as well as the young. We are dedicated to providing a working environment in which everyone feels valued, respected and able to contribute to the success of the business, and to employing a workforce that recognises the diversity of our customers andpotential customers. Our recruitment and selection process and subsequently any promotion is based on the skill and ability specified for the position.

Charlotte Parton, Equality and Diversity Manager

OUR AGE POSITIVE GOOD PRACTICE:

Sainsbury's began to develop plans as early as 1986 to meet the demographic challenge of the ageing population by targeting older workers. We established that flexible working arrangements were the way forward. We were keen to adopt a retirement scheme which did not encourage discriminatory practice at any stage of the employment cycle. We identified that older colleagues (50+) would want to gradually reduce their time spent at work and achieve a greater work/life balance, but did not want to manage on a part-time wage and did not want their pension to be affected.

In recognition of this, we introduced a retirement plan and pension protection mechanisms, enabling members to draw partially on their pension to top up a reduced salary. Colleagues can reduce their hours without significantly decreasing their net income and their pension will continue to contribute to their pension up to the age of 75. By introducing the new pension plan, we facilitated the recruitment and retention of workers aged 65 and over.

• Recruitment campaigns have been targeted at the over 65s, entitled "We can teach you a thing or two".
• Age is NOT a factor in Redundancy decisions, anyone recruited up until their 65th birthday will receive full redundancy.
• Age has been removed from the application form and personal details such as age are used only for monitoring purposes.

BENEFITS OF OUR GOOD PRACTICE:

A mixed-age workforce has led to:

• Improved customer satisfaction by more accurately reflecting the profile of our customers.
• A more flexible workforce.
• A better-motivated workforce which feels more valued and, therefore, more willing to contribute to business success.
• Reduced business cost through increased productivity.
• A work force where 14.7% is over the age of 50, and 1.2% is over the age of 65 We have an active colleague in their 90s. We have colleagues in their 50s on our management training schemes.

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