The Importance of Age Diversity Compliance: Embracing Inclusivity in Today's Organisations

In our last editorial, we discussed the multitude of benefits that comes with having an age-diverse workforce. One of the advantages we highlighted was compliance with legislation. We asked in a poll, what readers thought the most significant benefit of an age-diverse workforce was and found that no one answered compliance. In this editorial, we shall be expanding on why it should be a business' first consideration.

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and broader society. It combined several separate inclusion acts into one that considered all the characteristics. Within these attributes is age. Everybody belongs to an age group, which means that is much more likely that someone will experience discrimination about their age whilst perhaps with the other characteristics, you have to belong to a certain group. Breaching the 2010 Equality Act could lead to the firm being taken to court, a timely and expensive process, through the Employment Tribunal. It also may be settled outside of court.

But what exactly does the employment tribunal do? It is an independent tribunal and makes decisions in legal disputes around employment law. These claims can include unfair dismissal, discrimination, and unfair deductions from pay. The procedures within the Employment Tribunal can take a lot of time, effort, and money. Several hearings take place, and a lot of costs and fees are associated with it all.

A recent example of the cost of age discrimination is Superdry PLC. The company was ordered to pay a former employee approximately ￡96,000. In this case, the employee, Rachel Sunderland, was not promoted whilst younger individuals were recruited and promoted, essentially undermining her perceived standing in the team. Sunderland would have been promoted to the job title of Lead Designer. The Employment Tribunal concentrated on the reason for her treatment and determined that it was because of her age and the assumption that it meant her flight risk was lower. The simple assumption made by the business ended up being a massive cost and highlights the importance of compliance.

Recently, there has been a shift in recruitment to using AI software. The issue with this software is that if the programmers are age biased the software will be too. This month a dispute against a Chinese tutoring company based in the US was settled. The company charged and agreed to pay $365,000 to over 200 job applicants who were rejected due to their age - the applicants being over 55. This highlights a severe issue of using technology within the hiring process. The AI can filter people out without their CVs ever reaching human eyes and so they can't get a fair chance. This rise in technology also means it is easier for ageist employers to hide their discrimination behind artificial intelligence.

The question now is: Why don't more people consider the importance of legislation when it comes to age-diverse workplaces? Do people forget that age is also protected under the 2010 Equality Act? Or are they just wilfully ignorant in the hope of not coming under fire for discrimination?

Read our previous editorial here

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