Enabling underperforming employees to move to more suitable jobs heads a raft of recommendations from TAEN – The Age and Employment Network.

In its submission to the consultation on the phasing out of the default retirement age (DRA), opened by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions, TAEN recommends that:

• underperforming employees, regardless of age, should be given the opportunity to improve, move to more suitable roles, gain extra training or be supported by adjustments in work arrangements to recognise any lowering of physical capacity
• a statutory code of practice and formal guidance for employers on how to approach retirement discussions should be introduced on how employees move towards retirement, not just about when they will retire.

Chris Ball, chief executive of TAEN, says: “We are all aware of the reasons why workforces are getting older. Now we need to think about how we deal with the changing workforce profile.

“Following the repeal of the DRA next year, a few employers may try to use performance management or physical testing as a means of browbeating older employees into resignation. We must make clear that such approaches are unacceptable and that all employees are evaluated in an equitable and even-handed way.

“What will benefit both employees and employers is a more structured way of discussing retirement. Employees with long service records or who have reached a certain age should be able to sit down with their managers and discuss their retirement plans.

“Without good management procedures in place, older workers may still be forced out of their jobs.”

The consultation, opened by BIS and the DWP, began on 29 July and runs until this Thursday (21 October).