Blind recruitment to encourage age-diverse applications

03/02/23

There has been much written in recent weeks about the importance of encouraging older workers to return to work and the barriers faced. Recent research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found that employers are much less open to hiring older workers than they are to bringing in younger people. The CMI surveyed more than 1,000 managers working in UK businesses and public services. It found that just 42% were open “to a large extent” to hiring people aged between 50 and 64.

As we all live longer, employers simply can’t afford to maintain such short-sighted attitudes. We must fundamentally rethink the way we work, learn and live and adapt to the reality of our complex, longer and changing working lives. Successful workplaces of the future need to attract and foster the skills of workers of all ages. One significant step to reducing bias would be to try out a blind recruitment process.

For the past year the ILC has successfully used the Applied platform which ensures we focus on people’s skills and not on what they have done, where they were educated or their age or background.  We have found that this has meant fewer but higher quality applications as candidates can no longer simply submit their CV or manipulate experience against a job description and must answer a series of questions that require careful consideration and focus.  We think this process is key to helping us get a more diverse group of employees and encouraging older workers who may not think their skills are relevant to apply. Read more here.

Of course, better work goes much wider than simply better recruitment and many employers must do more to support and retain people in work for longer. Following our Work for Tomorrow programme we produced practical advice for employers who want to respond to an ageing workforce but don’t know where to start.

More solutions to follow

Reimaging high street banks

06/01/23

According to Which? Almost half of the UK’s bank branches have closed since 2015. Lots of us don’t visit them anymore. But could we revive high street banking as a service to help us all as we live longer lives?

High street banks could support basic financial literacy, reduce fraud and provide us with tools to help us manage our money throughout our lives. Banks could better encourage saving and spending by all ages, give people a reason to visit town centres, help build communities and provide a one-space-place for all ages to be informed, work, socialise – and even use the toilet.

Santander has paved the way and opened its first Work Café and community hub in Chile and since opened others in South America, the USA and Europe. The wider banking industry should work with Government, regulators, Town Centre Managers and Business Improvement District teams to redesign our banks as community financial hubs for the future.

Automatic appointments for pensions guidance

20/01/23

All of us may need help to make informed decisions about our pensions. Past ILC research has highlighted that the increasing number of us, with most of our retirement savings held in defined contribution pensions, are at particular risk if we don’t get access to information and guidance.

There is support out there. Pension Wise offers free, impartial guidance to over-50s. They deliver free 60-minute appointments with pensions specialists who explain how different decumulation options work, how to avoid overpaying tax and falling victim to scams. However, take-up of this service remains too low and, as a proportion of pensions accessed, has fallen.

Analysis by the Just Group, based on the latest FCA data, shows no support was given for more than a third (34%) of the 205,641 pots that entered drawdown during 2021-22 compared to 25% three years earlier. And only about one in eight (13%) of pots accessed for the first time were taken after using Pension Wise’s service.

Many of us are automatically booked in for medical screening appointments or vaccination so why not for information on our pensions? Automatically booking everyone a session from the age of 50 might increase the number of savers taking up Pension Wise appointments and help ensure savers receive the support they need with pension decisions.

Default financial workplace planning

13/01/23

Planning for longer lives demands a degree of understanding of money, and it probably won’t be delivered by forcing children to study maths until they are 18. Just as the majority of us think we are better than average car driver, most of us overestimate our financial knowledge.

Money worries are the biggest cause of stress for UK employees. In 2018, 4.2 million worker days were lost in absences because of a lack of financial wellbeing – the equivalent £626 million in lost output. As the Money & Pensions Service point out, the case for financial wellbeing at work is compelling.

But it isn’t easy for employers who want to help their staff. Managers don’t want to be seen to be giving advice or patronise staff. Finding people with the right expertise isn’t as easy as it should be. When we asked our own pension provider if they could help, they replied with a short “it’s not a service we provide”. The Money Charity runs more advanced workplace workshops, but the service isn’t well known.

ILC staff this week benefitted from a workplace workshop delivered by the Money & Pensions Service. This outreach service is free, the guidance is impartial – and the content is comprehensive and clearly communicated.

It’s in the employer’s own interest to improve the financial wellbeing of their staff, so they should lead the way. Employers should be required to add a line into the auto-enrolment communications, pointing people to impartial guidance and information from organisations such as the Money and Pensions Service and to consider supporting employees by organising a financial wellbeing workshop.

Reimaging high street banks

06/01/23

According to Which? Almost half of the UK’s bank branches have closed since 2015. Lots of us don’t visit them anymore. But could we revive high street banking as a service to help us all as we live longer lives?

High street banks could support basic financial literacy, reduce fraud and provide us with tools to help us manage our money throughout our lives. Banks could better encourage saving and spending by all ages, give people a reason to visit town centres, help build communities and provide a one-space-place for all ages to be informed, work, socialise – and even use the toilet.

Santander has paved the way and opened its first Work Café and community hub in Chile and since opened others in South America, the USA and Europe. The wider banking industry should work with Government, regulators, Town Centre Managers and Business Improvement District teams to redesign our banks as community financial hubs for the future.

Cut-stamp duty for last time buyers

27/01/23

This month Paul Johnson from the Institute of Fiscal Studies wrote in The Times “Of all the taxes levied at present, Stamp Duty Land Tax has a pretty good claim to be the most damaging and pernicious of the lot…It gums up the housing market and, by extension, the labour market. Mutually beneficial transactions, for example, an older person in a big house trading places with a younger family in a smaller house, are disincentivised.”

His column chimed with our report The Mayhew Review: Future Proofing Retirement Living – Easing the care and housing crises, published in November 2022, which recommended that stamp duty should be reduced or removed on last-time house purchases.

HMRC data show many fewer housing transactions at older ages suggesting a level of inertia. Of the 930,000 property purchases a year in England, only 10%, or 93,000, involve purchasers aged 65+, even though they account for 28% of all households. Some retirement housing providers even undertake to pay stamp duty up to £30,000 because they see the tax as a barrier to sales. 

Of course, such tax incentives would only be part of the picture, the Mayhew Review highlights at least one in four new homes should be built for older people. Paul Johnson suggests abolishing this tax altogether but putting stamp duty for last-time buyers on an equal footing with first-time buyers would be a good start.

More solutions to follow

Get in touch

What do you think of these solutions? Do you have different or better ideas? Let us know via events@ilcuk.org.uk