Nearly three-quarters of the UK IT professionals surveyed believed that their birth certificate would not knock them off their career trajectory. This is a huge upswing in confidence from last year when only half the participants felt positive. Although this bullish response comes a year after UK government legislation to outlaw ageism in the workplace, awareness of the legislation has changed little over that time. Some 68% of participants said they were aware of the age discrimination laws compared to 62% in 2006.
Alex Farrell, director at www.theitjobboard.com said the research suggested that the anti-ageism message was beginning to hit home in organizations and that companies were recognizing the people and management skills of an older workforce as well as the their technical ability to deal with legacy systems.
Older workers were also key in winning the skills shortage. The lack of skilled IT professionals is a constant cause for concern in the industry, and while the findings of our most recent research are no reason to be complacent, they do offer a part solution to the problem, said Farrell.
