Untrendy German shop workers face the ax

Bosses at a top German fashion chain are to review all staff over the age of 50 to make sure they are still trendy enough.

Personnel managers at Takko have been ordered to scrutinise 780 of their 9,300 staff that are older than 50 and find out whether their appearance is fashionable enough.

The company wants to target customers between 20 and 45 and as a result staff should also be of the same age group, according to a report to a meeting of Takko managers.

The report continues: "Employees aged over 50 are to be scrutinised for their personal development and outward appearance over the next three months. Those who do not match the image are to be made redundant."

Managers were told to give them notice on the grounds of "company policy".

Spokesman for the Verdi trade union in North Rhine-Westphalia, Guenter Isemeyer, said: "I've never come across such impertinence in my life. This move is not justifiable from a moral standpoint."

But a company spokesman rejected any criticism, saying that no one over 50 who had a good performance would be made redundant.

He added, however, that as business results were not as high as expected for 2003, the company was being forced to lay staff off.

Clearly a case of ageism, but it makes you wonder if the economy is so bad, that post-midlife workers are flocking to the clothing retail sales jobs

Takko clothes are very awful. You would have to be desperate to shop there let alone work there (for those who know UK retailers, Takko is like BWise and probably worse than Primark).

Shouldn't this apply to anyone at any age?
Katrina

Keydeck is refering to a Stern-article, I guess. The Managing directors of Takko already published a statement on their website (sorry, in German only) which helps understanding their human resource policy. Well, I do understand it now and to me it has nothing to do with ageism. The reporters of Stern only published statistics regarding the older employees being made redundant but did not publish the number of younger ones being made redundant, too.

By the way: Is it anyway possible to decide who'll get his/her notice and not being blamed for in public because of unfairness? It's not fair to the older ones who might have dificulties in getting a new job but is it fair to younger ones who might have difficulties in getting a job, too, due to lack of experience etc..?

Well I haven't read the article, nor the statistics, nor anything else on the matter, but this quote:

"Employees aged over 50 are to be scrutinised for their personal development and outward appearance over the next three months. Those who do not match the image are to be made redundant."


It is possible that someone aged under 50 has the constant outward appearance of a drunken sloth after a 10-week bender through the jungle, but based on that quote alone - they won't be reviewed. That is ageism, very simple.

Of course, that kind of prejudice can be (and is) directed at any age group, and that doesn't make it any more or less fair. Still sucks.

This subject was covered yesterday by ARD news reports indicating that the evaluation of workers aged over 50 was the topic of an internal Takko management meeting and documentation (including minutes) from this meeting were obtained by the trade union Verdi.
So it would be reasonable to say that any new comment from Takko on their website would be a damage-limitation exercise.
Katrina