Allevard Springs specialises in the design and manufacture of coil suspension precision springs for the automotive industry. At its factory in the Rhondda Valley, Glamorgan, staff turnover is very low, with 83 per cent of employees having worked in the plant for over five years.
Recruiting the right staff: The company has a positive view about employing older workers; there is no reference to age on application forms and recruitment decisions are based on a person’s ability to carry out the job or task allocated to them and not on the basis of age.
Despite a high level of unemployment in the area, Perry Stephens, management services manager, says that: There is a shortage of skilled maintenance people, which older people play an important part n filling. For example, the company currently has five ‘super skilled’ engineering technicians and two of them are over 60 and one is over 50 years of age.”
The company’s view is that employers can benefit enormously from having older people in their workforce, bringing with them skills learnt during their working life coupled with a willingness to continue to learn. Continues Perry: “If somebody is capable of doing whatever job function is required, then age doesn’t come into it.”
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