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Businesses need to make more investment in HR

Sep 04 2007

Small businesses have been urged to invest more of their money into human resources - especially for older members of staff.

According to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), many SMEs that have a range of staff with different ages benefit from both training and motivational techniques.

Explaining the need for a mix of trained employees in the entrepreneurial work place, a spokesman for the DWP says: 'Business success depends on keeping both older and younger workers up-skilled.

'To avoid skills shortages, employers need to retain older workers in the workforce for longer.

'Most skills have a three to five year shelf-life therefore employers need to invest in all their staff, whatever their age, to keep them fully trained.'

Employment Equality regulations recently came into force allowing older workers to have the same right to claim unfair dismissal and redundancy pay as their younger counterparts.

And according to an Acas survey, only 43 per cent of SME's are aware of the changes.

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