By Angie Newland @ Angels Admin Support
Reading an article recently from HR Review it touched on the subject of age bias.
I’m sure you have all heard of or come across this at some point in your life or career, I know I have. I have witnessed it at both ends of the scale, from an older person and from a younger person -
- Whilst providing a mandatory training to a home care provider when I worked for a Training company, the manager of the home care company asked me how old I was in the middle of the training in front of all the other delegates, when I asked her why she was asking me that, she said “because you don’t look old enough to be training me on this, I’ve been in the industry for a lot of years and probably know more than you do”.
- I’ve also had younger people within a company I was working at automatically assume that I was not familiar with particular social media sites, trends, and software because of my age, and when I asked them why they were assuming I wouldn’t know what it was they were talking about they said, “because this wouldn’t have been around when you were young”.
There are many different scenarios and stories about age bias, and some are much more serious than the examples that I have given, but there are firms that do not even realise that they are losing their employees, or not getting any employees to join the firm, due to age bias. Some do not even recognise age bias.
The article was focusing on over 50’s being overlooked in the workplace for promotions, training, and jobs in general, due to their being the opinion that once you reach a certain age you no longer have anything to offer to your role. Refreshingly the article gave some positive points to having over 50’s in the workforce and what they can bring to businesses due to their vast experience and adaptability.
I know that within the financial services industry it is in fact more the younger generation that firms seem to struggle to engage with and recruit, due to the industry reputation of being “older males” and already a lack of female representation, and that there are very few younger people coming into the industry - which then brings me to the question – why is that? Are financial services firms also being age biased?
With the FCA focusing on non-financial misconduct, company culture, and the importance of encouraging older generations to stay in the workforce, and for younger generations to feel confident to join the FS sector, If the FCA were to pay you a visit, would you be able to answer any of these questions confidently? –
- Have you checked your recruiting process recently to ensure that your job advertisements and recruitment processes are not age or gender bias?
- Can you demonstrate to the FCA that you are being Diverse and Inclusive within your firm?
- Can you demonstrate that you are NOT recruiting the same gender/age/type of person for a specific role?
- Are all staff trained on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Ethics and Culture, and Cognitive Bias?
- Do you have review processes in place that ensure employees are not being overlooked for pay rises or promotion due to their age?
- Do you have the same training opportunities in place for all ages?
The list is not exhaustive, and the questions that I have listed are just a few of the many things that we need to and should be taking into consideration in relation to age bias. Ask yourselves the question – Is your firm doing everything they can to be inclusive and non-biased? What could you be doing differently? Would the FCA think that what you are doing is enough??
If you would like to see how we at Angels Admin Support can assist you with any of the things mentioned in this blog, then please do get in touch, we would love to hear from you.