Are people taking the age descrimination act seriously?

Companies set to overhaul training to accommodate the Age Discrimination Act.

Pension Schemes to go under radical reform in the coming months.

Marks Sattin, a recruitment firm in London specialising in Accountancy and Finance, Tax and Management Consultancy has carried out a survey to over 1000 HR professionals regarding the impending Age Discrimination Act. The results were split into Large, Medium and Small companies and this is reflected in the press release.

57% of those who responded felt that The Act will have little or no effect when it comes to recruitment within their companies. There were similar results across all sizes of companies suggesting that many firms feel as if they are already working inline with the proposed guidelines.

Changes in terms of advertising and pension schemes were the biggest areas that would be affected according to the HR professionals that were surveyed. 34% of people felt that they would have to change the way that they advertise. Companies with 31-100 employees felt the impact would be high on their companies while companies with over 300 employees felt that their advertising was already suitable to fit in with the new guidelines. 31% of respondents felt that pension schemes would be greatly affected by the new guidelines, and 75% of these people were from companies with over 100 employees.

45% of those surveyed said that they would not change the places in which they advertise; again this was pertinent in the larger companies who have taken proactive steps when it comes to The Act. 78% of all companies are planning to train their employees on the Age Discrimination Act (which is supported by the fact that 92% of all HR professionals believe that all employees should be trained in the new laws), the larger companies are those who are most committed to carrying out training programmes with 82% declaring that they would be happening in the coming months.

In light of the Age Discrimination Act, 31% of companies are planning to introduce flexible working time to the workplace.

Three quarters of those people who responded believe that people of all ages should be able to apply for jobs. Somewhat surprisingly, 23% of those who answered our survey felt that the Age Discrimination Act will have a greater impact than the sex and race discrimination laws. 10% of the HR professionals felt that the Age Discrimination Act is a result of a politically correct society which has got out of control.