We are all too often made aware by the press of discrimination in recruitment; whether that be down to gender (as discussed in a recent article here) or race, as was highlighted in the recent 2009 IRS survey monitoring equality and diversity in recruitment. When it comes to ageism in the recruitment process, the topic seems to lack the sensationalist appeal favoured by the media. However, it is an increasingly important area to society whether we know it or not, as described here by Third Sector Foresight.

“By 2031 a quarter of Britain’s population will be of pensionable age. As a result, the old-age dependency ratio is increasing, meaning there is a growing proportion of the population in retirement compared to those of working age. This is expected to rise from 25% to 53% by 2050. The workforce itself is also ageing”

For the sake of the economy alone a sizeable section of the expected extra 28% of the population in retirement will actually need to be working whether that be in a full time role or more flexibly. Also, better healthcare and understanding of healthy lifestyles means that this 53% are highly unlikely to be decrepit, infirm pensioners incapable of a regular job.

Why We Need to Balance Jobs in Pharma

So where will pharma stand in the fresh look at recruitment the world will need to take?

Big pharma relishes the ‘graduate trainee’ programme, and take great pride in selecting high fliers and developing promising university leavers into the pharma experts of tomorrow. For young people starting out in their careers, this is a wonderful opportunity. Unfortunately, the same commitment and prospects don’t seem to be evident when it comes to the older generation workers.

The recent stream of redundancies surrounding jobs in pharma means that there are now a lot of experience professionals in the pharmaceutical jobs market. Whilst great efforts will have been taken by all companies to be fair in their selection of redundancy candidates, it is perhaps no coincidence that many such redundants we speak to are over 40. Of course, as with other sections of the workforce the +40s are protected by legislation. In America this takes the form of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This protects employees over the age of 40 from being treated unfavourably due to their age, and also prohibits discrimination against job applicants on the basis of age. In the UK the2006, Employment Equality (Age) Regulations made it unlawful to discriminate against workers, employees, job seekers and trainees because of their age. This may be the case, but how many people work for a company which has recently employed more than one 40+ candidate?

So what is it about older workers that seems to put off so many companies. There seem to be a raft of preconceptions out there about the older generation of workers. Some widely held beliefs include:

1. Older workers are set in their ways and less open to learning new approaches
2. Training older workers is a wasted resource as they stay in the job for less time
3. Older workers have a lower output than younger workers
4. Older workers are less accepting of change and less creative
5. Older workers are generally more expensive to hire and more likely to be a drain on company insurance

Ouch! It’s a good job that we don’t all get old, right?

According to American Business and Older Employees, AARP, Washington, DC Bureau of Labor Statistics, in reality, this picture could not be further from the truth. Yes, older people may take longer to totally take on board new information. However, they often have a stronger study ethic and commitment to the challenge. As a result, they often need less further training after initial training and studies have shown cumulatively they create lower training costs.

An older employee is often likely to stay in the role they were hired for much longer than a young graduate as they have a stronger emotional commitment to their role, and (perhaps unfortunately) are not being headhunted by all and sundry! They are more stable and less likely to take time off for hangovers, emotional issues and family commitments. This offsets the additional costs that an older worker’s health, disability, and life insurance may accrue. Overall, benefit package costs stay the same for all age groups. Furthermore, older workers tend to spot and avoid accident prone situations and statistically have lower accident rates than other age groups.

Productivity of older staff is rarely lower than that of younger staff and in many instances superior as the confidence of experience leads to quicker identification and resolution of problems. Older staff are generally more dependable and accurate which raises productivity.

Maybe what companies don’t like is the fact that an older worker tends to have the confidence to ask the all important question ‘why?’

What could be seen as a unique opportunity to have ideas thoroughly tested before they are rolled out is often seen impatiently as ‘oldies not being able to get their head around a modern idea.’ However, many older staff members have a more thorough approach to all aspects of their job and hence when they are satisfied that a route is the correct one, can be the strongest advocates of that idea.

Perhaps pharma should be wary of focusing their redundancy objectives on the older members of the team.

The most cohesive units tend to be those that reflect society as a whole, and that is a melting pot of age, sex, race and ideas. If all efforts are focused on young grads you might get decisions made quickly, and you might have a roomful of open minds ready to take on your company mantra from rule 1 to 50.

However, who will challenge those in charge? Who will stand up with the benefit of experience and explain why something won’t work to you? Who will be the mentor with old battle stories to inspire those new, young, open minds?

Cut out the older members of staff and it creates a one dimensional culture lacking a solid foundation in reality. Jobs in pharma need to be filled by the ‘been there done its’ just as much as the ‘go getters’ and it is time that recruitment policy started to reflect this.

By Alexandra Kisby

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