UK employers are seriously under-estimating the impact of upcoming laws on age discrimination, a new report has warned.
According to research by the Equal Opportunities Review (EOR), 70 per cent of businesses are unconcerned about the legislation, which will come into force in 2006.
However, the laws will affect almost every aspect of managing staff, from recruitment and treatment in the workplace to retirement and redundancy.
The new rules will categorise ageism alongside racism and sexism, with employers banned from requesting young or energetic staff in recruitment adverts.
Worryingly, the EOR study found that almost half of employers do not have a policy in place on age diversity or age discrimination.
Seven in ten firms said that laws were needed to prevent ageism in the workplace, although most felt it wasn’t a problem in their business.
Kate Godwin, author of the report, said that the new legislation will make a fundamental cultural change.
“Many employers reported that they were delaying changes because they were waiting to see the detail of the new legislation.
“The recent delay by the government in publishing draft regulations has increased employer uncertainty and further shortened what was already a tight timescale,” she said.
