British businesses that continue to discriminate on the grounds of age will be adding to the nation's IT skills shortage, an industry organisation has claimed.
Trade association for Britain's IT, telecommunications and electronics industries, Intellect, said that companies discriminating against employees on an age-related basis would be putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
"In today's society, companies cannot afford to be ageist," said senior programme manager for knowledge economy at Intellect, Beatrice Rogers.
"Not only will employers have a much smaller pool of resources to tap into, but they will also be losing out on a large amount of skill-sets."
Businesses needed to invest in lifelong learning and training for all employees, regardless of age, in order to enable them to compete in the fast-changing global environment, she added.
Meanwhile, she said, the government should provide incentives for companies to invest in lifelong learning.
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