The business case for age diversity

HMLR employs 8,700 staff at 25 locations throughout the UK
Staff turnover is low, but increasing demand for HMLR’s services means an ongoing need to review and increase staffing levels
A large majority of HMLR staff are technical staff and progress through the organisation by increasing their levels of technical skill. Acquiring those skills is largely determined by access to training
A policy of internal promotion for higher grades and few external appointments except for specialised roles, means that past recruitment policy currently determines the future shape of the workforce
Traditionally they have employed a large number of women who make up approximately 65% of the workforce and have an excellent reputation in many locations as a child care provider
Recruitment for the three junior grades is delegated to local business units

They carried out a comprehensive age profiling exercise across the whole of the business
The age profile was further analysed and split by job band
The results were incorporated in the annual diversity report submitted to the HMLR Board

The exercise confirmed anecdotal evidence from line managers that there was a decline in recruitment of 16-24 year olds and a difficulty in filling some vacancies
Post profiling research and discussions identified an issue with stereotyped attitudes and that local business units needed to be more creative across the diversity agenda about their recruitment rather than tending to focus their attention solely on attracting younger workers
The profiling highlighted that many managers were failing to recognise the potential of other pools of workers such as women returners

In future managers would be advised to broaden their community links, work more closely with local schools & colleges, take part in local recruitment fairs, etc. And they would also be encouraged to develop links with the local job centre and to use alternative publications for placing advertising. Managers must promote more positively the benefits of working with a large Government Agency – such as child-care facilities, continuous training, generous pension provision etc. All this would raise the local profile of HMLR as an employer of choice
In some locations the need for a change in mind set would be supported by encouraging local managers to promote their flexible working arrangements and child-care provision
Because of differing demographics between ethnic communities, in some locations, the desire / need to attract younger workers could be tied into a review of ethnic recruitment policies. Managers would be reminded of their responsibilities to deliver to national ethnicity targets and encouraged to think how ‘considering age’ would help them achieve these targets
The Board will continue to be informed about age issues, via the annual report.
Age has been incorporated into the management diversity training
The age profiling would inform the HMLR retirement policy review.

The age profiling exercise raised a number of questions about the access to training of various groups of staff, including younger and older workers, part-time workers and disabled members of staff. This highlighted the need to monitor access to training by these factors and review the ‘mechanisms for eligibility’ – how people move on and up.