text: Compensation & Total Reward Systems: Age & Wisdom
  English journalists must have age on their minds these days. In the same week, articles about age-discrimination appeared in The Independent (7/19/00), and The Observer (7/23/00).
  The Independent presented a case history:
  Skandia, a Swedish insurance company, set up a forecasting team to analyze their business, worldwide. The teams were comprised of employees from different staff levels, with varying lengths of employment:
  Long-term employees were selected for their history and experience.
  New hires were chosen for their fresh perspective.
  The Independent went on to demonstrate why such teams would be impossible to create in English financial service and dot-com companies. The article explained that financial service companies don't hire anyone over 43, and dot-coms limit employment to people under 35.
  In order to get the same spectrum of wisdom that Skandia can tap internally, the financial service and dot-com companies have to rely on advice from experienced professionals at universities and consultancies.
  The Independent suggested that a better solution would be to adjust compensation levels and working conditions of older workers so that they would be willing to keep working. [Oh my. Is that the problem? Those old 30- to 40-somethings don't want to work anymore?]
  By surveying recruiters, The Observer discovered that:
  IT businesses are willing to pay huge sums of money to older people who are over 40, provided they are self-employed [outside consultants].
  The Employers' Forum on Age was organized by UK banks in an effort to head off legislate against ageism at work. [So far, it's working.]
  The Observer offered the following explanations for ageism:
  Middle aged senior managers like to have young girls around to help and would seldom consider a 50-year-old man for the same work.
  Many employers like the 'can do' attitude of young people which contrasts with a more stately or laid-back style of older workers.
  Employers don't want to invest in training someone unless they can exploit that training for many years.