Week Starting 28th June

Pay Instead of Pensions

Not content with closing their final salary pension schemes to new employees, it appears a sizeable minority of the UK’s major companies are now thinking about closing them to existing employees – and replacing them with a cash alternative.

The benefits consultancy firm - Towers Perrin – has conducted a survey amongst 186 of FTSE 350 companies which found almost 1 in 4 (24%) said they were either actively considering, or would consider, introducing a cash alternative to pension arrangements as an option for employees. 14% said they were, or would consider, a cash alternative to a pension scheme as a company-wide policy.

Peter Routledge, a partner at Towers Perrin said, “ Companies have now largely closed DB (final salary) plans to new entrants. But the only way to really tackle pension liabilities is to start to change existing employees’ benefits. However this change needs to be implemented extremely sensitively, perhaps involving some element of choice and control for employees.

If stage one was to close pensions to new hires, and stage two is to close DB (schemes) to existing employees, we are already seeing evidence that the final stage might simply be to replace corporate pension plans with a cash allowance and let individuals take full responsibility for planning for an income in retirement.”

Pension industry experts, and trade unions, have been warning for some time that the closure of DB schemes to new entrants would be the start of a slippery slope. They’ll take little pleasure from saying “We told you so.”

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Skill Shortages Continue To Hinder The Manufacturing Sector.

Crazy as it may seem in a sector which has regularly been shedding over 3,000 jobs a month, the British manufacturing sector says it is still plagued by skills shortages. Don’t any of the people made redundant have transferable skills, can’t they be ‘upskilled’ and/or be re-trained?

Part of the problem might also be that only 40% of manufacturing organisations taking part in a recent NOP survey had taken on any apprentices in the previous two years. This compared with 70% of companies in Germany and 60% of companies in France.

The survey was commissioned by the EEF (formerly known as the Engineering Employers Federation). Talking about the findings they said the recent revamp of the Modern Apprenticeship scheme, had still not done enough to make it attractive for business to take on apprentices. They attacked the new programme’s “inadequate and poorly-structured funding” and said responsibility for continuing skill shortages lay with the Government – as well as business.

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EFA Develops ‘Age-Free’ Job Application Form

The Employers Forum On Age (EFA) - a TAEN member - has developed a new job application form which excludes all information likely to give a hint about the applicant’s age.

Sam Mercer, director of the EFA, points out that questions related to age are usually amongst the first which applicants are asked to answer when applying for jobs. The information is too frequently used to filter the pile of applications received.

Ms Mercer said, “We all know age is used to build a mental picture of a person and old habits die hard. Simply removing the date of birth from an application form achieves very little, as our inclination is to check out the education and career history – not to establish whether someone is able to do the job, but to do some quick mental arithmetic.”

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Gems From CIPD’s Recruitment & Retention 2004 Survey

For anyone engaged in looking for a job themselves or helping others who are, the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development’s 2004 Recruitment & Retention Survey contains a wealth of interesting information. Such as :-

Labour Turnover

• At the end of 2003, staff turnover in the organisations surveyed was on average 16.1% - the same as 12 months earlier.
• The highest rates of staff turnover were in the private sector. Being exceptionally high in call centres (51%) and hotels, catering and leisure (46%).
  

• Local newspapers are still the best place to look for most types of job vacancy adverts. Despite a growth in the use of web-based jobsites, 87% of the nearly 1000 employers who took part in the survey, still turn to their local newspapers to advertise their jobs. Just over 4 out of 5 employers use recruitment agencies and 3/4s use specialist journals or the trade press.
• Over 70% continue to place details of vacancies on their own websites and the number placing them with Jobcentres has grown from 46% to just over 60% since last year’s survey.
• However, if you’re looking for managerial/professional positions then you’re more likely to find them via a recruitment agency, a specialist or trade journal or national newspaper adverts. More public sector employers (69%) had difficulties recruiting managers and professionals than those in the private sector (52%).

Selection Methods

• The most popular form of selection – used by 2/3rds of organisations - remained interviews based on the CV supplied or Application form completed. 6 out of 10 tested for specific skills and 53% used general ability tests. Just under half (48%) tested for literacy and/or numeracy, 46% used personality tests. Those using Assessment Centres fell by 5% Vs the previous year to 43%.
• Telephone interviews or Group activities (such as role playing) were each used by just over ¼.

Average Cost of Recruitment

• The average cost of recruiting staff across all occupational groups was £2500. It varied from an average £750 for manual and craft workers to £5000 for managers and professionals.
• However, the total cost of labour turnover across all employees averaged £4,800 per leaver. This meant the total costs for replacing a manual or craft worker actually averaged out at £1500 and for replacing a manager or professional it was £7000.

Average Time To Fill A Vacancy

• The average time taken to fill any vacancy was just under 9 weeks. It normally takes just over 13 weeks to recruit managers or professionals and just over 10 weeks to recruit graduate trainees. The average taken for Manual or craft workers was the lowest at just over 5 ½ weeks.

Use of Interim Managers / Temps

• Just over 1 in 5 employers surveyed ‘always’ or ‘usually’ used interim managers to cover managerial vacancies whilst they were involved in recruiting the new permanent employee. This compares with 44% who ‘never’ or ‘seldom’ use interims.
• Employers were more likely to use temps when it comes to covering for non-managerial or professional vacancies. Nearly 30% say they ‘always’ or ‘usually’ do so, compared with only 13% who said they ‘seldom’ or ‘never’ did.

Redundancies

• A third of those surveyed had made more than 10 people redundant in their organisations during 2003. This was a fall from 56% the previous year.
• In nearly 4 out of 10 cases the reason for the redundancies was reductions in operating budgets or cash limits.

Awareness & Preparation For Age Legislation

• 97% of organisations were aware of the forthcoming legislation on age. Six out of ten of all those surveyed said they needed and planned to make changes to their personnel policies and practices ahead of the age legislation planned for 2006.
• 94% of those surveyed now have a formal diversity policy in place and 6 out of 10 said they were training their interviewers about diversity issues.

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Week starting 21st June

500th Jobcentre Plus Office Opened

Earlier this week Andrew Smith, Secretary of State for Work & Pensions opened the 500th Jobcentre Plus office in Middlesborough city centre. It marked the halfway stage of the £2.2 billion rollout combining job-seeking and benefit services under one roof.

There are due to be 1000 JC+ offices operating across the country by 2006.

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Population Trivia Treat

The latest report* drawn from the 2001 Census provides rich pickings for pub quiz fans.

For instance :-

1. What % of the UK’s population lives in rural areas?
2. What 4 urban areas contain ¼ of the UK’s population between them?
3. How many urban areas have a population of more than 1 million?
4. What % of urban dwellers describe their own ethnicity as ‘white British’?
5. What was the increase in the population of Greater London since the previous census in 1991?
6. What proportion of the population of urban areas is aged over 45?
7. What % of urban households had no cars or vans?

The answers….

1. 10%
2. Greater London; West Midlands (inc. B’ham, Wolverhampton Dudley and Walsall); Greater Manchester; West Yorkshire (inc.Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield & Wakefield).
3. 4 (those named in answer 2)
4. 85%
5. 8% (up by 627,000)
6. 38% (Vs 46% in rural areas)
7. 30% (Vs 15% in rural areas)

* ‘Key Statistics for Urban Areas’ from the Office of National Statistics

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‘Work Till You Drop’ Scare mongering

Both the Sunday Times and the Times have led their papers with the story that the Government will make 70 the default retirement age in the 2006 legislation. According to both papers the legislation will force people to ‘work till they drop’. What’s more a major part the motivation is to give the Treasury a windfall of £10 billion.

(To see TAEN and Help the Aged's published letter on this subject, Click Here)

Both papers are suffering under the delusion that there is a national retirement age in the UK. There isn’t. There is the age at which people become eligible to draw their state pension and the age at which their employers can force them to retire (a.k.a. ‘mandatory retirement age’). The two are not necessarily synonymous – indeed the majority of people retire well before state pension age. As far as we understand it, there will be nothing in the legislation which will stop people from retiring early if they can afford and want to, or if bad health or incapacity forces them to.

And the £10 billion windfall to the Treasury ? That’s the estimated amount of tax the 2.6 million people aged between 65 and 69 would pay if they all continued to work. Which of course they don’t and won’t – so the figure is a headline grabbing device bearing little or no resemblance to reality.

The Government has re-iterated it has no intention of raising state pension age above 65, although it will improve the incentives to individuals for delaying taking their state pension. If the average retirement age could be raised by two years from
its present 62.3 years, it would go a long way to solving the pensions crisis.

Call us naive but we think the Government’s proposals will be about removing the barriers which take away people’s ability to choose to go on working – both prior to and post-state pension age. In other words it will be about not forcing them to retire rather than about forcing them to go on working. We hope Ministers decide to abolish mandatory retirement ages and not bow to the pressure from employers organisations to introduce a national retirement age of 65.

In the continuing absence of the draft regulations, speculation is perhaps inevitable.
We welcome the news that Ministers will shortly be making up their minds about the retirement age issue. Scare mongering and spreading confusion and fear about pensions and retirement does a disservice to a sensible, adult debate about these issues.

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85% of Organisations Experiencing Recruitment Difficulties

In 2003 over 4 out of 5 organisations had problems recruiting suitable staff. The most common reason was lack of specialist skills (69%) but in 30% of cases the problem was ‘no applicant’.

Retaining staff was also a problem for 77% of the organisations surveyed for the CIPD’s (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s) Recruitment and Retention Survey 2004.

Organisations are responding in a number of ways, most by training new employees for the job and two out of five are increasing starting salaries or benefit packages.

The use of commercial websites for recruitment has also grown – up to 39% from 15% the previous year

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Week Starting 14th June

Age Positive Week Kicks Off Early

Next week is ‘Age Positive’ week. There are a series of events to raise awareness of age discrimination and celebrate the benefits of age diversity.

These include a special supplement in the Guardian on Monday 21st; the Age Positive Awards 2004 Ceremony on

Tuesday for individuals and employers who have successfully helped in dispelling myths and promoting age diversity; 100th Employer Champion event on Wednesday brings together companies who support the Age Positive campaign to share good practice and the 100th Employer Champion will be announced.

However, the week kicks off on Saturday 19th with a five-a-side football match between mixed-age teams at Leckwith Stadium in Wales.

TAEN fully supports the Age Positive campaign. Anyone wishing for more details of the overall campaign or the events themselves should visit the very informative Age Positive website: www.agepositive.gov.uk

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More Women Starting Their Own Businesses

New research reveals that although more women have started their own businesses over the past 3 years, there is still progress to be made. There are now 4 female entrepreneurs in the UK for every 10 male entrepreneurs and we rank 7th in the league of our international competitors behind countries such as Canada, U.S., Greece and Spain.

The GEM survey reveals that female entrepreneurs are more innovative, collaborative, networked and increasingly export orientated. Women were more than 2 ¼ times more likely to see good opportunities in 2003 compared with 2001 and women are now as likely as men to feel that entrepreunership is a good career choice and a high status activity. But female businesses still have lower turnovers than those of their male counterparts.

Dr Rebecca Harding, Director of Gem UK and author of the report said, “There is a lot to celebrate about female entrepreneurship. Women are more likely to be seeking opportunities than men, are more innovative and have stronger networks with other businesses and research institutions. The challenge now is how to unlock this potential since by encouraging women into business, the government could clearly make strides in achieving its strategy of innovation-led growth through enterprise.”

Amongst women aged 50 to state pension age, 9% are self-employed and of those who are working after 60 its 15%. This compares with 7.5% of women aged 25-49.

Men or women over 50 wanting advice about starting their own business should contact PRIME : www.primeinitiative.org.uk

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Employment & Vacancy Levels Up Again

The latest UK employment figures continue to show a record number of people in work and a growing number of unfilled vacancies. Meanwhile unemployment and redundancies continue to fall.

There are now 28.3 million people in work, up by ¼ million over the past year and 30,000 on the previous 3 months. The overall employment rate has reached 74.8%.

The ILO measure of unemployment is down by 9,000 this quarter and by 77,000 versus a year ago and stands at 1.43 million. The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance is 862,000 - down 12,000 in May and 86,000 compared with 12 months ago.

The number of unfilled vacancies was up by nearly 50,000 on the same period last year at 631,000.

The number of people aged 50 to state pension age (SPA) in work has increased by 79,000 (1.3%) over the past 12 months, whilst the number working past (SPA) has increased by 58,000 (6.2%) over the same period – the largest percentage increase for any age group.

Despite this undoubted progress for older workers, the employment rate for those aged 50-SPA is still 12% lower than that for 35-49 year olds.

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Raising State Pension Age Is Not An Option Says TUC

The TUC has warned the Government that any thoughts it might have of raising state pension age to help tackle the pension crisis is not an option as far as its concerned.
Increasing SPA to 70 would mean that 1 in 5 people would die before they could receive it.

One in six people in England & Wales die before they reach 65 and a further 7% die before reaching 70.

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Week Starting 7th June

Over ¾ of A Million Retirees Want To Return To Work

New research from the Prudential reveals that nearly 800,000 retirees would like to return to the workplace but can’t get jobs because of their age. It also shows a third of people aged 45-54 are feeling depressed and nervous about the prospect of retiring.

The reason is simple, life for many people is much harder financially once they retire.
The Pru’s research discovered that 72% of those who retired last year did not seek any financial advice before doing so. Trouble is of course, the practical decisions of when or whether to retire are frequently, taken out of the hands of individuals by the ageism they encounter in the labour market.

Debbie Falvey, Head of Retirement Planning Prudential UK, said: “Retirement is not as simple as pulling on a pair of comfy slippers and putting your feet up. The reality is many pensioners are in financial difficulty.”

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Adult Apprenticeships – Something Stirring At Last

It seems something, albeit tentative and modest, may be starting to happen at last.
Ivan Lewis, Minister in the Department of Education & Skills (DfES) said in replying to a written House of Commons question this week:-

“We and the LSC are working with SSCs (Sector Skill Councils) and key partners towards initial trials of apprenticeships for adults in a small number of sectors in England starting later this year, funded in 2004–05 by the LSC with other agencies. Funds for expansion of apprenticeships for adults in 2005–06 and beyond will be subject to post-spending review allocations.”

Currently the DfES are funding 255,000 apprenticeships for those under 25 and spending millions of pounds promoting apprenticeships to employers.

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Meet The ‘TIREDS’

It seems we might have to get used to a new acronym which describes those people (often managers) who are alienated from their workplaces and cynical about the corporate values of the organisations they work for. The ‘TIREDS’ it seems are Thirty-something, Independent, Radical, Educated Dropouts. Which leads us to wonder at what stage they join the ‘FIREDS’….. ?

Research from Roffey Park Institute has found that 70% of managers are looking for a greater sense of meaning in their working lives, including 63% of board directors.

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Bristol: Opportunities In Childcare

If you’re patient and enthusiastic, take responsibility seriously, have a sense of fun and have ever thought of working with children, then visit the Childcare Recruitment Day in Bristol on Friday 18th June. Apparently lots of exciting full and part-time opportunities exist throughout the Bristol area - from trainee Nursery nurses to deputy managers, play workers, crèche workers, classroom assistants, special needs workers and teachers.

The venue is the Conference Hall, Council House, College Green, Bristol and the event runs from 10a.m. – 3.30 p.m.

Please remember, all childcare workers are required to undergo the Criminal Records Bureau vetting procedure as part of any job application process.

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Too Old At 41

The news that the British actress Alex Kingston has been sacked from the US hospital drama ‘ER’ because she’s considered too old at 41 (and perhaps too expensive) has elicited much negative press comment. Rightly so.

In a move which should cost the show much of its older audience, its producers are said to be stripping out most of the older characters to concentrate on younger ones – played by actors who are less expensive to employ. In that respect US TV fiction is mirroring what happens in practice in UK organisations and businesses, although normally when the person in question is a few years older.

Some of the press response has been nationalistic – i.e. how can American TV bosses do this to one of our own very attractive actresses? Some has been incredulous – how can anyone aged 41 be considered old? And a number of useful ‘thought pieces’ have been written condemning the ageist approach adopted by many TV companies and film studios towards women in particular.

And yet the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) reported earlier this year that when it comes to recruitment, jobseekers over 40 (irrespective of gender) were most likely to encounter age discrimination – being judged by many employers to be too old.

Ageist thoughts, policies and practices are not confined to ‘across the pond’.

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Educational Opportunity For The Over 55s

A special project which focuses on giving people over 55 the chance to spend one semester at a residential college doing original research which benefits the community, is calling for applicants.

The Ransackers Project is aimed at people who have not previously benefited from further education. Five colleges are participating in the project :-
Coleg Harlech (Wales) ; Ruskin College (Oxford) ; Plater College (Oxford); Newbattle Abbey College (near Edinburgh) and Hillcroft women only College (Surrey).

Applications for the September Semester close on 16th June.

For further information please contact Liz Matthews, Ransackers Co-ordinator, Ruskin College, Walton Street, Oxford OX1 2HE . Tel: 01865 517802 : e-mail lmathews@ruskin.ac.uk

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