''Employee benefits for older workers cost more''

A group HR director at Nationwide has risked the ire of a generation by claiming that employee benefits for older workers cost businesses more but insisted that their value for a company cannot be underestimated.

John Wrighthouse was speaking at the Employers'' Forum on Age annual conference last month with just six months until the Equality Act comes into effect in October, HR Magazine reports.

He said: "People want to do business with people they can relate to and share experiences with. Older customers are more likely to buy from people their own age. We can prove it statistically.

"Employee benefits are costing us more with an ageing workforce - it adds to the cost of providing our core benefits of personal accident insurance and private medical insurance for longer."

Also at the conference David Fairhurst, senior vice president and chief people office for northern Europe at McDonald''s found levels of customer service are 20 per cent higher in its restaurants where staff are aged over 50 or over - showing the value of an older workforce. Back