Ageist IT sector needs to tread carefully on new age discrimination laws

The IT sector, which is often perceived as ëageistí, will have to tread carefully when the new laws on age discrimination take effect in 2006 if claims are to be avoided, warns the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo).

According to ATSCo, some areas of the IT sector, such as dotcom and new media companies, have a reputation for preferring candidates in their 20s and 30s for jobs, sometimes at the expense of equally qualified, older applicants.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive, ATSCo, comments: The IT industry is going to have to work hard on getting greater age diversity into its workforce and recruiters will play a crucial role in achieving this. Otherwise the industry could leave itself wide open to claims.

IT departments are already significantly ahead of other business areas in terms of promoting racial diversity, but there is a deep-rooted culture in IT of expecting staff to be young, which will have to change.

ATSCo says that the perception that the IT sector prefers younger people may be a factor in deterring older workers from considering careers in IT.

Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) seem to substantiate this view. While 13.2% of all undergraduate qualifiers in 2003 were aged 40 years and over, the number of undergraduate qualifiers, aged 40 and over, in IT in 2003 was just 5.3%.

The percentage of older students taking courses in IT is significantly below the average for other disciplines. The image of the IT sector as ëyoungí and characterised by long hours may be dissuading some older students from studying IT at university, says Ann Swain.

According to ATSCo, it is especially important for the IT sector, given its susceptibility to skills shortages, to maximise its use of the talent available.

Ann Swain believes that one strategy that could help promote greater age diversity in the IT workforce, while assisting in alleviating skills shortages, would be to grant tax breaks for UK IT contractors for retraining purposes.

Explains Swain: IT contractors currently cannot claim the cost of training as a legitimate business expense, which can make it very difficult for older contractors to update their skills and remain attractive to employers.