TEXT C By the year 2000 nearly
half the workforce will be over 40 and yet throughout Europe there is a deep
ambivalence—if not outfight suspicion—towards the capabilities of older
workers. Those over the age of 40 generally take longer to find
new employment, but European governments have done little to protect their
employment fights. Only Germany, with incentives to business to encourage the
employment of older people, and France, with the introduction of legislation
making it illegal to use age barriers in recruitment—or to make employees
redundant because of their age have done anything substantive to combat age
discrimination. Yet even in these two countries, there has been
no noticeable improvement in the lot of the older worker; indeed in France job
advertisements flout the law openly by asking for applicants of a certain age.
So, should France and Germany be tightening up their laws and should the rest of
Europe follow suit Bill Robbins, a career’s consultant with
outplacement specialist DBM, believes not. He said: "Legislation against age
discrimination has been in existence for well over ten years in the US and
Canada, but has had no effect per se. Employers will always be able to find some
reason for turning down an older applicant without appearing to break the law.
Age laws merely act as a symbol of a commitment to change societal attitudes,
and it is these that must be changed if we are to make progress."
Ironically, it was governments which played a leading role in hardening
business culture against older workers in the first place. In the late 1970s
many European countries were extremely concerned about the levels of youth
unemployment, and France, Germany and Belgium even initiated incentive schemes
for business to encourage older employees to take early retirement provided that
younger trainees were taken on in their place. As more and more employees took
early retirement, often willingly, a new, youth-oriented culture permeated
business throughout most of Europe—even in those countries that had taken no
active measures to promote it. Demographic trends mean that
governments are now anxious to slow down the policy of early retirement as they
realize that they simply do not have the funds to meet their pension promises.
But reversing business attitudes is no easy matter. Dianah Worman, a policy
adviser for the Institute of Personnel and Development, said: "There is a widely
held belief that older people are less adaptable and trainable." This is just
not true: "research has shown that differences in capability are as wide within
age groups as they are between them". So what can older
job-seekers do On a practical level it is often recommended that applicants
either omit their age from a CV or leave it to the end, to ensure that at least
it gets read. Yet Tony Milne, an independent career’s consultant, believes that
the way forward is for older people themselves to adopt a positive attitude to
their age when applying for work. "You can’t expect someone else to give you a
job if you think you might be too old for it. Many older applicants are
extremely aggressive or defensive about their age in interviews. They are
immediately labeled by potential employers as difficult characters who would
have problems fitting into a new organization and it is for these reasons rather
than their age that they are rejected. If older workers can learn to become
relaxed and confident about their age, then I am sure that a change in business
attitudes will follow. "(words) Which of the following words best characterizes the European attitude to older workers