Compulsory retirement age

Was reading about the abolition of the compulsory retirement age and some comments from the Federation of Small Businesses prompted me (via Eve's email address!) to send the chap who made them some comments :

Dear Mr Cave

I read with interest the comments that you gave to the BBC in relation to the introduction of a default retirement age.  In particular, the BBC said that the FSB considered the legislation "unnecessary meddling" and 

"It will lead to a legal quagmire for a lot of small business owners. If you can't get rid of someone, you then have to go through the process of performance managing someone out of an organisation, which if you have a big HR department and you're experienced in these things is easy," said Andrew Cave from the federation.

"The average business in this country employs four people. The owner-manager doesn't necessarily have that expertise."

If I have correctly understood these comments, I must say that I was surprised by them as I had thought the FSB would seek to promote best practice amongst its members rather than endorse the "managing out" approach of larger businesses - particularly because small businesses are of such a size where the relationships can be more personal.  It appeared to me that your position was that small businesses should be permitted "to get rid of someone" on the basis of their age alone, because otherwise it would not be possible to terminate their employment because a small business would not have a sophisticated HR function which could handle these issues and find other ways of letting someone go or follow the correct procedure.  

I do find the suggestion concerning that simply reaching a particular age should be reason enough to let someone go - regardless of any assessment of merit.  The counter point is no doubt that the business would do what it could to keep hold of someone if they were of sufficient quality, but there are various reasons why this is not always the case.

I wondered whether a better approach might be to encourage employers to take a more active interest in the careers of their employees rather than treat them like resources which can be "got rid of".  In practice, performance management is overlooked at a number of businesses - big and small.  However, it is often said that employees feel most engaged when their performance is being closely monitored and being held accountable for outcomes.  I anticipate that your response would be to say that small business owners do not have the time to focus on such issues (although your quote suggested that it was more a lack of expertise which could be easily remedied by a training course - which your organisation could no doubt run for its members).  However, I do wonder whether they would be better off seeing it as time invested in the business.


My husband's grandfather ran a successful small business for a number of years - generally with four or five employees.  If someone's performance did not reach the required standard, steps were taken and the employee in question left the business.  They did not wait until they turned 65 to avoid a difficult conversation and a fair procedure.  I wonder whether this is perhaps more the approach that the FSB might consider adopting?

Kind regards