Time to act your age

In the light of new legislation designed to combat ageism, Simon Walsh leads us through the main areas of discrimination in the workplace to show how the insurance industry is ahead of the game and will continue to benefit from an increasingly diverse workforce

Shakespeare famously categorised man as having seven ages (As You Like It, Act II, scene vii), but in the world of work it has been rare for employees to remain in a job beyond the fifth age, let alone the sixth.

This autumn that is all set to change with the introduction of new legislation on age discrimination. It will become illegal to evaluate - and potentially exclude - someone on the grounds of their years. The twist is that this will cut both ways, as younger workers will also be able to