Never mind the human rights issue, smart employers are discovering that keeping their experienced staff makes good business sense, Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan tells Darragh O Keeffe.

In the midst of an ongoing skills shortage, compounded by the challenges of recruiting young people and competition for migrant workers, smart employers will recognise the strengths of their older workers and will implement strategies to retain them. This will be particularly so for employers in the health and community sectors, given the impending exodus of senior nurses and clinicians as a critical mass reaches retirement age. That's according to Susan Ryan, Australia's Age Discrimination Commissioner, who said that while age discrimination in employment practices remained a troubling...