Age Discrimination Legislation

Training and development - develop your advantage

"36% of the workforce in Britain will be aged 45 or over by 2005."

Source - "Age Diversity in Employment", Department for Education and Employment, 1999

Some employees may put up their own barriers to effective training and development. Older workers may lack confidence, or  feel they are too old. Younger workers may not think they need training.

Research has shown that both older and younger workers respond to training and are equally capable of development.

In an ever-changing market, flexibility is one of the keys to growth.

Firms that fail to encourage all employees to broaden their skills and knowledge are likely to find themselves with an inflexible workforce who resist new and creative ideas and lack vital up-to-date skills.

You should encourage all employees to take advantage of relevant training opportunities.

Do you:

• make training available to all employees no matter how old they are;
• use employees who have successfully completed training as role models to encourage less willing employees;
• take account of the different ways individuals learn (someone who is not used to formal learning may need help on a classroom-based course, and a person who has just left full-time education may not be used to informal workplace learning);
• carry out regular skills audits to find out who has what skills;
• regularly review the training needs of all employees; and
• evaluate training and development to make sure that employees benefit as much as possible?