Competitiveness and employment for the uture:f … Agers...Šiauliai Chamber of Commerce, industry and Crafts, lithuania the Šiauliai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (sCCIC)

Competitiveness and employment for the future:

Good examples of aGe manaGement in the

BaltiC sea reGion

A Compilation of Findings of the Project “Best Agers Lighthouses”

ContentWelCome Words ......................................................................................................... 3

1. the ProjeCt APProACh .......................................................................................... 4

2. AddressInG demoGrAPhIC ChAnGe In smes In the BAltIC seA reGIon ................................................................................................... 8

3. CAse studIes of the lIGhthouse orGAnIsAtIons ...............................15Administration of the City of Kiel ...........................................16 l-3 elAC nautik ...........................................................................18 Pori energia ltd ..........................................................................20 Claudius Peters Projects Gmbh .................................................22 Šiauliai state College .................................................................24 Šiauliai university ......................................................................26 Kaunas university of technology .............................................28 folktandvården/department of dental Care ..........................30 the latvenergo Group ................................................................32

4. evAluAtIon of the AGe mAnAGement InterventIons ........................ 35evaluation methodology ............................................................36 Change of employees’ opinions ................................................38 Change of managers’ opinions ..................................................42 Intervention diaries ...................................................................47 Cost-Benefit Analysis ..................................................................51

5. reCommendAtIons ................................................................................................... 57recommendations for employers ............................................. 58 recommendations for social Partners and Policy-makers ....61

6. ClosInG remArKs ....................................................................................................63

Bibliography ................................................................................66 Photo Credits ...............................................................................66Imprint .........................................................................................66

Best aGers liGhthouses | ComPIlAtIon of fIndInGs2

WelCome Words

the working age population in europe and the Baltic sea region will significantly decline over the next decades. According to eurostAt, the share of people aged 15–64 is predicted to decline from 67 % in 2010 to 56.2 % in 2060, alongside an increasing old age dependency ratio (dG research and Innovation 2014). these figures illustrate that demographic change will result in dramatically increasing competition for recruitment of qualified employees and executives over the next years.

small and medium-sized enterprises will be more affected by this demographic devel-opment than large organisations, many of which are already well positioned and prepared in this respect. With the InterreG Iv B Best Agers lighthouses project, the Wirtschafts-akademie schleswig-holstein together with 11 partners from sweden, finland, latvia, lith-uania, Poland and Germany is on a good way to meeting the demographic challenges with effective business strategies.

the project shows how appropriate age-related and age-adjusted human resource man-agement can help small and medium-sized enterprises stay successful in european competi-tion. Altogether, 9 small and medium-sized enterprises and public institutions from differ-ent industries and trades participate in the project and serve as lighthouse organisations in the Baltic sea region, also beyond the closure of the project.

In the future, the elderly will play an ever more important part in the work process and therefore it is important for organisations to tackle the topic of holistic age manage-ment and its vast range of action fields affecting all age groups in good time. how must work be organised in the future to challenge and promote the organisations’ employees in their working lives while, at the same time, keeping them healthy? the project aims at assisting private and public organisations in the participating Baltic sea countries with finding solutions to this question by means of individual interventions and development of sustainable problem-solving approaches.

In the following you will learn more about the project approach and methodology, the implementation and results of the interventions and the respective recommendations for action for employers, policy makers and social partners. one thing is for sure: the demo-graphic development cannot be stopped, but we can cope with it by using appropriate measures, and this publication is meant to provide you with first impressions and ideas.

hartwig Wagemester,Wirtschaftsakademie (Academy of economics) schleswig-holstein, lead Partner

3WelCome Words

hartwig WagemesterProject manager

the ProjeCt APProACh

in selected small and medium-sized enterprises (sme) and public organisations. these interventions were to be evaluated scientifically and communicated as suc-cessful “lighthouses” cases to other employers. In order to encourage them to follow suit and implement simi-lar approaches on their own, the benefits and success factors of applying age management practices were to be analysed and demonstrated.

the ProjeCt set-uP

In the course of the project, nine so-called local Age management Partnerships (lAmPs) were formed in the partner regions. each lAmP consisted of one project partner organisation (the “facilitating Partner”), a pub-lic or private employer (the “lighthouse organisation”), an Internal mentor from the lighthouse organisation’s staff and an experienced external Advisor. together they carried out an intervention aimed at identifying threats and opportunities resulting from the organisation’s personnel age structure and reforming the organisa-tion’s human resources management in order to make

the PoInt of dePArture

In view of the demographic changes that lie ahead of us it is necessary to change our mindset with respect to older people – especially in working life. this was one of the key conclusions of “Best Agers”, a project funded by the eu under the Baltic sea region Programme that ran from 2010 to 2012 and brought together 19 partner organisations with the aim to shed light on the changing role of older people (55+) in the Baltic sea region econ-omies. the partners looked at various roles older people can assume to still be economically active – remaining in employment or acting as mentors, senior advisors and entrepreneurs. various studies and pilot activities conducted in the course of the project made it clear that employing older people can be economically beneficial, if the right conditions are set. Yet the partners also noted a lack of visible model cases that other employers could learn from. thus, the central objective of the follow-up project “Best Agers lighthouses” was to create more positive examples by initiating age management interventions

scientific evaluation and transnational exchange

Project Partner external Advisor Internal mentor employer





promotion of Benefits and success factors

the IdeA of loCAl aGe mAnAGement pArtnershIPs = lamps

Best Agers Lighthouses | Compilation of findings4

better use of the knowledge and experience of its older employees. the first task of the project partnership was to draw up terms of reference in order to define the common ground for these interventions. due to the expected (and factual) difficulties in finding small organisations having both the will and the capacity to get involved in the project, it was decided to also consider medi-um-sized organisations or medium-sized departments of larger entities. the facilitating Partners then proceeded to identify suitable companies or public organisations from their region and negotiated an agreement with the management. In each organisation a trusted and respected (non-management level) Internal mentor was chosen and paired with an experienced and competent external Advisor who was appointed by the facilitating Partner. together, and in agreement with the organisa-tion’s management, an action plan was worked out for each lAmP, in which the ambition level, the time frame, roles and responsibilities of the players involved were defined.

the AGe mAnAGement InterventIons

the organisational intervention was the very core of the project. the common terms of reference left considera-ble flexibility and decision-making leeway to the players of each lAmP. the concrete fields and measures were to be proposed by the Internal mentor and external Advisor considering the organisation’s specifics such as size, branch of industry or trade, organisational structure and culture as well as the different national backgrounds. however, all interventions adhered to the same rough sequence of steps, which included: • analysing the organisation s situation with regard to

the personnel age structure and the key positions which are critical for the organisation’s success,

• identifying suitable measures to motivate and enable key employees to stay longer in working life and to retain their knowledge in the organisation,

• proposing concrete recommendations for action (e.g. reorganisation of processes and tasks, flexible working hours, additional holiday time, pension schemes, qual-ification opportunities) in order to fulfil these needs,

• providing guidance for the implementation of these changes.

In the end, the project initiated and assisted the organ-isational interventions, but their objectives and con-tents were determined by the lighthouse organisations themselves. As described in the following chapters of this publication, it was a very important success factor to involve middle management and employee representa-tives in this process to create and sustain trust.

When this publication was being written, all organi-sations had plans for making measures introduced during the intervention standard company practice, continuing the intervention and/or extending it.

evAluAtIon And exChAnGe of exPerIenCe

transnational exchange of experience between the different lAmPs via meetings and webinars was a key element of the project – the online platform biiugi.eu, set-up during the Best Agers project to build relation-ships between older experts and sme, was used for this. the exchange allowed the facilitating Partners, external Advisors and Internal mentors to share good practice, discuss common challenges and receive inspiration and ideas for the intervention process. A key objective of the project was to monitor and evaluate the interventions following a scientific meth-odology in order to determine the costs and benefits of introducing age management practices in the organisa-tion. It was assumed that the interventions would – to different degrees – bring about monetary benefits such as lower recruitment costs and training times, reduced sick days/leaves and increased productivity as a conse-quence of higher motivation and appreciation, better- suited work environments and tasks as well as a more organised knowledge transfer within the organisation. the scientific Partners of the project did their best to evaluate these factors despite the limited observation period. Apart from these quantifiable benefits, it was ex-pected that the interventions would also lead to higher employee satisfaction and increased attractiveness of the employer, making the organisation more competitive in the long-term perspective.

KeY fACts ABout the ProjeCt

• Builds upon the preceding Baltic sea region Pro-gramme “Best Agers” project and implements its recommendations with regard to the employment situation of older people

• Part-financed by the european union’s Baltic sea re-gion Programme 2007–2013

• Priority 4 – Attractive and Competitive Cities and regions

• 12 project partners from 6 countries involved• 24 associated partners• 9 lighthouse companies and public organisations• Project period: december 2012–september 2014• Project budget: 1.650.975 euro• lead Partner: Wirtschaftsakademie schleswig-holstein

(Academy of economics schleswig-holstein), Germany

51. the projeCt approaCh

ProjeCt PArtnershIP

academy of economics schleswig-holstein, Germany As in the predecessor project, the Academy of economics schleswig-holstein again coordinated the overall project management and communication as the lead Partner. It also implemented two lAmPs in cooperation with the senior advisor network “mentoren schleswig-holstein” in the Administration of the City of Kiel and the company l-3 elAC nautik. education and training service for hamburg Busi-nesses (BWh), Germany BWh offered its knowledge and experience in the exten-sion stage as facilitating Partner in the lAmP implement-ed with Claudius Peters Projects Gmbh and disseminates the project results to its members and networks. BWh is also involved in the work of the Baltic sea labour forum and communicates the project activities to the social Partners.prizztech ltd, finland As facilitating Partner of energy company Pori energia ltd, Prizztech’s competence and experience in the field of age management and project coordination were beneficial in planning, implementing and evaluating the intervention. Prizztech operates as an impartial, non-profit organisation of experts in business development, research and project management.stockholm school of economics in riga, latvia the stockholm school of economics (sse) in riga has sol-id experience both in research related to the integration of people aged 55+ in the labour market and in providing training and management courses. sse riga acted both as a scientific Partner (providing research expertise in the area of age management) and facilitating Partner coordi-nating and supervising the age management intervention at energy company latvenergo As. Šiauliai Chamber of Commerce, industry and Crafts, lithuania the Šiauliai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (sCCIC) is a regional chamber in the north of lithua-nia and has been working on projects concerning the development of a knowledge and competence assessment system for vocational education and training. sCCIC implemented the applied age management approach at Šiauliai state College.Šiauliai Branch of the national regional develop-ment agency, lithuania the Šiauliai Branch of the national regional development Agency (nrdA) has extensive experience in formulating regional development policies through interventions in various thematic fields and promotion of small and me-dium-sized companies in lithuania. It supervised an age management intervention at Šiauliai university.

Kaunas Ktu – regional science park, lithuania Ktu – regional science Park is an innovation centre and business incubator linked to Kaunas university of technology. It participated in the project as a facilitating Partner and established a local Age management Partner-ship with the school of economics and Business of Kaunas technical university. County Council of norrbotten, swedenthe County Council of norrbotten (nll) provides welfare services to the population in the northernmost swed-ish region. It also runs a project on competence supply in a generation shift in the County of norrbotten. nll established a local Age management Partnership with the department of dental Care (folktandvården). aalto university school of Business – small Busi-ness Center, finland Aalto university is the second largest university in finland and the small Business Center (sBC) has more than 30 years of experience in sme and entrepreneurship development, nationally and internationally. It served as scientific Partner, was co-responsible for preparing the methodology for the intervention and helped formulate appropriate tools and strategies for the interventions.Gdansk university of technology, poland Gdansk university of technology (Gut) served as a scientific Partner and was co- responsible for preparing the methodology for the intervention and evaluation as well as for formulating recommendations. Gut is an active participant in enhancing economic development in the region, firstly by publishing and promoting facts about potential socio-economic consequences of an ageing society. secondly, it actively creates programmes and implements activities for mitigating the effects of demographic change. Work and life hamburg, Germany Work and life hamburg, as a 50-year-old adult education organisation, maintained by the German trade union federation and the Adult education Centres in hamburg, offers vocational training and various courses for employ-ees. As Communication Partner it transferred the know-how obtained in the project to employees and unions, e.g. by means of targeted publications to employees, and represented the employees’ and trade unions’ views when the recommendations for decision makers were developed.research association mecklenburg-vorpommern, Germanythe research Association mecklenburg-vorpommern is a non-profit association working closely with researchers of universities and research institutes as well as smes in order to allow the researchers to transfer their academic findings to the market and successfully commercialise them. It contributed as a Communication Partner by plan-ning, organising, implementing and evaluating trainings and seminars conducted via an internet-based learning environment (www.biiugi.eu).


the lIGhthouse orGAnIsAtIons

swedenfolktandvården (Public dental service). luleå, sweden.health Care, 570 employees

finlandPori energia ltd. Pori, finland. energy, 300 employees

latviathe latvenergo Group. riga, latvia. energy, 4,500 employees

lithuaniaŠiauliai state College. Šiauliai, lithuania. higher education, 230 employees

Šiauliai university. Šiauliai, lithuania. higher education, 800 employees

Kaunas university of technology. Kaunas, lithuania. higher education, 1,000 employees

GermanyKiel City Administration. Kiel, Germany. Public Administration, 4,900 employees

l-3 elAC nautik. Kiel, Germany. electronics and Communication, 150 employees

Claudius Peters Projects Gmbh. Buxtehude, Germany. Aerospace and engineering, 400 employees

Location of LAMPs/Facilitating Partner Scientific Partner Communication Partner

estonia

latvia

lithuania

Poland

Germany

denmark

sweden

finland

the Baltic sea

71. the projeCt approaCh

AddressInG demoGrAPhIC ChAnGe In smes In the BAltIC seA reGIon

demographic change is like climate change – it happens anyway and everyone is affected:

• societies have to deal with a gradually changing age distribution with effects on social security systems, education systems, labour markets.

• Companies face challenges in recruiting new employ-ees, convincing older employees to work longer, coping with different demands for their products and services in the market.

• employees feel the pressure from higher contributions to health and retirement systems or changing demands from their employers.

• since pension systems become underfinanced, retired people may see their pensions lose value, have to pay more for their health insurance and feel psychological pressure from the public opinion that the young have to support the older generations in a manner that is perceived as inappropriate.

Companies basically have two options:

• let it happen and deal with the consequences, what-ever they may be, or

• analyse the possible effects early on and try to pre-pare the organisation and the employees as much as possible.

most european countries face the issues caused by demographic change, some more, some less. Countries in the Baltic sea region have very different challenges, due to their differences in size, age structure, economic condition, history, social security frameworks. for in-stance, while Germany is in a strong economic position, its population is ageing dramatically and companies of all sizes in all branches of industry start to feel the pressure to address the demographic effects on their businesses. the populations in estonia, latvia and lithuania are not only ageing, they are also shrinking. Poland, also with a relatively short history of free-market economy, faces specific problems, for instance a culture of early exit from working life. In sweden and finland, the public sector is particularly affected by population ageing. furthermore, the smaller countries are suffering

from talent drain, because their young people are attracted by perceived better opportunities in larger countries – a side effect of the european union with individual freedom to seek work wherever possible in europe. With all these differences in mind, one may ask why it makes sense to address the issue of demographic change on a common basis in one project. there are several reasons:

• All countries face population ageing, and in all coun-tries there are sub-regions that are particularly at risk due to demographic change making local organisations extremely vulnerable, as they fail to recruit the com-petence they need from the local labour supply.

• the project specifically supports small and medi-um-sized enterprises. While these companies suffer from demographic challenges at least as much as larger ones, their possibilities to address them are limited in terms of human and financial resources. If the result-ing problems are not addressed properly, this may have severe consequences for the mid- and long term survival of the business.

• the awareness of demographic challenge is relatively high in all countries as far as the macroeconomic level is concerned. People understand that this change is affecting all areas of society and the economy. howev-er, knowledge of how this change affects the company and how to address it is very limited, because practical experience is limited. Increasing awareness of the ac-tual organisational challenge and the confidence that something can be done is important and one of the main objectives of the project.

• Although there is no blueprint for a solution of the demographic problem as far as individual companies are concerned even in one single country, the project shows that there are ways to approach the issue from a process point of view. educating businesses on how to identify and address company-specific demographic issues is extremely valuable and will serve as an exam-ple for other companies that have not yet taken action.


• the interaction of business people dealing with issues of common interest in their countries is a value in it-self. the network across the different countries, which has been generated in the project, will serve as a basis for future development of their businesses and will be an example for other companies. exchanging ideas and approaches across borders will generate a unique source of creativity.

the project demonstrated that there is a general approach to address the demographic challenge that has been proven successful and is actually acceptable to businesses of all sizes, irrespective of country frame-works. this approach consists of the following elements:

analysis Analyse the business with respect to current state and future development with regard to imminent demograph-ic changes and their possible effects. In this analysis the following aspects need to be taken into considera-tion:• Identification of the critical segments of the business

which secure the future of the company• Analysis of the current workforce and its possible

development in the next five to ten years: What is the

age structure? Who will retire and when? Where do we get replacements? What are the key competences needed currently and in the future? how do we make sure that we continue to have access to these compe-tences?

• understand the needs, expectations and fears of the workforce. they know that things will not stay the same forever and that change is inevitable.

engagement engage the workforce and management in the process. since change is expected, it is important that every-body is taken along on the journey. the earlier people learn about the necessity of change, the better they can embark and help shape their future. Internal mentors, committed managers and involvement of social partners are crucial elements for a successful change process.

measures and interventions Based on the analysis, appropriate interventions can be identified. most likely this will not be a full pro-gramme, but rather small steps leading in the right direction. Change will take time and small measures in short time intervals will help to pave the way into the future.

92. addressinG demoGraphiC ChanGe in smes in the BaltiC sea reGion

Communication People will only have confidence in the success of the measures, if they are properly informed. regular com-munication is absolutely important and will help to make the transition smoother. some people will be more affected by changes than others. therefore some com-munication will need to be personal, some will be more general.

implementation small and regular interventions will help make the change successful, rather than a broad- based approach envisaged for sometime in the future. so-called “quick wins” will help to convince people that the programme works, that the management is interested, engaged and really serious about it.

economic value Changes in an organisation, such as the introduction of age management, will only be implemented if they provide economic value. under these perspectives the costs of the intervention must be considered as well as the economic benefits which the intervention creates in the short and long term.

the project shows that there is no one and only solution for managing an ageing workforce. every single company has its own frameworks and must find its own way to address the issue. In this project, the majority of participating organisations chose small interventions based on comprehensive analysis to make things happen rather quickly. All were different, due to the specific economic and national environment. nevertheless, the jointly agreed process and the continuous exchange of ideas and approaches between project members helped the participating organisations reach acceptable ways of addressing the identified issues.

overall, there are some key learning points from the project which can help organisations on their way to address the challenges of demographic change:

• there are many possible solutions, all resulting from good hr management; however, each organisation must find its own way.

• All approaches are basically derived from good, solid hr management, thus age management is not some-thing unique but a key element of managing human resources.


• Communication is a key factor for the success of all interventions. engagement of all parties involved is crucial.

• despite the wide range of individual solutions, the common process and the continuous exchange between project members helped everybody to identify appro-priate solutions.

• Working together provided the member organisations with the confidence that they are not alone with their issues: others have similar problems.

• the established network will further support the de-velopment of age management in the member organi-sations and raise awareness in the different business communities.

Age management is more than just dealing with the effects of demographic change. It is affecting not just the older generation, although the process might have started there at the beginning. With all the experience gained in the project, it became clear that age manage-ment is a way to prepare an organisation for the future. Ignoring demographic change may lead to failure, where-as managing it will give the organisation a better chance to be part of the future.

By age management we mean consideration of age-related factors in daily management, including work arrangements and individual work tasks, so that every-body, regardless of age, feels empowered in reaching [their] own and corporate goals. this means in practi-cal terms, managing the work ability of personnel and, ultimately, the success of the enterprise. this is a crucial linkage, since the enterprise’s profits are made possible by the work ability of its personnel. thus, age manage-ment calls for coordinated efforts to enhance individual resources while simultaneously adjusting work tasks to accommodate and utilise employees’ abilities.

this dynamic interaction between individual and work-related factors and their larger settings are illus-trated in the Work Ability framework developed by the finnish Institute of occupational health. the central idea of the framework is that work ability is primarily a ques-tion of balance between work requirements and personal resources in a particular context. Individual resources consist of health and functional capacity, education and competence, values, attitudes and motivation. Work, on the other hand, covers the work environment and community as well as the actual contents, demands, and organisation of the work. In addition, personal resources and work are affected by an individual’s family situation and social network, operational environment and societal issues, such as legislation. In practice, people search for the optimal balance throughout their entire work life.

this optimal balance may be different in different phases of work life. Both personal resources and work demands change in the course of work life. furthermore, social networks and operational environments are subject to change. Age-related changes in individual resources should be taken into consideration while keeping individ-ual variability in mind – not all changes in individual resources are age-related! for example, in the dimen-sions of health and functional capacity, ageing has a negative effect on blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, but it does not increase health or mental health symptoms. In the competence dimension, ageing may have a slightly negative impact on motivation to learn and learning self-efficacy, but simultaneously, does not affect general work-related self-efficacy. employees with long experience develop a deeper understanding of work processes and display more profound expertise in their jobs. In the same vein, ageing workers are not less mo-tivated to work than younger employees. In fact, older workers often have a stronger sense of work ethics than their younger colleagues.

While each individual has a responsibility of maintaining their personal resources, the employer is the main player in adjusting work environment, work demands and resources in a sustainable way. lifelong learning opportunities are good examples of these sustainable employer practices. organisations’ human resource policies should acknowledge the need of pro-moting work ability throughout work life. the hr policy level has a crucial role in providing guidelines, training

112. addressinG demoGraphiC ChanGe in smes in the BaltiC sea reGion

and practical tools for line managers to carry out their daily leadership tasks with employees of various ages. Without this important organisational support, di-rect supervisors may overlook age-related issues with unfavourable effects on productivity. line managers have the strongest impact on employees’ work ability – low appreciation and support will result in reduced work ability and increase the risk of disability pension, whereas satisfaction with line managers will enhance employees’ work ability.

therefore, work organisation can have a great im-pact on their ability to continue providing value to their customers in the face of demographic change. regardless of the size of an organisation, appreciation and good interaction between line managers and employees does not cost anything, but is the most crucial step towards sustainable competitiveness. With support from the top management and practical tools of human resource policy, line managers can provide individually adjusted modification for work arrangements in order to accommo-date each employee’s age-related needs.


the authors:

Peter domschkeIndependent Consultant

Prof. roland Kadeforsuniversity of Gothenburg

marjo Wallin, Phd finnish Institute for occupational health

voiCes from the projeCt

What did you learn for your personal working life? In the Administration of the City of Kiel we combined the Best Agers lighthouses survey with a new instrument for us, namely work abil-ity ( job performance) coaching. Working as a work ability ( job performance) coach illustrated very clearly to me that my colleagues are indeed experts in matters concerning them personally and that while participating in the process they could themselves make suggestions on how to improve the working environment to make it healthier and more adjusted to individual needs.

Which competence of your external advisor was the most helpful to you?

our external Advisor had excellent knowledge in occupational health management and demograph-ically sensitive personnel work and she succeeded in passing on her knowledge to both Internal mentors involved. she was in contact with us whenever we needed advice and supervised the entire process empathetically.

hanne rosner, Internal mentor at Administration of the City of Kiel

What did you learn for your personal work-life? A well thought-out communication strategy is the basis for a successful project. especially international projects require a high degree of skills, time and understanding. Beyond that age management is a topic that becomes more important in the future.

What are your most important lessons learnt interms of communication?

our portal biiugi.eu is a good way of commu-nication, but it is worthy to be improved. the communication by online-meetings was a little bit difficult in our project. Apparently personal com-munication is better in case of sensitive themes like age management.

frank Büttner, Communication Partner at research Association mecklenburg-vorpommern

“Age management is a topic that becomes more important in the future.”

What did you learn for your personal working life? After many years in business I realised that work-life balance is key to my well-being. I had the benefit of enjoying, in the course of my last six years in business (extending beyond

“After many years in business I realised that work-life balance is key to my well-being.”

the normal date for retirement), age-adapted job profiles with newly defined tasks and duties every year. this along with defined time com-mitments, appreciation and recognition led to high commitment and high satisfaction – a role model for others.

What was the defining moment of the intervention? the embedding of our Best Agers lighthouses age management concept within a cultural-driven employee development programme for the whole company at elAC nautik.

What would you have done differently, if you could start the intervention again?

We should have put more emphasis and energy on the early identification of a suitable company from our region to become a lighthouse organ-isation for the project. We lost too much time screening for the right candidate and joined forces with elAC nautik fairly late. But we caught up at the end and came up with a comprehensive intervention concept.

What did you learn for your personal working life?

the most valuable experience for me were the interviews that I conducted with older employ-ees. they shared a lot of wisdom with me and I learnt about tolerance and ways to enjoy one’s professional activity.

What was the defining moment of the intervention?

the defining moment of the intervention was when we met with the head of the organisation and he confirmed his support and backing. At this meeting, referring to the results of the employee survey I presented evidence to him that even a quite young organisation is ageing. therefore, it is inevitably necessary to think about how to solve age management issues in order to sustain a competitive advantage of the organisation.

jörg stolzenburg, external Advisor at l-3 elAC nautik


dr. juratè valuckienè, external Advisor at Šiauliai university

3. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations 15

CAse studIes of the lIGhthouse orGAnIsAtIons

nine public and private employers agreed to implement age management measures during the course of the Best agers lighthouses project. in the following case studies, the interventions and the results that they have produced so far are presented and discussed.

IndustrY seCtor And sPeCIfICs

Kiel’s economy is dominated by the service sector, trans-port and maritime industries. Kiel is one of the major ports of the German navy and a leading centre of German high-tech military and civil shipbuilding. Kiel is home to howaldtswerke-deutsche Werft, a shipyard famed for building submarines. In 2005, the GdP per person was € 35,618, which is well above the national average of Germany and 159 % of the european union average.

InterventIon ProCess And InterventIon ACtIvItIes

Awareness of the necessity of an age-adjusted hr policy had already been raised in the course of the Best Agers Project. the lAmP activities were accompanied by a survey on the Work Ability Index (WAI) involving all employees, which was carried out by Kiel university (CAu Kiel). moreover, the city administration of Kiel trained its demographics officer and the chairman of the joint staff council as Internal mentors. they were selected because of some strategic benefits: • the Internal mentors do not have any disciplinary rela-

tionships as superiors and there are no dependencies with regard to the staff involved. thus the necessary confidentiality is ensured.

• the demographics officer is very committed to her job. • the chairman of the joint staff council supports and pro-

motes the acceptance of this project with his work.

Based on the fields of action “health”, “Competence”, “Working Conditions” and “Work organisation/leadership”, 26 employees from 2 pilot departments were offered a 60-minute work ability coaching (WAC) in addition to the survey using the Best Agers lighthouses questionnaires. In this context, their personal Work Ability Index was deter-mined and the participants were shown how to check out personal activities and activities offered by the city ad-ministration. using this tool the Internal mentors received detailed descriptions of individual working conditions as well as suggestions for improvement. the WAC talks were welcomed and appreciated by the persons involved, as they were not “objects” of a survey, but “subjects” for develop-ment and action. In a timely manner, 6 superiors were interviewed first. As the WAI survey coincided with the required information

of all staff, the topic of “demographically sensitive hr pol-icy” was widely known. the responsible persons were active and constructive interview partners. they were interested in the evaluation of the questionnaires and WAC talks. the results were presented at an evaluation workshop in january 2014. City councillors, heads of authorities and departments as well as leaders of working groups dealt with the evaluations and discussed the implementation of various activities. the main focus was on the action field “Working Conditions”. In this context, concrete activities involve, amongst other things: • process optimisation,• better work wear,• joint mobilisation exercises and• improved shift schemes

the Internal mentor presented the outcomes of the workshop to the employees of the two pilot departments and discussed them with the participants. this approach provides for the desired transparency. In may 2014 there was an exchange of experience where the attending respondents declared that the above-mentioned activities had not yet been optimally implemented. they explained that the reason for this delay was the staff situation at upper management level: 2 heads of departments who had actively supported the project had retired meanwhile and their successors still had to familiar-ise themselves with the topic. the second round of in-depth Interviews reflected the potential for action: 7 superiors were asked to respond to 10 questions, 4 of them had already participated in the first round of In-depth Interviews. In a timely manner, Kiel university was supposed to evaluate the employee survey on the WAI. the respond-ents were eager to learn about the results and suggested activities and have not approached us for further support of our interventions.

InterventIon results (evAluAtIon of ProCess And results of InterventIon ProjeCt)

employees’ changes• not too many employees participated in the employee

survey. they are faced with a high work density and focused on coping with their everyday work.

AdmInIstrAtIon of the CItY of KIel


AdmInIstrAtIon of the CItY of KIelfleethörn 9, 24103 Kiel, Germanyapprox. 4,900 employees in totalParticipating units:• department for construction, regulation, surveying and

geo information and • department of family and social affairs› approx. 330 employees

• the presentation of the evaluation workshop results to the pilot departments started fierce discussions about the need for action. Awareness of the topic has risen.

• the employees are disappointed because the interven-tions have only been implemented reluctantly.

managers’ changes • 2 of the 6 interview partners of the first round of

interviews have retired meanwhile. their concerns with regard to filling their positions with adequate succes-sors were characteristic: neither was there any timely knowledge transfer, nor were they asked if they would be willing to continue working for the city administra-tion. due to this personal experience, they could well understand the upcoming demographic challenges.

• When the first round of in-depth Interviews was being conducted, the top managers in the city administration found themselves in a challenging situation. those immediately concerned were constructive in the inter-views, however, they are not yet pursuing a sustaina-ble, demographically sensitive hr policy at present.

• due to the interviews, awareness at middle manage-ment level was directed towards an age-adjusted work promotion process, which was also obvious at the eval-uation workshop. unfortunately, their enthusiasm has decreased meanwhile, as a demographically sensitive hr policy is not a top priority for the top management at present.

BIGGest ChAllenGe durInG the InterventIon ProCess

• Political situation at time of intervention: there was a change in the constellation of the political parties at the city hall, because the mayor had resigned. this resulted in changes in several top positions in the city administration.

• At the same time, WAI interviews were conducted with all employees. As a result, the willingness to take part

in the BeAl survey was reduced. the employees seemed to be unwilling to deal with the topic, as there was too much information.

• those responsible for the WAI interviews regard the Best Agers lighthouses interventions as competitive, rather than positive.

• the demographics officer has been on sick leave for some time now and, hence, cannot act as a “driving force“ for the implementation of our interventions.

suCCess fACtors

• the method of Work Ability Coaching was highly appre-ciated by the participants and is now used in the city administration’s integration management. there are plans to also use it for risk groups.

• Another new aspect was added by the backgrounds of the participants at the evaluation workshop: superiors from different hierarchical levels had constructive dis-cussions. It would be desirable if they continued their exchange of opinions.

future PlAns

the city administration of Kiel will implement activities to maintain employee health based on the survey of the Kiel university. the steering Committee on Workplace health management will decide on the scope and kind of such activities after the evaluation. the Internal mentor is a member of this steering Committee (in his capacity as chairman of the joint staff council) and will push the implementation of our interventions. one possible approach would be the agreement of objectives with the top management level in a top-down manner in order to improve the age-adjusted hr policy for the employees. the steering Committee on Workplace health management will decide on this in collaboration with Kiel university.

173. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | AdmInIstrAtIon of the CItY of KIel


the company supplies systems, products and plants for numerous platforms, for instance secure network com-munication systems and components, mobile satellite communication, security systems, systems for communi-cation on board vessels, maritime systems, missiles and ammunition, telemetry systems and systems for airport security. l-3 elAC nautik belongs to a network of different companies and institutions. Within the parent compa-ny l-3 Communications, l-3 elAC nautik is part of the marine systems International sector. through co-opera-tions and memberships with other renowned companies and institutions, competences are optimally combined and applied.

InterventIon ProCess

the intervention carried out in the Best Agers lighthous-es project is embedded in a change programme “explore the Change” at l-3 elAC nautik. It will use age manage-ment as one part of a process to ensure the availability of knowledge and expertise within the workforce to meet the market challenges. Information for the definition of appropriate inter-ventions was collected from in-depth interviews with all 5 members of the management team, from 51 participants in an employee survey and approximately 50 Inter-nal mentor interviews with 50+ employees. the results of all sources were analysed and appro-priate interventions identified. these measures were discussed and decided upon by the management and the works council and communicated to all employees.

InterventIon ACtIvItIes

the outcome of the approximately 50 interviews with 50+ employees resulted in the description of 9 interven-tion activities which were proposed for decision by the management and agreement with the works council:1. leadership workshops to overcome critical issues

addressed in the interviews (content: involvement of employees in leadership decisions; decision authority at lowest hierarchy level; clear and precise communi-cation; constructive criticism).

2. Create impressive positive feedback about events and successes including an incentive budget for members of the management.

3. regular reports about company situation (challenges and successes) through appropriate media.

4. Participation of Ceo in department/staff meetings.5. support private health care through programme de-

velopment and incentives.6. Prominent visibility of info market about health care

offers and incentives.7. Allow for short timeouts in stressful situations with

acceptance by management and employees.8. development of yearly knowledge transfer pro-

grammes with emphasis on in-house trainings (old ‹–› young).

9. from age 55+ on, yearly assessment talks with su-perior and hr about “what’s next?” (with agreement about envisaged date of retirement, longer work life, part-time work, project work after retirement etc.).

InterventIon results

the management decided to elaborate on all nine of these proposed interventions with clearly defined prag-matic programmes and activities. these interventions will be implemented from the end of 2014 until 2015 and are expected to result in:• improved involvement of the employees (support and

duties)• better communication by leadership • use of know-how and expertise of older employees

through prolonged availability in project and part-time work and know-how transfer.

BIGGest ChAllenGe durInG the InterventIon ProCess (exCePt “lACK of tIme”)

the biggest challenge was to ensure the engagement of employees and the management for the intention of the programme. the required credibility and trust were cre-ated through concrete and specific feedback to interview partners and through committed support from the top management and the works council.

suCCess fACtors

A key success factor was to embed the Best Agers light-houses intervention in a change programme “explore the Change” at l-3 elAC nautik. the age management programme is a key driver for the value proposition of

l-3 elAC nAutIK


l-3 elAC nAutIKneufeldtstraße 10, 24118 Kiel, Germanyapprox. 150 employees in totalthe whole company participated in the intervention process

the “new” l-3 elAC nautik. the integrated programme – including health care, knowledge transfer, motives, values and job contents – ensured commitment and acceptance among the older employees for age-adapted employment, even beyond the normal date of retirement.

future PlAns

• Implementation of defined interventions• evaluation of results, experience and process efficiency• Conducting a cost-benefit analysis of the implemented

measures

motIvAtIon to PArtICIPAte

the results of the age structure analysis showed that elAC nautik is affected by the demographic trend. therefore, it is important to interlink organisational and human resource development to mitigate the generation gap and ensure knowledge transfer from the elderly to the young. three guiding principles play a central role in the intervention process: • What is the impact of demographic change on elAC

nautik? • What internal challenges are waiting for us? • What changes do we need to trigger?

193. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | l-3 elAC nAutIK


Pori energia is part of the energy producing and pro-viding industries in finland. It is a public company owned by municipalities. the company’s history of over 100 years provides a solid and reliable basis for its operations. Pori energia’s strength as an energy and service provider lies in local energy production which is based on locally renewable natural resources and an experienced staff of nearly 300 professionals who serve the customers individually and comprehensively. the clientele is comprised of households, private and public sector service companies and industrial customers.


We carried out a survey on age management and well- being at work for the whole personnel at the beginning of the intervention. At the same time, our external Ad-visor conducted four in-depth interviews with managers and supervisors. the results from the survey and the interviews guided our intervention process. We analysed the age structure of the company and its different units to help us and the company to under-stand which parts of the company have the most critical retirement rates. the planning and implementation of the interven-tion process were conducted in close co-operation with

PorI enerGIA ltd

PorI enerGIA ltdradanvarsi 2, 28100 Pori, finland300 employees the whole company participated in the intervention process


the lighthouse’s hr manager, Internal mentors, external Advisor and facilitating Partner (called the steering group). We also did some co-operation with the company’s occupational health care provider to develop a co-opera-tion between the lighthouse Company and occupational health care and to develop practices related to the use of health care services. the second survey on age management and well- being at work was carried out in may–june 2014, at the same time as the four in-depth interviews for the man-agement and supervisors.


special trainings on the topic of age management and well-being at work were offered to the company’s per-sonnel in the period between August 2013 and may 2014. Altogether 18 trainings were conducted with 170 partici-pants in total. for the management and supervisors there were two training events and one for other employees. Between the two trainings, the supervisors were instructed to plan a small development project together with their employees. the supervisors will continue working with these projects in autumn and hr will monitor the pro-gress. during the training events employees were asked what and how they would like to improve in their work and work environment. these results were taken into account in the intervention process. At the same time, the steering group continued its work in its own meetings and developed a three year “Age Programme” for the company. the programme proposal was presented to the lighthouse organisation’s management board in may 2014 and the board decided on the contents of an age management strategy for the company.


the management of the lighthouse organisation was very much committed to developing age management. therefore, the whole intervention process was imple-mented just as planned beforehand. It started from the top management, went through the managers and the whole personnel. everyone had a chance to influence the intervention process and the Age Programme. the intervention included 18 training events at all locations of the company (five places in different parts of finland). the trainings raised lots of discussions and employees had constructive suggestions for the Age Programme. the trainings and all the communication initiatives raised awareness about well-being at work and

age-related issues at work. employees were also encour-aged to think more about their own well-being. A success story is the fact that managers and employees discussed openly about age management and well-being at work and the fact that the Age Programme was planned together and its implementation will con-tinue after the project. the main objective of the intervention was to develop an Age Programme whose main topics are: awareness of age-related issues, age-related attitudes, management, tacit knowledge transfer, health and work ability. the intervention already included parts for rais-ing awareness, establishing more positive age-related attitudes and management skills, but all topics have been taken into account in the Age Programme for years 2014–2017.


there are quite many cultures inside the company because of its historical background. the company has grown through big mergers and some of the personnel would still like to be in the previous situation. there are a lot of measures related to age management and the Age Programme built during the intervention. A lot of time is needed for discussing, deciding and implementing all this.

suCCess fACtors

Commitment of the management board was crucial to the intervention’s success. It was clear from the beginning of the project that the Ceo and the entire board were very committed to the project and its success. moreover, good co-operation between hr manager, Internal mentors, external Advisor and facilitating Part-ner was a key factor for the successful intervention. the vast experience of our external Advisor in the field of age management significantly enriched the process with and in the company, and she provided great value to the intervention.

future PlAns

Pori energia will continue developing age management after the closure of the Best Agers lighthouses project. the company will follow a 3-year Age Programme devel-oped during the project. the results of the project evaluation will be used for internal evaluation at this point, but in the future the company will develop its own indicators for assessing its age management.

213. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | PorI enerGIA ltd


Claudius Peters Projects Gmbh is a company operating in the metal and electrical engineering industry (m+e). this sector has a high level of productivity and continuously creates innovations. the employees are well qualified and have a high job satisfaction. It is the most important sector for growth and wealth in Germany and 9 out of 10 employees are permanently full-time employed. the sector is challenged to find new employees.


first, BWh as facilitating Partner of Claudius Peters – in cooperation with nordmetAll, the employers’ associa-tion of the metal and electrical industry, conducted an age structure analysis, which was divided into main de-partments and management levels. this helped to identi-fy the most critical sectors for a loss of knowledge inside the company. Also the general challenges for leadership, like management, processes, employee recruitment and the training situation were discussed with the human resource department. right from the start of the project it was very important to involve the employees and to work on the strategies together. for the employee survey 34 ques-tionnaires were returned to BWh. Interviews with 10 employees at managerial level from different depart-ments were conducted. Afterwards 4 employees of the Aerospace division, all aged 55+ and belonging to the management, were selected by the Internal mentor for a workshop. the aim was to discuss the focus of the intervention. therefore some main topics were clustered and “Knowledge transfer” was chosen as a key topic. this result was confirmed by the survey and the interviews.


due to the age structure, it was deemed important to find a concrete solution for knowledge transfer in key positions. therefore an individual ”knowledge transfer system” was considered. two employees, working in key positions, have been selected for the intervention. they will retire in the next years and therefore their successors have to be prepared for taking over. Cross-age teams, which are already common practice at Claudius Peters, are one step to prepare young professionals for

their jobs in these key positions. the intervention start-ed with interviews of both employees in order to map all tasks which are relevant for their position and the required competences. It was important to go deep into detail to obtain all necessary information. In a second step, the results of the first meeting were discussed with the managers for each of the employees.


Based on the detailed results of the interviews with the employees and managers, it will be possible to define the job requirements profile as well as the methods and the timeframe for generating these skills. Individual training plans can be developed. It was very important to identify and transfer the implicit knowledge. Claudius Peters will get tools and guidance on how to transfer the intervention activities to other depart-ments and how to conduct them without the assistance of external Advisors. It is important that this action will be going an. It is a process which does not end with the end of the project. It could be visualised like a circle where things are rethought and adjusted. Claudius Peters is on a good way to keep the knowledge inside the company through prepared employees and a competent management which is aware of this crucial issue. topics like knowledge transfer and the importance of older employees has become a common topic at Claudius Peters and been well discussed. Awareness for this sensi-ble topic was increased.


the biggest challenge of the intervention was analysing all relevant work tasks and defining the required com-petences. this is due to the fact that many work items and steps of a procedure are self-evident to experienced employees. to overcome that problem we asked open questions which encouraged the employees to express their own ideas and give us detailed information.

suCCess fACtors

one crucial success factor is flexibility for the company: regarding both the approach to the age management in-tervention and the concrete focus. no one knows better

ClAudIus Peters ProjeCts GmBh


ClAudIus Peters ProjeCts GmBhschanzenstraße 40, 21614 Buxtehude, Germany approx. 400 employees in totalParticipating unit:Aerospace and engineering division› approx. 120 employees

than the company does what they need and how they work. the job of the external Advisors is to assist with the analysis, show possibilities and guide through the process as an objective observer. finally yet importantly, age management (as well as gender management etc.) has to be understood as just one part of the hr strategy. It needs to be taken into consideration while recruiting employees, strengthening employees’ loyalty, develop employees, leading employ-ees, keeping knowledge, keeping employees healthy and developing the work environment.

future PlAns

the plans depend on the success of the intervention. If Claudius Peters sees a benefit, the intervention activities could be transferred to other areas of the company and

our own flexible ”knowledge transfer system” could be implemented.


the employees’ average age increased also at Claudius Peters in the last years, which results in new require-ments for human resource management. By taking part in the Best Agers lighthouses project we wanted to tackle these challenges. managing young qualified employees is of particu-lar importance for us, since several of our "knowledge holders" will retire in the next years and we have to organise know-how transfer in our company to keep their crucial knowledge. At the same time, people have to work longer, which sometimes affects the organisation of workplaces and also the work environment.

233. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | ClAudIus Peters ProjeCts GmBh


Šiauliai state College is an educational institution owned by the lithuanian state. therefore it is not fully independ-ent in its management. Work of the academic staff at the Šiauliai state College is intellectually and emotionally intensive: innovations, new methods, technologies and new programmes are constantly being carried out. the number of students is declining heavily, so there is high competition in the market. salaries of academic staff in the country are comparatively small. Pensions are low, so people are motivated to stay longer at work. there is the possibility to work part time.


research among all employees, interviews with manage-ment and focus groups (consisting of 55+ employees)

were conducted for the purpose of identifying the required intervention areas. In may 2013 two hundred questionnaires for employees were distributed. the pur-pose of the survey was to identify how age affects work. during may and june 2013, 159 employees filled in the questionnaires disseminated by the Internal mentor. Between july and september, 8 interviews with the management of Šiauliai state College were conducted by the external Advisor. the main objective of the inter-views was to diagnose attitudes of managers towards employees of different ages, especially those of age 55+. In november the Internal mentor and external Advisor together conducted two focus group discussions with employees 55+ for the purpose of discussing the situ-ation and the needs of employees 55+. At the end of jan-uary 2014, the results of the research were presented to the top manager (director of Šiauliai state College) and subsequently a decision on the measures of the interven-

ŠIAulIAI stAte ColleGe

ŠIAulIAI stAte ColleGeAušros ev. 40, Šiauliai lt-76241, lithuania230 employees the whole Šiauliai state College participated in the intervention process


tion was made. In order to evaluate the outcomes of the intervention process four interviews with management and employee focus groups of the lighthouse organisa-tion were conducted in june 2014.


the intervention activities started in february 2014. measures were targeted at academic staff aged 55+ and the management, some younger employees were also involved. the main activities of the intervention includ-ed seminars focused on improving employee well-being, psychological themes such as stress management, psychological training, a personality growth seminar as well as soft skills training for the employees in order to improve teamwork and communication skills. In par-ticular, seminars on the following topics were held from february to April 2014:• tension and stress. effective conflict management

(2 seminars with 33 participants);• training of psychological functions at work and in

personal life (13 participants);• decision-making in a team of employees of different

age groups (22 participants);• seven key steps of effective personality (18 partici-

pants)

Another field of action was to increase awareness of age management issues among management and staff. In order to do that, an online webinar “house of Workability Presentation” with juhani Ilmarinen and a follow-up discussion on age management issues in the lighthouse organisation with 18 participants were conducted. Also the focus group discussions and the event for the administrative personnel raised awareness in a constant manner.


the intervention was evaluated positively by all participants, both managers and employees. It was perceived as facilitating well-being, motivating employees and making the employer more attractive. self-confidence of employees aged 55+ regarding their work ability rose, too. the project raised awareness and brought about an understanding that it is important to consider age influ-ences on employees’ work ability and health, to plan and implement age management measures in the organisa-tion. It was the first thorough research analysis that was conducted on the impact of age on work and attitudes in this organisation. We are proud because the intervention responded to employees’ needs and was useful; knowl-edge gained in the course of the project period will help them in their job performance and improve personal

well-being. Also, attitudes towards health issues were challenged. It became clear that the health situation of employees is not only a personal matter, but should also be of concern to the management. the start for chang-ing attitudes towards ageing problems and for creating better working conditions for older employees has been made, and there are of course still many things to work on, also in everyday life.


It was complicated to define the measures for the in-tervention, as the results of the surveys were generally positive. nonetheless, communication and discussions with management and mentors gave a better picture of the real situation and needs of employees 55+. Also, it was a challenge to talk about issues of ageing with the employees 55+, as they tend to understate their work ability and suppose that caring about health is their personal issue which does not have any direct impact on the work of the whole organisation. the knowledge which they acquired during seminars and trainings raised awareness and it made employees feel more confident and open while discussing these issues.

suCCess fACtors

the key preconditions for making the intervention a success were: • team work, activity and engagement of all – facilitating

Partner, Internal mentor and external Advisor;• top managers’ concern for the welfare of employees; • willingness of the organisation to introduce and imple-

ment innovations; • interest and engagement of employees;• good overall management of the project and support

from the scientific Partners.

future PlAns

Ideas for further steps were formulated. It is intended to use the eu’s and other public funds for financing the implementation of further age management measures. Šiauliai state College has specialists and infrastruc-ture within the health Care faculty and we see this as potential which can be used to continue with health management of employees with minimal investments. With an intention to improve hr management, age man-agement will be taken into consideration. We also regard the general economic situation and appropriate political decisions as factors which further determine the smooth process of age management implementation.

253. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | ŠIAulIAI stAte ColleGe

ŠIAulIAI unIversItY


to make decisions on age management in higher edu-cation is complicated because of the job specifics and different fields of employees’ activities. It is not possible to make decisions that are unambiguous and suitable for all staff groups. Professors, for example, achieve their professional maturity, career and recognition usually in the older age; scientific work requires experience and competences, which are acquired during long work experience, but obtained without the need for strenu-ous workload. staff for studies services needs prompt orientation and high skills in ICt, therefore students often prefer younger staff members. support staff duties are directly related to practical work; consequently, it is necessary for the workers with these tasks to have good physical health.


the Intervention process included two ways of interac-tions: Both top-down (from management to employees) and bottom-up (from employees to managers) approach-es. the dean of the faculty was informed about issues and problems that could be solved in the framework of the project. Possible intervention benefits which might stem from age management issues in the higher edu-cation sector for the organisation were discussed, and thus, the permission to carry out a survey and to prepare an intervention plan on the basis of the results was received. during the intervention several surveys were per-formed using the tools and recommendations prepared by the project´s scientific Partners: four in-depth interviews (dean of the faculty, heads of departments and manager of support staff), questionnaires about employees opinion (97 respondents in all departments), four in-depth interviews performed by external Advisor and Internal mentor with older employees, and two fo-cus groups (with management and employees groups) to discuss about the benefits of the interventions, further steps and activities to support age management in the future. the Project external Advisor and the Internal men-tor worked systematically together with the organisa-tion manager and self-government groups who have the responsibility to make administrative decisions. they participated at group meetings of different management levels – faculty council, dean’s office, and strategic plan

development – to present survey results, to actively promote ideas of age management and to argument for the necessity of a related strategy. According to the performed survey results, it was agreed on including and enacting age management measures in the strategic plan, and thus, a meeting with hmr department for the legalisation of older professors volunteering contracts was organised.


the survey results were presented and discussed inten-sively. It was agreed that there are no possibilities to make any structural changes for the situation of best agers, because of: 1) the academics sector job specif-ics (flexible work schedule, all seniors desire to work as long as possible) and 2) the university management situation (not yet formed council, no rector, waiting for structural changes, reorganisation in the organisation). on the contrary, a decision for the application of “soft” measures has been made: all interventions are performed to harmonise well-being of employees and to help to be trained how to manage stress, which is expe-rienced particularly by older people pending for reorgan-isation. two psychology workshops took place as part of the interventions, in which 26 employees from the organisation took part and 4 individual psychological consultations were offered which were joined by some employees. some participants also founded healthy lifestyle promoting groups. Also several meetings took place during the inter-vention process to incorporate age management on a strategic level: one of them was the meeting with the dean of the faculty for discussion about generation management access at faculty level, and the appropri-ateness and potential to be implemented in the stage of organisational decline. Another meeting was held with the head of hrm department to find the opportunities to institutionally legalise the volunteering of seniors. Yet in an additional meeting with the faculty strate-gic plan development group opportunities of including age management measures into the strategic plan were discussed.


Interviews with seniors made them feel significant and valuable for the organisation, as well as made them feel heard by management. they are eagerly looking forward


3. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | ŠIAulIAI unIversItY

ŠIAulIAI unIversItY Architektu st. 1, lt-78366 Šiauliai, lithuania800 employeesParticipating units: faculty of social sciences/economics, management and Public Administration departments, Administration› 97 employees

to institutional decisions for legalisation of volunteer-ing. one of the greatest successes is that managers recognise the necessity to think about age management and that it is strategically important for the organisation in decision making and in drafting performance improve-ment solutions. our faculty was acquainted with differ-ent aspects of age management. After the psychology workshops and discussions of the external Advisor and Internal mentor with managers there is less age discrim-ination in managerial decisions. All employees who par-ticipated in the workshops and individual consultations are happy about their better emotional state. We are proud of successes of the performed surveys and of discussions held inside and outside the faculty. those helped a lot both managers and employees to form new attitudes towards aging-related issues. now we are able to deal better with emotions when institutional reforms hit the senior employees at the first place. once developed and practiced during the project, the age management approach will be included in the strategic planning of the organisation and will be continuously implemented.


firstly: the state of uncertainty due to the institutional reorganisation during the project period. the acting rector and the heads of administrative offices (e.g. hrm department), influenced by their temporary functions, were not enough determined and committed to make rad-ical decisions like reduction or change in personnel num-bers, and to start long processes such as strategic plan development. second biggest challenge is the significant change in number of students which directly affect the number of staff needed for teaching.

suCCess fACtors

the great success was due to the fact that the Internal mentor is researcher and has experience of profession-al work with survey data. this helped the managers to interprete the results of the survey as reliable base for decision-making. Another success factor was the close cooperation between the external Advisor and the or-ganisation. she knew a lot about internal processes and in this way the employees were free to speak about not “comfortable” situations for all. the situation has been objectively analysed and realistic and achievable meas-ures were elaborated.

future PlAns

the age management practices will continue to be im-plemented, also within the “the faculty staff sufficient competency assurance and development through age management practice” measure included into the strate-gic Plan 2014–2016. there is an intention to consolidate volunteering of older professors for students’ advisory, for participation in the final thesis preparation and de-fense procedures, and for sharing experience with young employees. Aging process will be considered and used as a horizontal dimension in group development for projects activities, study curriculum renewal procedures, working with stakeholders etc. the benefit of age management monitoring will be included in a systematic survey of employees’ opinion where instruments of the project surveys will be used; achieved results and experience will be shared with other departments and faculties.

27



the faculty of economics and management was founded in 1968 (school of economics and Business from 2014). for more than 45 years the academic community of the faculty together with graduates and social partners have actively monitored and evaluated processes of informa-tion society development and prepared highly qualified specialists in economics, management and business. faculty researchers are involved in national and international programmes working with european scien-tists. Project results are successfully used for develop-ment and implementation of new curricula, introduced to manufacturing, service and trade companies. since 1990 the faculty has been publishing the periodical scientific journal “engineering economics”.


the intervention process was based on the results of the employee survey (90 questionnaires) and conducted interviews (4 persons of management staff). the nature of work in the lighthouse organisation implies that employees do not have a lot of opportunities to move and that the working process always takes place indoors. the proposal of the facilitating Partner and external Advisor – the idea of promoting employees’ health in a non-traditional way, e.g. by inviting employees to do nordic walking, was supported by the management of the organisation and the Internal mentor. these measures were intended to achieve the follow-ing objectives:1. to maintain the health condition of employees and,

with active physical movement, to compensate for the negative aspects of mental work (intense thinking, lack of mobility, stressful situations etc.);

2. to strengthen communication between employees spending leisure time together;

3. to increase the tolerance and respect towards older staff;

4. to motivate older employees to stay longer in working life for the organisation.

A second wave of the survey was carried out at the end of the intervention process consisting of 72 completed questionnaires and 3 conducted interviews. those were intended to identify the changes of employ-

ees’ attitudes to the organisation’s efforts to enhance employee health measures, health and healthy lifestyles as well as their approach to continued employment after retirement age.


during the intervention process (sept 2013–may 2014), the following measures were introduced:1. nordic walking exercises (23).2. educational events for healthy lifestyle promotion (2)3. debate on perspectives of employees aged 55+ (1)

Intervention process monitoring was carried out using the diary method developed by the scientific Partners of the project. the interim results were ana-lysed and evaluated in february 2014. It was decided to more actively invite employees to participate in nordic walking classes. nordic walking exercises for the employees of the organisation did not cost anything. We always aimed to find (and found) and use appropriate free wellness pro-grammes for citizens offered by Kaunas City municipality as well as other free offers provided by the Kaunas City public health office.

statistical indicators of attendancetotal number of participations in the intervention measures:• nordic walking – 219 (of which 71 older employees). • educational seminars (2) – 33 (of which 9 older

employees);• discussion of 55+ perspectives – 14 (of which 3 older

employees).


An interim evaluation was carried out on the basis of personal interviews conducted by the external Advisor with some of the participants of nordic walking exercises. the interviews showed that: • exercises were useful and after finishing this project,

these people will likely continue exercising individu-ally.

• All participants confirmed that after the nordic walk-ing exercises they feel much better.

KAunAs unIversItY of teChnoloGY

29

KAunAs unIversItY of teChnoloGYK. donelaicio st. 73, Kaunas, lt-44029 lithuania1,000 employeesParticipating unit:school of economics and Business › 121 employees

• most of the participants stated that sport unites them and that mutual communication becomes more sincere, despite the age difference.

• most of the workers involved in the intervention events support the idea that notable changes in com-munication among employees can be achieved just as much as staff involvement in such instruments.

• during the intervention process it was noticed that applied measures increased the well-being of employ-ees, had a positive impact on communication with 55+ personnel, and influenced the division of work between teaching, research and project activities.

the best reflection of intervention results can be observed by comparing data from the first (2013) and second (2014) survey. the number of respondents who agreed or partly agreed with the statement ”I get enough and regular exercise“ rose from 58 % in 2013 to 79 % in 2014. In 2014 there was only one employee who disagreed with this statement (14 in 2013).


the biggest challenges in implementing the intervention measures were:• to convince employees that the proposed measures are

effective;• to show that not a single campaign, but constant care

for one’s health has positive results; • to explain that nordic walking is more than just a sport

– it is also communication;• to overcome scepticism and to invite employees to par-

ticipate in educational seminars on healthy nutrition and lifestyle.

suCCess fACtors

most important is the fact that people started to actively exercise and to take care of their health. In addition, they learned about existing health practices introduced by the university, used measures proposed by the project and partly changed their attitudes towards a healthy lifestyle. Among the most significant success factors are: • management commitment and active participation in

the intervention process; • the direct involvement of the Internal mentor and her

personal example; • a benevolent atmosphere in the team in general.

It is worth noticing that after the end of the project some of the participants of the nordic walking classes continued exercising and even purchased the necessary sport equipment. the personal example of the Internal mentor’s and external Advisor’s participation in the arranged events made many employees willing to join, too.

future PlAns

the positive experience of the Best Agers lighthous-es project will be widely published and the successful results achieved by the school of economics and Busi-ness will be disseminated across all departments of the university. After its reorganisation, the university’s hr department is planning to develop a strategy and a special system for staff management, including age man-agement. At the moment, a career management group is being developed, which could partly solve issues of age management. It is likely that in the near future a plan of sport and health measures will be adjusted to suit the needs of employees.

3. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | KAunAs unIversItY of teChnoloGY


folktandvården is the public dental service in the County of norrbotten, a very sparsely populated region with only 7 inhabitants per km² and large distances between larger towns. the main occupational categories in the organisation are dentists, dental hygienists and dental nurses. the professions work together in team work and delegated work. In norrbotten there is a lack of dental nurses due to a lack of training institutions in the area and earlier retirement of dental nurses than in other dental care professions. the work is static and involves a lot of physical labour.


At the beginning of the project a number of informa-tion activities took place and different groups were informed, for example, hr managers and unions at the County Council, all hr managers in local municipalities in norrbotten and also other groups of hr managers. A reference group for the project was formed. In may 2013 meetings with all managers and employees at the seven clinics participating in the intervention were held. the first survey was sent to ap-proximately 100 employees and 69 completed question-naires were collected. four Internal mentor interviews and 11 in-depth management interviews were conduct-ed. finally, a post-it session with the seven clinics was held. After that it was possible to prepare an action plan together with the management of folktandvården. the management stated:• Age management will be an integrated part of our hr

strategy.• the Best Agers lighthouses project is a part of our

improvement and our development.


In november 2013 the Internal mentor and the external Advisor conducted kick-offs with the seven clinics. they presented results from the survey and the interviews and the action plan was presented. In january all mangers attended a one-day seminar on age management. All

staff at the seven clinics had a two-hour training on age management. We got feedback and though opinions on the training differed, all participants had the impression that it had increased their awareness. In february a public one-day seminar with the title “Work longer?” was held with around fifty participants. most of the participants are working as managers or in hr management functions in different organisations. during spring 2014, development work on strategies and opportunities for employees aged 55+ to work until the age of 65 or longer commenced. one important part will be additions and updates of employee call adjusted to age management. Another part will be a coopera-tion with occupational health, for example to use the health check-up for all personnel. tools for health and well-being at work are a shared responsibility between the individual and the workplace and folktandvården has been working with this for a long time. for example, in the project “healthy folktandvården” contributions to individual health care activities of 120 € per year and person have been available for many years. during the whole intervention process information about the project was published on the intranet.


one important result among the employees is a higher awareness of age management. But this also leads to ex-pectations and puts pressure on the management to take action. Another notable change is that more of the older employees are willing to work longer. the management of folktandvården sees the project as a starting point to work with age management. We are proud because the Best Agers lighthouses project has highlighted age management in folktandvården, the County Council and our region.


We have had the top management‘s support. But there are challenges to change attitudes and actions among first line management and employees. the project started a process to create awareness and change attitudes. In some way, there is also a challenge that the project

folKtAndvården dePArtment of dentAl CAre


folKtAndvården/dePArtment of dentAl CArethe County Council of norrbotten, sweden approx. 570 employees in total Participating units: 7 clinics as selected units/departments for intervention project› approx. 100 employees

creates a lot of expectations and some employees want to see concrete actions very quickly.

suCCess fACtors

the most important success factor is the top manage-ment’s support and engagement.

future PlAns

the next step is to identify what motivates and attracts employees. After that it will be possible to develop strategies and opportunities for employees aged 55 + to work until the age of 65 or longer. folktandvården will continue their work with age management and implement this work in the whole organisation. for instance, there are plans to train all managers and all employees at the latest by may 2015.


now and in the future, we need to have good access to qualified personnel willing to work with dental care in the whole county, i.e. the coastal, inland and sparsely populated areas. In order to run a good business we must be active and need to bridge any recruitment difficulties in the future with several strategies; one strategy is to participate in the Best Agers lighthouses project. folktandvården decided to participate in the project because they already worked with exchange of knowledge between young and more experienced employees and wanted to improve in this area. they also saw the need to work with age management. By being a part of the project, we want to create opportunities to keep older employees in service until retirement age and hopefully even longer

313. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | folKtAndvården dePArtment of dentAl CAre


the latvenergo Group is the largest power supply com-pany in the Baltics engaged in electricity and thermal energy generation, electricity supply and provision of electricity transmission and distribution services. the Group is composed of six commercial companies led by the parent company latvenergo As. It is a state capital company and considered as one of the most environ-mentally friendly electricity producers in europe. the latvenergo Group’s mission is to ensure safe, qualitative and environmentally friendly energy production and supply, which promotes a well-balanced and sustainable development of the national economy.


the survey on age management issues, well-being at work and flexible working was carried out in latvenergo As. the questions of the survey were answered by 289 respondents. the results of the survey outlined the inter-vention process within the company. In addition, other relevant data about company age structure, personnel motivation, and future strategic plans of the company were analysed. Interviews were carried out with 9 senior and middle level managers, the representative of the trade union, the director and specialists from the hr department. the external Advisor conducted interviews in several branches of the company, visited the premises of both administrative and operational employees.

the survey data was discussed with the hr depart-ment and several brainstorming sessions were organised for planning further action in the field of age manage-ment in the company. the results of the survey were presented to focus groups and articles were written for the company magazine and intranet. Guidelines on flexible working were developed, discussed with the hr department and prepared for approval in the management team and incorporation in the personnel policy guidelines of the company.


the staff survey on age management issues, well-being at work and flexible working showed very positive results in regard to the company’s work environment and human resource management policy. employees acknowledge latvenergo As as a good employer which ensures a good opportunity to continue working beyond retirement age, and the majority of respondents aged 55+ expect to be willing and able to continue working in the company after official retirement. the focus groups on age management issues and on survey results were held with the group of middle and senior level managers. the results of the focus group discussions also showed that managers do not see any particular problems from their perspective regarding employability of older workers in the company and appreciate the diversity of personnel in the company. discussions provided food for thought and ideas for possible new ways to further develop age management

the lAtvenerGo GrouP

the lAtvenerGo GrouPPulkveža Brieža street 12, rıga, lv-1230, latvia4,512 employees in totalParticipating unit: latvenergo As › 1,428 employees


issues within the company with respect to better use of expertise of employees 55+. one of the ways to ensure even better employabil-ity and efficiency of personnel as well as better use of resources in such a big company as latvenergo As is a flexible working policy, the guidelines for which were developed and prepared during the intervention for incorporation in the human resource management policy of the company.


the survey itself was a good way to demonstrate that the company is interested in a wide variety of employee well-being issues including age management and flex-ible working which is in line with the essential future priorities of human resource management for sustainable organisations and that latvenergo As is committed to continuing being a good and responsible employer in this respect as well. Publicity activities, interviews with managers and focus groups demonstrated that the company manage-ment is interested in developing new ways of working to ensure an even higher productivity and motivation of employees and raising awareness of the importance of age management issues both globally and in regard to the company situation. the human resource management team is interest-ed and committed to developing new approaches and continuing with the project activities in the field of age management. A flexible working policy is providing a good oppor-tunity for more efficient working and a higher motivation level of employees in the future. the results from the intervention process create a good foundation for further activities of the company in the field of age management.


latvenergo As is one of the largest companies in latvia and its employees’ age structure reflects the demo-graphic situation and labour market challenges in latvia such as the shrinking economically active population and ageing workforce. more than half of the company’s employees are aged over 40 and have special technical knowledge which will be difficult to replace, within a changed education system and no opportunities for increased job places for young people. At the same time, the company wants to provide more job opportunities for young people, but there is a shortage of career growth opportunities for both internal and external candidates. this is due to the situation that a large part of the company’s employees around

retirement age decide to continue working in their posi-tion. this is stimulated by the fact that according to the legislation employees may stay after reaching retirement age and combine both employment and their official retirement status. It is a challenge to carry out interven-tions in a company that has no evident problems related to age management and well-being of employees, which was reflected in the results of the survey.

suCCess fACtors

It was very important that such a big company with a well-established employer image agreed to join the project since it helps raise awareness of age management issues, and the results will be widely recognised in lat-via. this includes attracting attention of policy makers for particular issues around legislation and the way how it impacts companies’ ability to deal flexibly with age management issues. It was extremely important that the director and specialists from hr in the company are very committed to continuing with activities and developing further projects in the field of age management.

future PlAns

latvenergo will continue developing age management activities after the closure of the Best Agers lighthouses project. the plan is to prepare an age management policy and start with some pilot activities to find new creative ways of how to organise work more efficiently and flexi-bly while ensuring a motivating and attractive environ-ment for employees of all generations and to tackle the issues of succession planning, transfer of knowledge and career planning as well as take advantage of experienced and motivated older employees.

333. Case studies of the liGhthouse orGanisations | the lAtvenerGo GrouP


What did you learn for your personal working life?It was very fruitful to learn new international project practices and hear about different aspects of age management in different countries. net-working with project partners and other profes-sionals was rewarding.

What is the most important lesson learnt from the project?

developing age management needs the manage-ment’s commitment and participation. Changes in procedures and employee behaviour take time and because of that results will be seen later. so, patience is needed!

What is your argument to convince employers tostart an age-management process?

Well managed, skilled personnel with good work ability are key to a company’s competitiveness.

terhi rajala and Kirsi mäkelä, facilitating Partners at Prizztech

“Professional tasks and challenges must match with personal capabilities”

hans thormählen, Communication Partner at Work and life hamburg

What did you learn for your personal work-life? stay active! try to harmonise your personal interests with your professional tasks and chal-lenges!

What is the most important lesson learnt fromthe project?

Professional tasks and challenges must match with personal capabilities and have to be adjust-ed (accordingly) if necessary.

What is your argument to convince employers to start an age-management process?

satisfied and healthy personnel is better enabled to perform longer (up to a certain age); they are more productive and willing to stay active employees beyond the age of retirement.


introduction | XXX 354. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions 35

evAluAtIon of the AGe mAnAGement InterventIons

the projects’ scientific partners evaluated the interventions in the lighthouse organisations. their evaluation results shed light upon the attitudes and expectations of managers and employees as well as the costs and benefits of introducing age management measures.

evAluAtIon methodoloGY

the achievement of the main goal of the project, i.e. the implementation of specific activities in the field of age management in selected smes and public organisations (lighthouse organisations) has been closely correlated with the research activities of the scientific Partners: Aalto university school of Business small Business Center, Gdansk university of technology and stockholm school of economics in riga. In mutual agreement with the project partnership a harmonised evaluation methodology was developed and applied. firstly, diagnostic tests among the employees (via quantitative questionnaires) and managers (via qualita-tive in-depth interviews) of the organisations supported and guided the selection of appropriate actions, which constituted the main scope of the project interventions in the lighthouse organisations (the so called “first wave”) .

secondly, to assess whether the intervention carried out in the framework of the project has changed the situation in the field of age management in lighthouse organisations, studies among both employees and man-agers were repeated shortly after its completion (“second wave”). thirdly, in trying to determine the concrete eco-nomic consequences of introducing age management in human resources management, a cost-benefit analysis complemented the research activities. furthermore, as the interventions were carried out by external Advisors, these persons also kept diaries of their meetings with the management of the companies and public organisations in order to track the progress of the implementation of the intervention,

evaluation methodology

diaries ofexternal Advisors (4.2)

repeated questionnaires (+ focus groups interviews)

with employees in lighthouse organisations (4.2)

repeated in-depth interviews with management in

lighthouse organisations (4.3)

Cost-benefit analysis (4.5)

Questionnaires withemployees in all lighthouse

organisations (4.2)

In-depth interviews with management in all

lighthouse organisations (4.3)

starting situation intervention Changes + results

Aalto university school of Business small Business Center was responsible for coordinating the research conduct-ed among employees and the analysis of the obtained results. research in this group was quantitative in nature and the main research tool used in the analysis of atti-tudes and evaluations of employees was a survey ques-tionnaire which was designed, collected and analysed by Aalto university.

Gdansk university of technology was responsible for the coordination of qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews conducted among the managers of the lighthouse organisations. the main objective of the study was to diagnose the attitudes of the management of organisations participating in the project with regard to employees aged 55+. According to the project assump-tions, in-depth interviews were conducted twice, before


and after the intervention. In addition, Gdansk university of technology coordinated the diary method which was performed by the external Advisors as supplementary method of evaluation to the in-depth interviews with managers of the lighthouse organisations. It can be re-garded as a control mechanism if the attitudes expressed by managers were real or just statements. In addition, stockholm school of economics in riga and rem·Consult were responsible for coordinating a cost-benefit analysis. this analysis should make clear what economic incentives there are for adapting the

approach and it should be the key to promoting the age management intervention approach to other companies and organisations. research includes various indicators collected by lighthouse organisations as well as assump-tions and calculations of benefits. the responsibility for the organisation and execution of research in the individual lighthouse organisations was borne by the facilitating Partners participating in lAmPs in cooperation with the lighthouse organisations. After finalising the data collection they provided encoded results to the scientific Partners.

What did you learn for your personal working life? this project has given me a lot for my personal working life. I have improved my knowledge about age management, and this experience I can and will use in my own leadership. I was able to see new places, I met a lot of interesting people and I learnt a lot about the demographic situation and upcoming problems in the rest of europe. We can share good examples of how to try to handle this.

Which competence of your external advisor was the most helpful to you?

to make summaries of surveys and evaluate results. Also, by giving presentations together, to be a sounding board and discussion partner.

What is the most important achievement of the intervention in your organisation?

We started to discuss age management in our organisation in many ways. We talk about how important it is that those “55+”, who have such an amount of knowledge, transfer this to the young employees coming into the organisation. In staff appraisals we should raise the issue of how to use this competence up to pension age and even beyond in the best way for the individual and also for the organisation. this also makes expectations from the employees an interesting task to deal with.

“This project has given me a lot for my personal working life.”

agneta abrahamsson, Internal mentor at folktandvården (Public dental service)

374. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | evAluAtIon methodoloGY


ChAnGe of emPloYees’ oPInIons

orGAnIsAtIon of the reseArCh

the purpose of the questionnaire was to examine, on the one hand, the employees’ work engagement as well as health and their ability to function. on the other hand, the questionnaire addressed the employees’ opinions about age management at their workplace and their attitudes towards work and retirement. In addition, also background information was collected to allow for comparisons between different age groups and genders, but not to identify individual employees. the question-naire was completed in two waves: first in spring 2013, to map the lighthouse organisations’ starting situation with age management and again in spring 2014, after the interventions, to map changes and the development of the situation. the questionnaire consists of 67 questions divided into six different categories responding to the previously mentioned themes. the majority of the questions were composed based on other existing questionnaires used to examine age management and related themes in finland and europe. sources of these questionnaire sets were the finnish Institute of occupational health 1, varma mutual Pension Insurance Company 2 and the eu-funded toutes les Générations en entreprise programme 3. using and combin-ing already existing questionnaires and question sets as a starting point for the Best Agers lighthouses question-naire implies the intention to learn from similar expe-rience, to use existing information and research and to enable the comparison of already existing research data and trends with Best Agers lighthouses data. however, the questionnaire was implemented with new questions specifically designed for this project and study. the new questions aim at finding out employees’ and employers’ attitudes towards retirement, retirement plans and com-munication of them, conditions under which employees would like to continue working beyond retirement age as well as the impact of their pension level to the willing-ness to continue working beyond retirement. the questionnaire was translated into five differ-ent languages, so that all respondents could answer the questions in their mother tongue and misinterpretations, especially of technical vocabulary, could be avoided. All answers to the questionnaire were collected by the facilitating Partners with the help of the lighthouse organisations and forwarded to Aalto university school of Business small Business Center for a preliminary data

analysis. the results of this analysis were reported in processed data sets, which were then returned to the facilitating Partners and lighthouse organisations. Pro-cessed data sets include an overall report with answers in percentages and reports with answers in percentages according to gender, age groups and nature of work.

fIrst WAve reseArCh: stArtInG sItuAtIon WIth AGe mAnAGement In the lIGhthouse orGAnIsAtIons

these surveys were performed in nine different light-house organisations in five different countries and the total number of respondents was 864. Background information on the respondents enabled confirmation of a rather equal ratio between both genders (53 % female, 47 % male) and different age groups (18–34; 35–44; 45–54; 55+). In addition, 13 % of the respondents also stated that they had leading positions in their organisa-tions, which also allowed for the analysis of differences in attitudes between employees and superiors.

21,8 %

25,2 %

20,9 %

28,2 %

Agegroup 18–34 Agegroup 35–44 Agegroup 45–54 Agegroup 55+

the majority of respondents (80 %) had a permanent contract, 12 % had a fixed-term contract and the remain-ing 8 % left the question blank. When asked about years of service at the current employer, 52 % had worked up to 10 years, 23 % between 10–20 years, 12 % between 20–30 years and 13 % more than 30 years. the longest individual career at the same employer was 47 years.

attitudes towards work, health and well-beingthe employees of the lighthouse organisations were proud of their work and it inspires as well as motivates them. they expressed that their physical and mental ca-pacities are in line with their workload and that they can get enough rest. When exploring the answers of different age groups, it was found recurrently that, as the employ-ees get older, they are more at home instead of at work,

1 http://pronetti.ttl.fi/mittarit/Ikajohtaminen.aspx2 https://www.varma.fi/fi/flashdocuments/Anonymous/hyvaika_yksilopeili/index.html (available only in finnish)3 http://www.toutes-les-generations-en-entreprise.com/index_fr.php; http://178.237.108.15/converso/interview


and they are very aware of their tasks and the targets set to them. It can be concluded that, on an individual level, the well-being, health and happiness of the employees was good.

age management typologyexisting research has developed a typology for the age management status of organisations that pays attention to two different dimensions: age awareness of the organ-isation and the preparedness level of the organisation. Age awareness, on the one hand, ranges from “no aware-ness” and “age as a challenge” or “age as an opportuni-ty” to “age as an aspect of diversity”. the preparedness level, on the other hand, describes reaction or proaction. When aligning these two dimensions, it is possible to identify five different levels of age management in an organisation: tackling problems of scarce resources, de-creasing work demands, enhancing individual resources, intergenerational learning and life course approach 4. When applying the above age management typology to the lighthouse organisations, characteristics of all different levels can be found in each of them. At employ-ee level this can mean the following: employees are not familiar with the age-related practices of their employer, problems relate more to recruitment than age, the or-ganisation is worried about the impacts of ageing staff, access is provided to legally guaranteed health care services and rehabilitation, ageing employees are seen as an asset in terms of vast experience and mentoring and, finally, age being just one characteristic of the employee among others that could be a basis for adjusted coping arrangements.

life course53,47 %

scarce resources13,66 %

decreasing demands

4,98 %

Individual resources

5,44 %

unknown 8,91 %

Intergenerational learning13,54 %

typology

these considerations imply that all of the lighthouse organisations have processes and procedures in place for good age management practices, but in reality not all of those have been fully implemented. shortages or chal-

lenges can occur, for example in communication, or there could be a lack of tools provided to middle management to address well-being and ageing at work. something positive that should be noted is the fact that there were no differences of opinion between employees with and without managerial responsibility. therefore, it is fair to say that the first questionnaire wave gives an accurate picture of the lighthouse organisations’ age management.

seCond WAve reseArCh: ChAnGes In AGe mAnAGement After InterventIons

Changes in opinions and attitudes always happen over a longer period of time. therefore it was also extremely challenging for this project to measure changes in the lighthouse organisations in terms of age management only after a year from the first questionnaire wave. however, in some cases the answers to the second-wave questionnaire produced responses that correlate directly with the interventions in the lighthouse organisations. In the following, examples of five of these organisations are presented where changes can be clearly identified.

organisation 1: exercising togetherIn this organisation employees were generally happy with their lives, work, workload and well-being during both questionnaire waves and no noticeable changes occurred. however, in the second wave, some changes appeared in several questions that deal, in particular, with their physical condition and ability to function and their impact on work ability. for example, in one question, it was asked if good ability to function was a factor in the respondents’ work and the change among “yes” answers had risen from 59 % during first wave to 67 % during the second. during the first questionnaire wave more respondents answered that good work ability is somehow relevant; whereas during the second wave they were more certain that it was indeed an important factor. An-other question asked whether the organisation enhanced ageing workers’ work ability through health management measures, such as health promotion focusing on fitness and healthy lifestyles. the percentage of “yes” answers increased by 26 % from the first to the second wave. the percentage of “no” answers decreased from 33 % to 12 %. finally, a question suggested that “promoting ageing workers’ resources enhances their work ability and leads to a longer working life”. In the first wave, 50 % of the employees agreed and during the second wave this num-ber rose to 72 %. When looking at the intervention activities of this organisation, particular attention was paid to a healthy lifestyle, exercise and work ability. All of these topics were also introduced to the working place in an active form, not only with theoretical lectures about eating

394. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | ChAnGe of emPloYees’ oPInIons

4 Wallin, hussi,2011: Best practices in age management – evaluation of organisation cases (http://www.tsr.fi/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=13109&name=dlfe-8009.pdf)

healthy or physical exercising, but the employees also had the chance to engage themselves in these activities. Changes between the questionnaire waves clearly commu-nicate that the awareness level of the employees in terms of health, physical condition and work ability increased over the year. therefore, it is fair to say that this organ-isation implemented its intervention activities in a way that the employees recognised them and that they were able to start the improvement process of the organisa-tion’s age management status in a very good way.

organisation 2: Building common understandingthis organisation was characterised by a very high awareness among employees of their own health, nutri-tion and ability to function. however, challenges due to a disproportionate age structure could be identified al-ready in the first questionnaire wave when asking if there was a challenging situation concerning ageing employees in the organisation or if they saw challenges in ensur-ing competence in the organisation. there were many changes after the second wave, and many of them not for the better. for example, in the first wave up to 77 % of the employees told that they feel good waking up in the morning and thinking about going to work a couple times a week or daily, but after the second questionnaire wave that percentage decreased to 56 %. the level of health, nutrition and well-being of individuals remained stable and positive after both questionnaire waves and even the amount of regular physical exercising increased by 10 % to 60 % in total. In many cases, the biggest changes occurred in questions related to ageing and aged employees, where the amount of “unsure” answers increased after the second wave of questionnaires. When employees were asked if their organisation recognised the invaluable competence and skills of older workers, the amount of “unsure” answers increased from 30 % to 42 %. there were no clear negative changes, but rather a shift from “yes” answers towards “unsure”.

Interventions at this organisation involved training managers and employees in age management as well as developing different strategies to enable ageing workers to continue working longer. health and ability to func-tion were communicated as a shared responsibility for both the individual employees and the employer. Aware of this, a link between the interventions and the increase in exercising on the part of the employees can easily be identified. It is clearly a positive result and evidence of well-implemented intervention activities. strategy development for the older employees to continue working longer still appears confusing to the employees. employ-ees, especially the older ones, are often unsure about the value and appreciation of their work in the organisation. It is important to remember that this organisation was already aware of its age structure during the first ques-tionnaire wave and after the second wave awareness grew, thanks to age management training and open discussions about age in the organisation. due to this increased awareness, employees could react more sensitively and communicate their doubts or scepticism, if there are no clear answers to their needs and challenges. the same reasoning could be applied to the confusion around older employees and the appreciation towards them. employees may find a controversy between the learning age structure and plans to keep older employees at work longer. It is very important that these changes are not interpreted as negative, but positive. All changes strongly communicate that this organisation now has a common understanding of its situation and that the employees are calling for strategies for age management. engagement in work and the work community can be seen in the changes related to good feelings about going to work, which decreased. Could this decrease result from being more aware of the situation and being worried about the organisation? ex-tremely positive in this organisation, in addition to this common understanding, is the fact that while the employ-ees are waiting for an improvement of the situation, they are still committed to the age management programme – for example, by taking care of themselves physically and mentally at an individual level.

organisation 3: from theory to practicethe third organisations’ answers after the first wave of questionnaires were characterised by moderate answers: employees answered to be happy, healthy and in good working condition and there were not any extreme differences among their opinions. on average, the employees of this organisation were also more aware of rehabilitation procedures than in other organisations. Changes in the employees’ attitudes occurred in their views on health: in the first wave only 0.5 % answered that their condition did not correspond to their age and in the second wave the percentage increased to 7 %. however, when asked if they do enough and regular


exercise, the share of “I agree” answers grew from 36 % to 47 %. similarly to organisation 2, also this organisa-tion’s employees experienced confusion about the older employees, their capabilities and role in the organisa-tion. When dividing the answers of employees with and without managerial responsibility, it was possible to see that, when it comes to official, written procedures of the organisation, employees with managerial responsibility are more aware of them, but when it comes to these pro-cedures in everyday-life at the organisation, also these superiors struggle with them. the intervention in this organisation included age management and well-being at work training for all levels of the organisation (directors, managers and employees), as well as an active dialogue about improving work and the work environment. It seems that, together with the training, the awareness level of employees in terms of well-being, health and work ability has increased and resulted in new self-evaluations of their personal health. this occurred together with the increase in physical exer-cising performed by employees, and therefore this part of the intervention can be considered successful. A chal-lenge for this organisation was definitely communication. It seems that there is a lot of confusion about the organ-isation’s official attitude and its procedures concerning age management and health services. managers seem to be aware of the regulations and procedures in theory, but in practice they lack knowledge about the imple-mentation of activities. this reinforces disorientation among employees and lowers employee evaluations of the quality of their superiors’ work. With more attention and focus on communicating the aspects of age management to managers and employees, this confusion would most likely decrease.

organisations 4+5: a different approach to mapping changesIn two more lighthouse organisations, so called fo-cus group interviews substituted for the questionnaire research methodology. In the light of these results – although to be interpreted only carefully due to the obvious limitations of qualitative research – some infor-mation is given on which changes the interventions can trigger among the employees. In a general assessment, employees from both lighthouse organisations highly valued the intervention activities and the way of getting to them, although participants of one group acknowl-edged that it was difficult in the beginning to talk about age and ageing, which caused negative emotions for some of them. A “change of the mind-set with which older work-ers are seen by the other employees” was not clearly identified. Certainly it was helpful but, all in all, the age structure would not be so disproportionate in these two lighthouse organisations or at least no different

attitudes would be recognised towards different age groups. “Change of work engagement or motivation” was perceived only to a small degree, while in one light-house organisation it was stated that the intervention activities would prolong working life. Positive “chang-es of issues related to health and ability to function” were only marginally reported in both organisations, probably because the respective intervention activities were not directly targeted at this. finally, asked if the “intervention activities can make the organisation a more attractive employer”, respondents from one group agreed to this. In the other lighthouse organisation the participating unit is only one department of the whole organisation, the overall personnel recruitment proce-dures and employer attractiveness could not be changed so easily, also when taking into account legal issues (it was a public organisation).

refleCtIons on the emPloYee reseArCh

the previous examples illustrate what kinds of changes are possible in smes with moderate effort in just one year. Within such a short time frame the lighthouse organisations should be satisfied with the results of their efforts – they are now on their way towards a strong age management culture in many ways. some of them maybe did not receive as many noticeable changes as the exam-ples above, but nevertheless the issue was addressed and awareness rose. from a research point of view, it is important to first have a picture of the starting situation in order to map the challenges that need tackling and to track the changes occurring over time. this research study was also complemented by knowledge of the intervention activities and the organisations’ background that allowed for a deeper analysis. Change, especially in attitudes and opinions, takes time, but hopefully organisations can be encouraged by the examples mentioned here which may serve as models of how to start implementing age management.

the author:

Katri liekkiläAalto university

414. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | ChAnGe of emPloYees’ oPInIons


the Gdansk university of technology has developed a research tool in the form of an interview scenario, along with instructions for conducting the interview and a form for coding the responses. In the first round of testing (first wave) the interview scenario consisted of 18 open-ended questions, while in the second wave it consisted of 10 questions, 6 of which were repeated from the first survey. In the first and second wave, the persons responsible for conducting the interviews were authorised to ask supplementary questions aimed at making the respondents’ answers to the main questions more precise. the Gdansk university of technology analysed the results and formulated certain conclusions – the accepta-bility of analytical methods and conclusion-formulating procedures was limited, however, by the quality and the level of detail of the material obtained from the facili-tating Partners.

fIrst WAve reseArCh orGAnIsAtIon And results oBtAIned

during the first round of the study, from october 2013 to march 2014, 61 interviews with managers of all nine lighthouse organisations were conducted, including 28 men and 33 women. the interviewed participants were 30 to 67 years old (average age 53 years). the experience as a manager ranged from 1 to 42 years (average experi-ence 16 years).

managers participating in the interview, accord-ing to gender and the country of origin of the lighthouse organisation

ChAnGe of mAnAGers’ oPInIons

the scenario of the in-depth interview addressed to the managers included questions concerning, e.g. the assessment of the potential of employees aged 55+ and the possibility of its use, the significance of age for recruitment and termination of employment, the threat of losing certain competencies in connection with the retirement of employees, and the actions taken in the organisation to preserve and extend the professional activity of older employees.

strengths of employees aged 55+ in the assess-ment of managers participating in the surveythe managers evaluated employees aged 55+ positively, recognizing and quoting their strengths. At the same time, they acknowledged that their organisation’s use of the skills of this group of employees is not sufficient. In terms of strengths of employees aged 55+ indi-cated most often by the managers, 55 % related to their skills (experience, professional and life knowledge) and 42 % to their personality (motivation and commitment to work, flexibility, professional ethics, analytical and holis-tic thinking, etc.). 3 % of the answers referred to others. the managers participating in the interviews were willing to explain the use of the strengths of employees aged 55+ in their organisations in the process of mentor-ing and tutoring, mainly to transfer knowledge and expe-rience. however, a group of 12 managers openly admitted that strengths of employees aged 55+ are not used in any planned and systematic way in their organisations.

age and recruitmentAge was not spontaneously mentioned as a factor taken into account during the recruitment process. moreo-ver, the managers stressed the need for an individual approach to job candidates, depending on the tasks required for the offered position. the supplementary question provided in the in-terview: “Is age a significant factor in the recruitment process?” yielded 38 “no” answers, 11 “yes” answers, 7 “neither yes nor no” answers and 5 “I do not know” an-swers. further, in-depth analysis of descriptive responses showed that in many cases the “yes” or “no“ answer can be understood quite differently than the literal explana-tion – both as a manifestation of willingness to exploit the potential represented by employees aged 55+ and as the lack of a positive attitude towards this group of employees.

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the following are examples of the extensions of the “yes” answer to the question “Is age a significant factor taken into consideration in the recruitment process?”:• If you need to have an employee with a lot of experi-

ence, he/she can’t be very young. • If you choose an employee for a position which needs

commitment for a long time or extensive training or it is a new business, he/she can’t be near retirement age.

• If there is an open position in 2–3 years you may need to recruit a person for that position in advance.

• Age might matter, it depends on the position. • If you need to have a person who will stay longer in

the organisation, he/she has to be min. 45 years old. Younger employees leave sooner.

• Middle-aged employees have experience and they are convincing.

examples of expansions of the “no” answer to the same question:• Age is not important, personal characteristics are more

important.• No, not important, but I would think twice when hiring

a 60-year-old.• Never been thinking about age, but if a 60-year-old

applies for a job, I would rather hire a 30-year-old.• Basically not, the salary requirements differ, of course.

Generally speaking, older employees are more stable and will probably stay longer in the organisation, since they do not look for “changes”.

Among the most significant factors considered during the process of recruiting the surveyed managers mentioned those related to competence (experience, education and professional knowledge) and the person-ality of the candidates (motivation and commitment to work, flexibility, independence, positive attitude and work ethic), as well as their social skills (teamwork and interpersonal communication skills). It should be stressed that the first two categories of factors taken into account when recruiting candidates are the same as the categories presented as strengths of employees aged 55+.

age and termination of the employment contractonly two of the surveyed managers spontaneously men-tioned age as a factor taken into account when making the decision to terminate the employment contract. In one of these cases, the age significant for the process of making such a decision was defined as “55+”, while the second manager stated: “Younger employees are needed for the future, but the older employees have the knowl-edge. I would like to find an agreement with employees who have only a few years until retirement”. managers who did not spontaneously mention age among factors significant in the decision-making process

related to the termination of employment were asked directly: “Can age be a significant factor to consider when deciding to terminate the employment contract?”. the majority (31) of managers answered “no”; 10 answered “yes”; 3 answered “neither yes nor no”; and 2 answered “I do not know”. further analysis of the responses showed that the managers’ attitude, despite the “no” or “yes” answers, may be more diverse. In some cases, “no” meant not taking age into account, because: “The main thing is achieving goals and results, not age”, whereas others actually stated a positive approach to older employees: “I don’t think that age is a major factor. On the contra-ry – older employees have more experience”. It can be assumed that some managers who answered “no” wanted to give the answer most expected by the interviewer – a “correct” (in their opinion) response. on the other hand, in a supplementary question it turned out that their approach was quite different from the one stated earlier: “No, age is not important. But in the situation when you have serious budget cuts and you have to choose between laying-off a person who is already on retirement and has income and a younger person who has to feed a family, decisions aren’t easy”. If the answer was “yes”, the managers confirming considering the effect of the employee’s age in their decision to terminate their contract of employment most often tried to explain the motives for doing so. the answer ”It may be taken into consideration if two candi-dates are equally good, plus employees at retirement age had the opportunity to have a very good early retirement package” may be cited as an example. the full analysis of the responses to this question indicates that age is a factor relatively often taken into account when making the decision to terminate an employment contract, even though the very kind of dependence (risk of dismissal, the chance to stay at work) tends to vary.

434. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | ChAnGe of mAnAGers’ oPInIons

employees aged 55+ in the organisationthe analysis of answers received from the managers par-ticipating in the interviews suggests that their attitudes towards various job-related situations involving older employees are appropriate. the managers are ready to take action to meet the job-related needs of this group of employees and promote their successful functioning in the groups of employees of different age. the managers are also aware of the current demo-graphic situation in their organisations. many, however, point to the fact that the age structure of employees is inappropriate, due to the progressive ageing of their staff. 34 of the managers participating in the interviews (56 %) declared that in their organisation all employees are treated equally, regardless of age, whereas 43 (70 %) agreed with the statement that ensuring an age balance among employees is important to the organisation and affects its growth opportunities. the managers know the retirement plans of their employees and some of them treat them as conducive to the “rejuvenation” of their staff. such attitudes are confirmed, for example, by such answers as “Our compa-ny would like people to retire and not stay after the age of 65“ or “The company would like to have more young people“. the evaluation of and opinion on the need to introduce incentives and solutions supporting older em-ployees to remain professionally active varies greatly in individual organisations. In some of them, such measures have already been implemented for some time and belong to the culture of the organisation, while others do not see the need for any such actions. It seems that one of the reasons for the variety in the results obtained could be the different self-study background of these organi-sations, resulting from their culture, mission and vision, as well as from the socio-political context in which they operate.

seCond WAve reseArCh orGAnIsAtIon And results oBtAIned

during the second round of the study, from may to june 2014, 26 interviews with managers of five lighthouse organisations were conducted, including 8 men and 18 women. the interviewees were 33 to 67 years old (aver-age age 55 years). experience as a manager ranged from 1 to 41 years (average experience as a manager: 17 years. only managers from those lighthouse organisations in which the intervention lasted at least 6 months took part in the second round of the survey. only in those organisations it was justified to attempt to verify the changes in attitudes and opinions expressed by managers with regards to the conclusion (or in the final stages) of the intervention, when compared to those formulated at the beginning of the project tasks.

strengths of employees aged 55+just as in the preliminary test, the surveyed managers declared that they recognized the qualities of the em-ployees of this age group and evaluated them positively. At the same time, they acknowledged that their organ-isations’ use of the skills of these employees was not sufficient. the strengths of employees aged 55+ indicated by most managers relate to their skills (experience, professional and life knowledge), personality (work ethics, analytical approach to problems, motivation and commitment to work, flexibility) and low absenteeism. According to the surveyed managers, the advantag-es of employees aged 55+ are most often used by the organisations in the process of mentoring and tutoring, work in pairs and teams, as well as during staff meetings in groups. the surveyed managers found it quite difficult to state clearly to what extent using the potential of the employees aged 55+ in their organisations is intentional and planned within strategic and systemic actions. three managers admitted that in their organ-isation the advantages of employees aged 55+ are not used.

age and recruitmentAs in the first round of the study, in the second wave age was not quoted spontaneously as a factor taken into account during the recruitment process. In response to a supplementary question “Is age an important factor in the recruitment process?“ the majority of surveyed managers answered “no“ (20 persons), four persons answered “yes”, one chose the "I don’t know" option and one “neither yes nor no”. the managers who chose the “yes” answer explained it in a manner indicative of awareness of both the advan-tages and the limitations of older employees:• If I have a really hard physical work, I have to assess

during an interview whether the candidate will actually cope with the demands.

• Yes, age is important – you need to pay attention to the balance of the team, as the young and the old can inspire each other.

some statements, despite claims that age is not an important characteristic (the “no” answer), suggested different ways of seeing and assessing older employees:• Age is not important, but it is worth noting that (...)

age is associated with the experience allowing you to perform certain tasks faster – however, it can be a barrier to innovation.

• Age is not an important characteristic. It depends on the position you are recruiting for. But if you have a long project, a person aged 60 may not have enough time to complete it.


the share of managers with negative answers to the question of age factor relevance in the recruitment pro-cess was about 15 % higher compared to the result of the first round of the study.

the managers’ replies to the question “is age a factor taken into account in the recruitment process?” – comparison of the 1st and 2nd wave (% of responses in the total number of responses in the survey)

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I don’t know neither yes nor no

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age and termination of the employment contractnone of the managers surveyed in the second round indi-cated the age of the employee as a factor affecting the decision to terminate the employment contract. It should be noted, however, that managers indicated the reasons included in the “social and social situation” category. twice, having a family and children was mentioned, while in two other cases it was the formal retirement age stip-ulated by the national law in force. As far as the question “Can age be a factor in the decision to terminate an employment contract?” is con-cerned, 18 of the surveyed managers answered “no”, two

“yes” and one “I don’t know”. In case of answers admit-ting the significance of age when making such decisions, they were indicative rather of the managers’ perception of employee characteristics associated with a particular age than of manifestations of ageism. Persons stating that age is not an important factor in the decision to terminate the employment contract emphasised the importance of skills and experience nec-essary for a particular post or declared their awareness of strengths and weaknesses of employees, regardless of age.

the managers’ replies to the question “Can age be a factor taken into account in the decision to ter-minate the employment contract?” – comparison of the 1st and 2nd wave (% of responses in the total number of responses in the survey)

no Yes

I don’t know neither yes nor no

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As in the case of answers to the question about age as a factor affecting decisions in the recruitment process, also in the case of the question regarding the effect of age on decisions related to the termination of the employment contract the results obtained in both rounds of the study are clearly different.

the advantages of employees aged 55+ indicated by managers in the second wave of in-depth interviews

low AbsenteeismflexibilitymotivationBehaviourethicsKnowledgeexperience

advantages of employees aged 55+

Individual traits otherCompetences

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the share of managers who, in the second round, gave a negative answer is about 18.5 percentage points higher compared with the results of the first round. In most cases, managers participating in the second round of the survey also declared their awareness of the risk of losing key competences. Perhaps this is because most of them (21) answered affirmatively to the ques-tion “Do you conduct the transfer of the organisation’s key competencies from the experienced to the younger employees?”.

fInAl ConClusIons

the analysis of the results of the study conducted among the managers of the lighthouse organisations allows for drawing a number of conclusions of a general nature. firstly, the surveyed managers are aware of the strengths of the employees aged 55+, but at the same time they admit that in their organisations they are not used in a completely conscious and planned manner. It may be concluded, however, that in the case of the sec-ond round of interviews, greater awareness of the natural positive impact of the participation of older employees in the transfer of competences is clearly noticeable. In addition, the managers are more willing to declare that they are interested in the introduction of actions condu-cive to such transfer in the form of structured solutions. Age is not spontaneously mentioned as a factor tak-en into account in the recruitment processes. Although the necessity to respond to such a question reveals the diversity of attitudes towards this issue, in most cases it is a result of the managers’ attitude towards achieving a specific objective related to the area of the organisation under their supervision. Consequently, if competencies of older employees can be availed of, the attitude of managers towards candidates of an older age is positive. At the same time, many managers realise both the pos-itive aspects of employing employees aged 55+ and the challenges associated with this. It should be emphasized here that the features cited as desirable included in can-didates are also those that managers consider to be the strengths of the employees aged 55+. the most significant differences between the results of the first and second interviews were noted in the managers’ opinions on age as a factor taken into account when considering the termination of employ-ment contracts. during the first interview, two managers spontaneously mentioned age as a factor affecting the decision to dismiss the employee. In the statements of the other respondents provoked by one of the questions, age proved to be a factor taken into account relatively often when making such decisions (10 replies “Yes”). the responses obtained during the second wave pointed rath-er to the managers’ understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with the employees’ age than

to an open manifestation of ageism. Also, in comparison with the first round of the interviews, there were not so many opinions indicative of the managers’ impatience towards older employees and awaiting their independent decisions with respect to retirement. An increase in the positive attitudes of the surveyed managers in relation to the importance of skills and experience necessary for specific posts, and hence the importance of older employees in the organisation, was observed. due to the short period of intervention and the relatively short interval between the initial (1st wave) and final (2nd wave) survey, it cannot concluded with certainty that the attitudes of managers of the light-house organisations towards employees aged 55+ have changed. however, the second wave of the survey showed some alleviation of radical and negative opinions that were previously expressed by the managers regarding employees aged 55+, as well as an increased awareness of the potential of such employees, the possibility to use this and the benefits that such actions could bring to individual organisations.

the research was co-financed by the Polish ministry of science and

higher education with the funds for science 2013–2014 for co-financed

international projects


the authors:

Anita richert-Kazmierska, Phd engGdansk university of technology

Katarzyna stankiewicz, PhdGdansk university of technology

InterventIon dIArIes

orGAnIsAtIon And methodoloGY of the reseArCh

so-called accompanying research was conducted through-out the process of implementation of interventions in the lighthouse organisations participating in the project (the case studies above). for this purpose, the diary method was used. the Gdansk university of technology was responsible for coordinating the study and developed a research tool in the form of a structured diary format, with a description of methods and instructions for diary notes. the main objective of the research study was track-ing the progress of the implementation of interventions in each of the lighthouse organisations and the assess-ment of the conditions accompanying the implementa-tion process. the study was also aimed at collecting the lighthouse organisations’ experience in implementing solutions in the field of age management, with the possi-bility of transferring them, as well as sharing them with

other organisations interested in taking similar action at home. Applying the diary method allowed for obtaining answers to three main questions:• how (the different stages of) an intervention involving

the implementation of solutions in the field of age management may be conducted,

• what problems can occur during the intervention,• what should be paid attention to when planning and

implementing interventions involving the implementa-tion of solutions in the field of age management.

the diary format was divided into four main parts: basic information, the characteristics of the described stage of intervention, the assessment of conditions (atmosphere) prevailing during the described stage of intervention, and the personal opinions and comments of the person taking notes. the study included the partici-pation of the external Advisors responsible for the imple-mentation of interventions in six of the nine lighthouse organisations. It was conducted on a continuous basis

474. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | ChAnGe of mAnAGers’ oPInIons | InterventIon dIArIes

during the period from october 2013 to june 2014. the external Advisors were asked to fill in a separate diary for every meeting. It was crucial to do this immediately after the meeting to capture the mood that prevailed at the meeting. Altogether 52 separate diaries were gathered. the Gdansk university of technology analysed the results and formulated certain conclusions – the acceptability of analytical methods and conclusion-formulating procedures was limited, however, by the quality and level of detail of the material obtained from the individuals keeping the diaries.

mAIn results

aims of the meetings/events described in diariesthe diaries prepared by the external Advisors primarily included descriptions of meetings and projects during which:• the Best Agers lighthouses project was presented,• the problem of ageing, including the ageing of the

workforce in the organisation, as well as the ideas and methodologies of age management, was discussed;

• the details of the intervention were specified more precisely;

• the results of research and activities implemented within the organisation were discussed.

some of the notes contained in the diaries were descriptions of seminars and trainings for employees and managers organised as part of the intervention.

Selected targets identified in the diariesTo inform all employees involved about the interven-tion – in particular about the meaning of the ques-tionnaire.The aims of the event were: to present the project and its aims; to present the concept of age management and work ability; to present the results (feedback) of the all surveyed employees; to discuss the situation and the needs of the employees aged 55+.We discussed the action plan and the next steps in the intervention.

the managers’ attitude towards the interventions• some of the managers were not aware of the age man-

agement idea and its methodology. • during the meetings the deficiencies in the creation

of appropriate conditions for the extension of active ageing in the organisations were explained to the management.

• In general, there was positive interest in the results of research conducted in the organisation.

• A few representatives of lighthouse organisations showed a lack of willingness to implement age manage-ment in their organisations.

the employees’ attitude towards the interventions• the employees were interested and active during the

meetings/events described in the diaries.• In most reported cases, employees expressed interest

and willingness to participate in developing plans for their professional development, including the use of age management methodology.

• In some lighthouse organisations, the employees showed a positive attitude, but approached the pos-sibility of intervention rather with disbelief regarding the effect.

• In general, meetings took place in a pleasant atmos-phere.

Selected notes from diaries“The atmosphere was good. The participants were interested in the concept and were active in the dis-cussion. Some of them were really engaged. The ideas and possibilities related to further age management issues in the organisation were discussed”.“The meeting atmosphere was friendly. Although the top manager was not very interested in age manage-ment, he listened politely and agreed to communicate, told about the age of the employees and relationships among them”.“The staff participated actively in the debate. Some of the employees did not believe that the age program may become successful”.“It was a business-like meeting in a friendly atmos-phere. I was surprised that age management is an unknown concept to the top manager”. “The atmosphere was active. Activity of the partici-pants was surprisingly high”.“In my opinion, the event was successful. Supervisors are now aware of how the process will proceed and how they can influence on the program”.

main problems noticed by external advisors• lack of awareness of demographic changes and oppor-

tunities posed by age management – among employees as well as among managers.

• low level of interest in age management issues among members of the management of certain lighthouse organisations.

• In some of the lighthouse organisations, in the em-ployees’ opinion there is no need for encouragement to continue work activity, as low pensions are a sufficient motivator.

• more time is needed for the seminars devoted to cer-tain problems.

• more time is needed for the whole intervention.• significant differences between the countries and/or

lighthouse organisations resulted in a lack of mutual exchange of experience and knowledge – it was not possible to take joint action or learn from each other.


elements listed in the diaries as important for the implementation of solutions in the field of age management in lighthouse organisations

ConClusIons And reCommendAtIons

due to the large diversity of the individual lighthouse organisations (resulting from their country of origin, legal status, scope of business, culture, management etc.), as well as the different scope of each intervention, the formulation of clear conclusions or recommendations appears to be difficult. But the content of the diaries allowed for diagnosing a number of most important elements determining the effectiveness of the implemen-tation of such solutions. these are shown in the figure above and discussed below.

1. In the opinion of the external Advisors, the effec-tiveness of the implementation of activities within the framework of the interventions in each of the lighthouse organisations depends on people: their openness and commitment. this applies to both em-ployees and managers. In the opinion of the external Advisors, the commitment of management is criti-cal to the success of the intervention.

”The supervisors are the key personnel in this kind of planning”. “Support from the highest-level management is important”.

“Managers have an important role in the imple-mentation of the age management programme”. “Managers should have more time to chat with staff about development and health issues”.

2. the intervention should be preceded by a series of meetings with management and employees. they should be aimed at clarifying the fundamental ques-tions related to the nature of activities undertaken as well as at discussing and developing a common action plan, including systematic verification of progress. the experience of the external Advisors shows that:• employees and managers are not always aware of

ongoing demographic changes in the environment and their consequences,

• employees and managers do not always have the knowledge related to the age management ideas, tools and methods associated with this concept,

• employees want to have an impact on the activ-ities related to their situation in the organisa-tion.

“To get all employees “on board” good communica-tion is essential for the outcomes”. “Employees have the need for such kind of knowl-edge and skills gained at the seminar. The interven-tion is useful for employees”.

people

engagement/Will

external Conditions(legal, economic, social, demography, etc.)

awareness/Knowledge

tools/methods

timeframework

organisationCulture

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494. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | InterventIon dIArIes

“In my opinion, staff participation in planning is very important. I should have had more informa-tion about the organisation’s history”. “It is really important that all representatives of the management group participated in a discussion and paid attention to the opinion of employees assessing the measures of age management in the organisation. The general discussion is also a sort of obligation to convey information in different departments, to delegate some of the questions to the group responsible for the development of a new strategic plan encompassing aspects of age man-agement in the area of staff management, as well as to anticipate measures for the implementation of these aspects”.

3. the implementation of the idea of age manage-ment in an organisation needs time. It is a complex, multi-threaded and multi-stage process. It requires changes in attitudes and behaviour among employees and management, as well as weaving the age-friendly policies into the overall development strategy of the company.

“I think more time is needed for the intervention process in general”. “More time for this amount of information should make this seminar more effective”. “The timetable for this kind of planning should not be too tight. There should be enough time for thorough discussions”.

4. solutions in the area of age management should be selected and adjusted according to the situation of the organisation. the choice of methods and tools used in an organisation must correlate with its needs and long-term objectives.

“Intervention process is in progress (…). The short-age of time and/or financial possibilities for some measures is a weakness”. “It is really good to notice that an intervention has positive effects and that it responds to employees’ needs”. “It is necessary to think about interventions that would help to achieve at least some of the aims and would not require a lot of financial funds and would not be contradictory to the legal framework and the regulations related to personnel manage-ment issues”. “The Lighthouse Organisation has its specific everyday life and duties, where the management and staff are fully involved and time resources are limited”.

5. the choice of approaches to age management and their effectiveness is affected by socio-economic conditions in the environment of the organisation. due to the general economic situation, the legal form of organisation, legal regulations and public attitudes towards certain phenomena like age management methodology, the implementation will be conducted differently in each case.

“There is no high awareness of the problem of ageing”. “In the future the External Advisor needs help and advice from a lawyer when discussing issues related to redundancy, volunteer agreements or regulations concerning the workload of pensioners”. “For the next meeting with the managers I have to prepare information about the tendencies of so-ciety ageing in our country and the best practices applied in the EU”. “A possible project weakness might be the fact that the main ideas do not conform with the social situation in our country: most of the pensioners want to work after they retire (…) due to a small pension”.


the authors:

Anita richert-Kazmierska, Phd engGdansk university of technology

Prof. julita WasilczukGdansk university of technology

Cost-BenefIt AnAlYsIs


following the assumptions made in the literature on this topic, a cost-benefit analysis of an age management meas-ure would be expected to yield positive results: It would reveal what economic incentives there are for adapting the approach and encourage other employers to implement similar measures in their own organisation. unfortunate-ly, results of such analyses that have been published are rarely to be found. It was therefore the ambition of the project to perform a calculation that clearly lays down the economic benefits in € (or the respective currency) against the background of the invested resources. In reality, the cost-benefit analysis conducted in the project turned out to be a compromise between a wish-ful scientific methodology encompassing as much and detailed organisational data as possible on the one hand and on the other, the pragmatic limitations set by the possibilities of the lighthouse organisations. differences between the countries (data protection regulations, lim-ited data availability, e.g. of sensitive data) and organi-sations (public or private sector) played a part, too. the most important restraint, however, was time: At the time this article is being written no intervention had lasted more than twelve months. thus, it would not be reliable to attribute major changes in targeted key performance in-dicators (such as improved productivity) solely to the age management intervention. In addition, the project and evaluation set-up did not allow for the inclusion of control groups or a longitudinal analysis. even considering these methodological limitations, however, there is plenty of material allowing for the illustration and presentation of the costs and benefits as-sociated with age management. this material underlines: Age management is worth implementing. In the following, an overview of the principal bene-fits of age management interventions based on literature review is given. subsequently, the costs of the inter-ventions in five lighthouse organisations from different countries are described and discussed. finally, the major benefits and processes are depicted and illustrated with material which was collected in the course of the project. this includes interviews with the lighthouse organisa-tions’ managers (two questions were added for this pur-pose in the second round of interviews), the questionnaire and focus group interviews with employees, examples reported by the external Advisors, Internal mentors and project partners, economic indicators obtained from the participating companies and public institutions and calcu-lation examples based on these indicators.

PrInCIPAl BenefIts of AGe mAnAGement InterventIons

It is recognised that in an ageing society, in order to secure access to the necessary competence, employers need to take action to open opportunities for a pro-longed working life for older employees. the concept of age management provides a valid reference in such endeavours. It has been developed in order to make clear how a company can benefit from offering each age group adequate working conditions. Ilmarinen (2006) refers to the concept as follows: “Age management requires taking the employee’s age and age-related factors into account in daily work management, work planning and work organisation; thus everyone – regardless of age – can achieve personal and organisational targets healthily and safely.” so age management does not address older em-ployees exclusively, but the entire organisation may be addressed; it may be seen as an aspect of diversity management. If older people are going to stand a better chance in future european working life than they do today, it is imperative for managers to see them as assets rather than problems; that benefits are winning over costs. But such a change will not take place easily, since there are negative attitudes towards older employees in workplac-es across europe (taylor and Walker 1998). In particular, many employers have a negative view with respect to the productivity of older employees. however, the fact that there are age-related physiological and cognitive changes, which affect all human beings, does not imply that there is a general relationship between age and pro-ductivity at work (e.g. Greller and simpson 1999). older employees may perform equally well, or better, than younger ones. salthouse (1997) concluded that the loss of cognitive function, and a negative influence thereof on job performance, may be balanced by a positive rela-tionship between age, experience and job performance. In human resource management (hrm) literature, labour economists have advocated that human capital investment should not be made for older employees. this view, based on neoclassical human capital theory, has however been challenged. In a review, simpson et al. (2002) make a distinction between (a) the labour economics model, and (b) the life-span career develop-ment model for human capital investment. In the labour economics model, the cost-benefit considerations are based on comparing the discounted net returns from ed-ucation and training over the remaining years of employ-

514. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | InterventIon dIArIes | Cost-BenefIt AnAlYsIs

ment before reaching pension age. the rationales for not investing in the human capital of older employees are that they are too valuable in their present jobs for par-ticipation in training activities and that they have only few years left, making pay-back questionable. however, according to the life-span development model advocates (e.g., sterns 1986), the pay-back period of training activities is generally short, perhaps in the order of 3–5 years, which tends to level out differences between age groups. And older people are becoming more interested to invest in their own human capital, since they plan to a higher degree to continue working up to and even after official pension age. the implementation of measures at organisational level has been hampered since it has been difficult to prove that age management in fact helps improve the productivity of the organisation (Bloom and van reenen 2010). however, Göbel and Zwick (2010) investigated whether the application of specific measures for older employees leads to an increase in relative productivity in this group of staff. A main conclusion drawn was that measures involving specific equipment and changes in work requirements for older employees were associated with a significantly higher relative productivity. Also organisations using age-mixed working groups showed higher productivity in old as well as in young employees. they conclude that “specific measures for old employees are an effective way to raise the relative productivity contribution of old workers”. scientific evaluations of age management interven-tions are scarce. however, mykletun and furunes (2010) in an analysis of the age management in the swedish energy company vattenfall AB nordic, concluded: “the Ageing Workforces management Programme has been successful as measured by a sharp increase of average re-tirement ages; sick-leave rates for those involved … were at the same level as the organisational average; the qual-ity of the work environment as perceived by the older workers was as good or better than the younger workers’ and stable or improving over time. the processes have been economically profitable for the company due to re-duced costs of early retirement, productive participation also from older workers and low sick leave rates, and no observed drop in productivity in the working units. the value of the competence retention should be added to this, as should the positive image effects through media and external networking. “ there are only few evaluations allowing a cost-bene-fit analysis of age management interventions in quan-titative terms. An adequate approach is to calculate the costs and benefits occurring in keeping an older employee on the job, in comparison to the alternative of recruiting a young person. recruitment costs include not only advertising, interviewing etc., but also the production loss caused by the delay to fill the gap, need

for training, lower productivity of the new recruit. the younger person has a lower salary and perhaps shorter vacation, but is more likely to quit and move to another employer. taking into account this type of factors, it can be shown that in many workplaces investing in older employees is indeed profitable (Kadefors 2011). Age management, as pointed out by Ilmarinen (2006), offers a way to make it possible for senior employees to retain their employability in older age. It is directed towards all employees, irrespective of age; it addresses health, competence, work organisation, attitudes, relations at the workplace and sometimes even factors outside work. other beneficial factors follow, such as improved work environment and work satis-faction, competence retention, reduced sick leave and employer branding.

AssessInG the Costs And BenefIts of AGe mAnAGement InterventIons

Coststhere are two different types of costs that can be calcu-lated for an age management intervention: • the development and implementation costs (a fixed

amount) of the intervention process as such, and • the running costs of the measures that have resulted

from the intervention.

due to the fact that the interventions in this project have lasted a maximum of 12 months at the time this is being written, there are no running costs of implemented measures available for evaluation at this point. the following analysis is therefore limited to the development and implementation of the interven-tion process costs. however, the text box calculation example provides an idea of how simple it can be to assess and compare even the expected running costs for alternative scenarios based on different managerial decisions.


the following data was compiled by five lighthouse organisations 1 to show the development and implementa-tion costs of intervention activities. the costs include:• work time for the Internal mentor (part-time salary for

the tasks related to his/her age management interven-tion)

• work time of personnel involved in age management interventions e.g. in surveys, trainings, workshops or communication

• work time for meetings with and involvement of man-agement board

• investments and service (e.g. external scientific lectur-ers, trainings etc.)

• further costs like internal and external marketing

lighthouse organisation a<300:In this example, the costs for developing and implement-ing the activities add up for the lighthouse organisation to an amount of 10,535 €, or 46 € per employee (0.54 % of the average annual salary). Additional costs for the external Advisor (financed by the project) were approxi-mately 8,000 €.

lighthouse organisation B 300–999:In this lighthouse organisation, the costs amount to 40,365 €, or approximately 404 € per employee (0.94 % of the average annual salary). Additional costs for the external Advisor (financed by the project) were approxi-mately 25,000 €.

lighthouse organisation C<300:In this lighthouse organisation, the costs for developing the activities were reported as 19,000 €, approximately 0.1 % of the overall profit or 68 € per employee (0.18 % of the average annual salary). Additional costs for the external Advisor (financed by the project) were approxi-mately 18,500 €.

lighthouse organisation d<300:this lighthouse organisation reports total development and implementation costs of 14,600 €, or approximately 97 € per employee (0.21 % of the average annual salary). Costs for the external Advisor (financed by the project) accumulated to approximately 8,000 €.

lighthouse organisation e>1000:the age management development and implementa-tion costs amounted to 22,130 €, or 67 € per employee (0.13 % of the average annual salary). Additional costs for the external Advisor (financed by the project) were approximately 8,750 €.

these costs cannot directly be juxtaposed with the corre-sponding monetary benefits, as these are equally difficult to quantify after such a short time period. however, a

simple approach used by the lighthouse organisations to nevertheless assess the cost effectiveness of the inter-vention is to ask the question “how high must the pro-ductivity gain be to offset the (implementation) costs?” It must be noted that the resources needed for set-ting up an age management will certainly vary depend-ing on wage levels in different countries as well as the activities and objectives. nevertheless, the fact that in all cases less than 1 % of the average salaries were spent on the intervention suggests that the money was well invested when considering the potential benefits.

Benefitsobviously, one needs to be careful about the validity of results, but certainly in each lighthouse organisation the intervention activities have started an intensive discussion, raised awareness of ageing issues and given an important impetus for change. some variations in results from the first to the second round of management interviews or employees surveys can possibly be attrib-uted to either the introduced age management measures themselves or the processes leading to the intervention – i.e. the mere fact that employees were informed about the initiation of an age management intervention and asked for their opinions could have raised their percep-tion of the appreciation that older employees receive from the management. In the following, the identified beneficial factors will be illustrated with material from the project evaluation. It has to be kept in mind that the organisations are located in different countries in the Baltic sea region and thus the (e.g. societal, economic, legal) background is different for each case.

• reduced sick leaves As shown above and confirmed by many studies (e.g. Aldana et al. 2005, Baicker et al. 2010), the costs for sick leaves are significantly reduced by incorpo-rating health care programmes in an organisation. Age management approaches usually take this into account when setting up activities. In the course of the project, indicators for sick leaves were collected in lighthouse organisations as a baseline to allow for an individual comparison in the near future, when all intervention activities will be finalised. meanwhile, there is lots of qualitative, quanti-tative and anecdotal evidence that the intervention activities tackle the problem of absenteeism which is one key topic in most lighthouse organisations:

“Measures proposed by the project were a non-tradi-tional means to promote workers for physical activi-ty. Such innovation was evaluated very favorably by the workers (…) Participants improved their health, wellness and sporting activity.” (MAN>1000) 2

534. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | Cost-BenefIt AnAlYsIs

1 the figures behind the anonymizing letter indicate the size of the organisation according to the number of employees2 the abbreviation “mAn-x“ denotes anonymised material collected from management interviews, while “emPl-Y” stands for material collected from employee research – either aggregated assessments or quotes from the focus group interviews. the figures indicate the size of the organisation according to the number of employees.

Continued employment of 5 senior employees

Annual salary 5 90 % 50,000 225,000

new hires1 1 – 38,500 38,500

recruitment costs 20 % – 7,700 7,700

training3 – – 3,208 9,624

total cost 280,824

recruitment and training of 5 new hires

Annual salary2 5 2 38,500 231,000

– – – – –

recruitment costs 20 % – – 46,200

training4 3 – 3,208 67,368

total cost 344,568

additional costs 63,744

1 1 new recruit to compensate for reduced work-time of senior employees2 2 new recruits/dropouts calculated for half year (probationary period)3 training costs for one new recruit, three months4 training costs for seven new recruits, three months

“Financial benefits of age management can only be seen at the sick leave rate (…) I always have to incorporate time on the bench [of my employees] due to illness, especially the mentally caused by listlessness and demotivation (burnout must not always necessarily be caused by work), age-related failure stories.” (MAN>1000)“[There was an] increase in physical exercising performed by employees” (EMPL300–999) “(…) [T]he awareness level of the employees in

health, physical condition and work ability has increased during the year.” (EMPL>1000)

• higher motivation (and hence productivity/quality of work) It is widely assumed that a higher motivated employ-ee is more productive and his/her work results reach a higher quality (e.g. hakanen and Koivumäki 2014), whereas employees who are “not engaged” or even “actively disengaged” – whose number is, according to

example calculation:

runnInG Costs of ContInued emPloYment of senIor emPloYees

the following calculation of two alternative routes of personnel management practice illustrates the effects of a managerial decision and the monetary advantages and disadvantages of one specific age management measure for an employer. In the first case, five senior employees are further employed, whereas in the second case the five sen-ior employees are replaced by five new employees who need to be recruited first. In the first case an age manage-ment measure is introduced: while the work-time of the retained senior employees is reduced to 80 %, they receive 90 % of their salary (a common example often referred to as the vattenfall 80-90-100 model). the figures used for the calculation are not taken from a specific lighthouse organisation example, but are based on data for schle-swig-holstein (salaries) and can be considered as illustrative amounts based on business experience.

assumptions full-time annual salary senior employees 50,00020 % reduced worktime, 90 % salary 45,000Annual salary new recruits 38,500

recruitment cost (about 20 % of annual salary) 7,700Induction/training of new recruits (3 monthly salaries) 9,624drop-out rate: 7 recruitment tries for 5 successes

thus, although in the first case one new recruit has to compensate for 20 % reduced work-time of the senior em-ployees, the continued employment of five senior employees is beneficial when compared to the recruitment and training of five new recruits. this is mainly caused by the higher recruitment and training costs, as well as the drop-out rate, which is verified by experience in the field of hr and recruitment.


the most recent Gallup study (Gallup 2013) on the rise – are harmful to the company’s productivity. simply by exploiting the potential of motivated employees (or at least some percentage points of it), the competitive-ness and innovation capacity of many organisations can be leveraged. Considering the limited amount of money that needs to be invested for age management – plus the dire need of the top management s com-mitment – this appears to be a good chance to offset the costs. Indeed, the projects’ intervention activities seem to influence and improve this factor:

“Yes, these measures have a significant impact on productivity. (…) The quality of work after these measures is increasing. When an employee feels respect and care for him, he feels a higher obli-gation to carry out well his/her tasks. (…) Often the informal communication process solves a lot of problems that are much more difficult to deal with formally. (…) Of course, the proposed measures increase motivation. One should not think that the motivation – it ’s only money.” (MAN>1000) “Yes. If you feel good at work, you achieve more (…) The quality of work increases, if employees val-ue their own and their colleagues’ work and if they like working in the company.” (MAN<300)“The quality of work increases when employees are satisfied. I think we can achieve that with our measures. (…) There is a connection of equipment and motivation. A lack of equipment is seen as a lack of appreciation and has a demotivating effect. A de-motivated employee is if necessary rather sick and stays home than a motivated. (…) The staff in the [department X] is more motivated because they were included. Through participation, job satisfac-tion could be increased.” (MAN>1000) “During the seminars I gained knowledge, which greatly helps me to work more efficiently, using less energy, it helps me to feel better at work.” (EMPL<300)“I see a growing awareness regarding the workplace atmosphere.” (MAN300–999)

• reduced fluctuation and recruitment costs – less training costs for new specialised employees the likelihood of leaving the current employer is highly negatively correlated with the satisfaction and engagement level of an employee (e.g. towers Perrin 2004). thus, fluctuation, recruitment and training costs as substantial cost factors can be significantly reduced by creating a favourable working environment. from two lighthouse organisations the recruitment and fluctuation costs were collected:

Lighthouse Organisation 1: the costs for recruiting accumulated to 30,548 € per person, including advertisement, travel costs, over-nights, brochures, introduction, work wear, recruit-ment staff, meetings etc. (“everything from advertis-ing to the start of work and 3 months after starting”). this represents approximately 70.9 % of the average annual salary.

Lighthouse Organisation 2: In this company the recruitment costs amount to 3,300 € per person, albeit using a different calculation method. this represents approximately 8.6 % of the average annual salary. When comparing these figures against the imple-mentation and development costs, it is striking which benefits could be generated by reducing the fluctua-tion caused by dissatisfaction. the age management interventions apparently address these issues:

“Intervention measures have a significant impact on reducing staff turnover. (…) When an organi-sation creates an atmosphere favourable in every sense, the employee feels comfortable. Even after getting a job offer anywhere else (with a higher salary), he/she would consider whether it ’s worth changing the team.” (MAN>1000)“I hope so [to implement new measures])! No one will work a long time because of the work envi-ronment and stress we have. Something has to be done.” (MAN300–999)“YES [it can improve the company´s image]. But if employees complain about the company, it may harm the good reputation.” (MAN<300)

• longer access to specialised know-how of older key personnel and better and easier know-how transfer difficult to measure, but one crucial aspect in to-day’s knowledge-based economy is the valorisation and retention of know-how and experience. several lighthouse organisations oriented their interventions towards these objectives via a range of activities, from mentorship, seniors clubs and intergenerational mixed teams to the development of age and competence mapping allowing for structured transfer of intangible know how.

“It [the strategic integration of ageing issues] is the solution to the problem of changing the competence in the organisation. The conditions of exchanging and keeping the knowledge between the best ager and the employee will be created.” (MAN300–999)“We are happy to retain older employees – they are often the most productive and have a high level of

554. evaluation of the aGe manaGement interventions | Cost-BenefIt AnAlYsIs

expertise. We also try to adapt working hours to their needs. My understanding of what we should do to get older people to stay is modification of tasks, individual working hours and financial carrots.” (EMPL300–999)“[We achieved the objective to] Leverage age manage-ment on strategic level to ensure competence mapping and (…) strengthen leadership.” (MAN<300)“There appeared other positive things, such as closer cooperation between the participants of the activi-ties.” (EMPL300–999)“Knowledge transfer between generations should have an influence on the quality of work. Also the respect for different generations should have an influence on quality.” (MAN<300) “During the intervention process it was noticed that the applied measures had a positive impact on communication with 55+ personnel, and influenced the division of work between teaching, research and project activities.” (MAN>1000)

• more attractive employer In times of demographic change, not only is a low-er fluctuation rate (with reduced associated costs) economically beneficial, but it also becomes more and more important for public and private employers to be competitive in attracting highly qualified employees and to recruiting junior staff in general. thus, becom-ing a more attractive employer (also e.g. by branding oneself as generation-friendly organisation) has also been defined as an objective in some interventions:

“It is a too short period for making an evaluation now, but in the future the image of the employer may rise”. (MAN>1000)“This kind of development projects needs to be planned for a longer time period. This has been a very good starting point for us. It is challenging to engage employees in this kind of things. We wish that a longer planning period will increase commitment. (…) Hope-fully, it has an influence on a good employer image and respect towards the employer.” (MAN<300) “Yes, the organisation really can become a more attractive employer.” (EMPL<300)“The results of informal communication move to a for-mal environment, spread out and enhance the brand image. Both staff and students are choosing an organ-ization in which mutual respect and human well-being is the main organizational value.” (MAN>1000)

to conclude, there are clear economic benefits from introducing age management. not all will be measurable immediately, as the change of mindsets and key perfor-mance indicators takes time. some of the indicators were therefore collected in order to have a baseline before the age management intervention started. the lighthouse

organisations can then measure again in the future to assess the changes brought about by the project, or even constantly monitor them. to put it with one manager, the intervention has served as an impetus and kick-off of a long-term process – “the seeds of the idea have been sown”. even considering the limitation of this analysis, all scientific evidence and material gathered from the public and private employers point to the fact that age management pays off in financial aspects in the mid and long term and that it is profitable for all organisations, irrespective of size.

the authors:

Prof. roland Kadeforsuniversity of Gothenburg

dr. Arnis saukastockholm school of economics in riga

jörg stolzenburgmentors for Businesses in schleswig-holstein e.v.

dr. lars schieberrem · Consult


5. reCommendations 57

reCommendAtIons

What this project has achieved during the last two years can only be a start. many lessons have been learnt, and we would like to pass our recommendations on to employers, social partners and policy-makers.

reCommendAtIons for emPloYers

leadership and the employees have got used to. Changing it needs time, patience and mutual trust. Begin with small measures that have an immediate effect. this will generate acceptance and motivate you and your employ-ees to take the next step.Walk the talk! While engaging in a discussion with your employees and managers is a first – and very important – step to cre-ating a work environment that suits all age groups, you should by no means stop there. show your willingness to make changes, even if you are not totally sure about the outcome, or else you risk losing your employees’ trust.

CreAte A more flexIBle WorK envIronment

provide good health care, prevention measures and an ergonomic work environmenthealth is a crucial dimension of the employees’ ability to work and different jobs exert different strains on the human body. While the risk for becoming physically un-able to work is usually higher in blue-collar professions, psychological strains such as hectic schedules or the inability to influence one’s own work affect all employ-ees’ mental health. Proactive approaches to work-related health promotion include a safe, hazard-free work envi-ronment, physically and cognitively ergonomic work solu-tions and a supportive psychosocial work organisation. occupational health services and occupational safety officers are important partners in creating a healthy work environment. remember: preventing employees’ health problems is easier and cheaper than dealing with their consequences.redefine and adjust workload and work processes!Workloads need to be adjusted to the employees’ work ability. excessive workloads and the inability to influ-ence and adapt work processes will push experienced employees to early exit from employment. You can make physically demanding tasks easier to cope with by involv-ing the employee in decisions about task performance and timing and by providing proper equipment. moreover, consider giving experienced employees new, less phys-ically straining tasks, such as sharing their know-how with younger employees as mentors. this allows them to play to their strengths and increases the meaningfulness of their work.

AnAlYse Your orGAnIsAtIon’s sItuAtIon

Carry out age and competence mapping exercises in your organisation to understand your staff situation now and in the future!It all begins with analysing your current situation: how old are your employees? Which departments or profes-sions are particularly affected by ageing? Which are key positions where the loss of competence of experienced employees would hurt most? there are many tools which have been developed for this purpose. make use of them!Consider looking for external help!Age management requires a long-term perspective and long-term commitment. Planning and implementing it requires time. unless your company has a strong hr department, you might want to think about seeking ex-ternal help. Consult your local intermediary organisation (chamber of commerce, industry association) to find a suitable expert.Consult your employees!Your employees are experts on their own behalf. If you ask them about their needs and wishes, they can help you design measures that have an immediate effect on their satisfaction at the workplace and, hence, their mo-tivation. But consider carefully how you approach them. raising personal and sensitive issues requires trust and openness. A respected colleague who has no or little per-sonal interest in the matter could serve as an intermedi-ary between employees and organisational leadership.

mAKe Your oWn AGe mAnAGement roAdmAP

use good practices from elsewhere as inspiration, but find your own way!If you look around, you will find examples of companies and public organisations which have implemented age management measures successfully. let these examples inspire you, but do not try to copy them. every work environment has its own specifics, and you should find solutions that fit yours!don’t try to do everything at once – take one step at a time!Introducing age management measures means changing the work environment which you, the organisational


allow for your employees to have more control over their work (time) arrangements!employers will be facing increasing demands for more flexible work arrangements. Young generations value leisure time and possibilities to work when and wherever it suits their personal situation. mid-career employees are sandwiched between caring for their children and their elderly parents, often simultaneously. experi-enced employees with caregiving duties require flexible work arrangements, such as flextime and telework. By providing good work-life balance opportunities you can enhance current productivity and secure future recruit-ment by being known as an attractive employer.Create age-mixed teams and employ mentoring practices!studies have shown that age-mixed teams are more productive in challenging decision- making tasks than homogenous teams. letting younger, middle-aged and older employees work on a project together allows all of them to bring in their own competences and perspectives. In addition, such teams allow experienced employees to pass on their know-how to inexperienced ones within the work context. start to think about the transfer of tacit knowledge well before an older employee is about to retire.

CArefullY ChAnGe the ComPAnY Culture

Challenge stereotypes about age!According to common stereotypes, older workers are less motivated, less willing and able to learn and reluctant to change. these negative images of ageing exist at all levels – among executives, middle management, and the employees themselves. there is, however, no empiri-cal evidence for such shortcomings of older workers. Contemplate your own experiences of growing older and maturing and reflect upon your perceptions of ageing employees. think about offering seminars or trainings about ageing for your managers. And most importantly: try to lead by example and practice what you preach!show your appreciation!few things affect an employee’s productivity more than the sense of being able to make a meaningful contribu-tion. let your employees know that you value their work and that you care for their satisfaction. the need for regular performance appraisals should be self-evident, but consider introducing additional conversations that focus on long-term career development and sustained work ability.raise the participation rate of older employees in qualification and education – promote lifelong learning!Giving older employees continued access to further edu-cation and on-the-job training is not merely a gesture of

appreciation, but sound hr practice. employees who feel they can sustain or improve their qualification level or even engage in new fields of work keep their motivation and remain productive. enhancing their mentoring skills will provide you with twice the benefit, as also younger employees can profit as well.focus on job competences and personal capabilities when hiring new people, not on age!Age discrimination is a very common practice in the labour market. While employers often value the know-how and experience of their long-term staff members, they are hesitant to hire older applicants. think about what skills you are looking for when designing a job profile and ad-vertising a position. If you put emphasis on empathy, the capability to think strategically and communication skills, older applicants might just be the right choice for you.

CommunICAte WhAt You Are doInG

Keep your employees informed about what’s going on!for years, early retirement has been a very common practice for companies and public organisations alike. therefore, ageing employees might still be suspicious if they notice that the management is working on special measures for their age group. let all employees know that the purpose of your activities is not to get rid of older employees, but to retain them and their expertise in the organisation and to enable them to continue work-ing to their full potential. share your success with other employers!there are very few employers who have never pondered about the consequences of demographic change for their organisation. Yet good examples of age management measures are sometimes hard to find, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. If age management has worked for your organisation, then share your enthusiasm with other executives! there is nothing more convinc-ing than success stories told by those who experienced them.

595. reCommendations | reCommendAtIons for emPloYers

mAKe the ChAnGes lAst

understand age management as a permanent process which needs to be evaluated and updated!even if you have planned your age management meas-ures well, monitoring their results and adapting them as needed is mandatory. Keep in mind that you will see little effects if you do not ensure that newly introduced approaches become permanent company practice. A one-time workshop or training course is not enough – over time your efforts should evolve into an integrated, pro-active strategy that takes into account interdepend-encies between different fields of intervention.assess the costs and benefits of the implemented age management measures!While not all benefits of age management are easi-ly measurable (e.g. employer’s attractiveness for job applicants, increased motivation of employees), easy

calculations are sometimes sufficient to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of age management measures. Compare the costs for keeping an older employee a few years longer with the costs for recruiting a new one. You might be surprised about the outcome.integrate age management into your organisation’s long-term hr strategy!remember that age management is not just target-ed support for older employees, but the creation of a work environment that embraces the contributions of employees of all ages, at all stages of their careers. In the end, many things like diversity management, age management are nothing else but sound hr management practice that takes into account specific abilities and preferences of all employees and enables the organisa-tion to achieve its aims now and in the future.

What did you learn for your personal working life? Participation in the project brought new knowl-edge and experience. many practical examples provided during the project seminars showed how beneficial age management can be for the organisation and its employees. this should be an integral part of human resources management.

What was the defining moment of the intervention? It was very important to see the effective com-munication in our local Age management Partner-ship which enabled us to define an intervention responding to the needs and possibilities of the lighthouse organisation.

What would you have done differently, if you could start the intervention again?

I would try to find resources to start intervention actions earlier in order to have more time for intervention activities and create a more conven-ient schedule for training participants.

“Participation in the project brought new knowledge and experience.”

deimantè unikaitè, external Advisor at Šiauliai state College



reCommendAtIons for soCIAl PArtners And PolICY-mAKers

ChAnGe PerCePtIons ABout AGeInG And demoGrAPhIC ChAnGe

Clarify and communicate the impact of demographic changes on society! It is evident that we will experience demographic changes in the coming decades and that these will have severe consequences on our society. difficult decisions like pension system reforms, school closures or structural changes are unpopular but often unavoidable. denying the challenge ahead is as inept a strategy as fear mon-gering. stick to the facts and inform the society of the real situation, background for decisions and consequenc-es of alternatives.implement more holistic strategies which take into account demographic issues and combine necessary public investments in a smart forward-looking way!often demographic issues are not considered a top priori-ty when strategic decisions are taken. But the conse-quences of a shrinking, more diverse and ageing popula-tion will be felt in many areas of society. demographic change hits societies with different schedules and in different ways, and the wide range of interconnections and cross-cutting impacts should be the ground for decision-making that reaches beyond the next few years. demographic change is a complex and long-term process and so should be the strategies addressing it.Combat age stereotypes and promote a positive image of ageing!older employees’ competences and experience are lauded and praised – yet it is nearly impossible for a 55+ unem-ployed to get back into the labour market. Companies have identified the increasing number of “silver surfers” as a key target group, yet advertisements and media glo-rify youth. today a 60-year old is nothing like a 60-year old thirty years ago, yet the image of age seems to have remained the same. Changing mind-sets is a lengthy and difficult task – and needs support from all levels.

fInd And Promote Good PrACtICe

raise awareness to demonstrate the positive influ-ence of age management on the economy!studies confirm the significant return on investment of workplace interventions on the respective organisation’s

performance and in turn on the regional economy. Com-municating and promoting this relationship convincingly should encourage all relevant stakeholders to engage in age management – employers and employees alike!promote work ability!employees should be enabled to stay healthy, motivat-ed and willing to work productively until they retire. the work environment should account for the fact that personal capacities and individual needs as well as work requirements (e.g. new tasks, new technologies, chang-es in the organisation and leadership) change over the course of a working career. employers, works councils and employees all share the responsibility to adapt work-ing conditions early enough to sustain the employee’s work ability and the organisation’s productivity.facilitate pilot action programmes in companies to provide incentives for others!many companies face a need to adjust their hr strategy to demographic changes, but executives and personnel managers often do not know how to implement changes in practice. despite several successful initiatives, there is still a lack of visible examples – especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Promote and finance cam-paigns and model development competitions to identify good practices or initiate pilot action programmes which offer targeted support and expertise for companies and public institutions willing to engage in age management.tell success stories!People learn best from good examples they can relate to, especially if they hear first-hand experience reports. Identify persons or organisations in your region who have found a positive approach to ageing, and encourage them to tell their stories and give them opportunities to inspire others, e.g. at seminars, conferences and fairs!

leAd the WAY And set exAmPles

enhance cooperation between social partners and companies!the social partners are predestined to be champions of age-friendly labour markets and hr policies. they should see it as their duty to promote age management as an instrument that can enhance the economic performance of the company while simultaneously producing a posi-tive and healthy atmosphere at the workplace. Working together can generate mutual trust which will be much needed when dealing with further demographic challenges.

615. reCommendations | reCommendAtIons for emPloYers | reCommendAtIons for soCIAl PArtners And PolICY-mAKers

include age management issues into collective agreements!While it should be commended that more and more com-panies begin to implement age management practices, each of them is only an individual case with limited repercussions outside the organisation. Collective agreements that anticipate and take into account de-mographic trends can make a difference within a whole industry sector and effect changes also in small and medium-sized enterprises that have little demographic literacy. social dialogue should result in a consistent regulatory framework that allows for the required flexi-bility.serve as role model for your member organisations!Public institutions and social partner organisations which seek to encourage others to include demographic issues in their hr policy need to be convincing. there-fore, they should incorporate good practices in their own strategy and seek to become role model organisa-tions for both employers’ and employees’ interests.

enhance support for further education and training of older employees!Acquiring and retaining competence is a key requirement for employees to remain employable. It is therefore vital to increase the participation of older employees in fur-ther education and training as well as life-long learning.

ChAnGe lAWs And reGulAtIons

focus on the life-cycle approach, from pre-school to retirement!Keep in mind that those who are young now will be old tomorrow. As people age, their preferences and desires change. making policy for one age group at the expense of others might fetch votes in the short run, but could as well backfire in the long term. All policy decisions should take into account the current and future interests of all age groups – including those who are not capable of taking part in the political process yet – or anymore.adjust the legal system to simplify working longer/after retirement age!If the working environment is appropriate and both employer and employee agree on continuing the employ-ment also after the official retirement age, there are no losers and many winners – including the social security system. therefore, there should be no laws or regulations that could prevent working after retirement age. those who can and want to remain in employment should find incentives, not barriers.make it easy for retired persons to operate as entre-preneurs!there are many factors that could motivate older employ-ees to become entrepreneurs instead of working longer. for some it is attractive to define their own tasks and working hours, for others it is an option to avoid the dif-ficult process of finding a new job as an older applicant. simplify regulations and reduce the administrative bur-den that comes with starting and operating a business.allow for flexibility and a smooth transitional phase to pension age!each job and each employer is different – therefore, individual ways in the last years of employment should be made possible. Concepts and offers, e.g. to remain employed part-time, should be fostered at national policy level and widely communicated. facilitate the compatibility of work and family!due to several societal trends, employees increasingly try to bring in line their family life with their work. While in younger years, flexibility for children remains the main topic of employees, in older years the care for their own parents is most relevant. facilitating the combination of family needs and working life will help the employees to stay motivated and value their employer’s framework conditions.


ClosInG remArKs

the ageing of workforces is a micro- and macroeconomic challenge. In the foreseeable future, the shrinking of the working age population in europe will make itself more felt with every year. Companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, and public organisations will be affected in many ways, most notably through the loss of senior knowledge and recruiting difficulties in labour markets with a decreasing supply of qualified labour. Yet this process can also be understood as an op-portunity to readjust the way how employers and deci-sion-makers look upon the employee as an individual, to change perspectives from securing short-term profits to sustaining productivity in the long term, and to develop creative approaches for work ability, knowledge transfer and life-long learning. In the course of the Best Agers lighthouses project it has been demonstrated throughout that it is worth-while starting to change “the big picture”. mindsets to-wards older employees are difficult to change in the short term, but demographic trends do not care about this reluctance to take action and continue to evolve. those who anticipate these changes and start adapting early on will have a competitive advantage in the years to come.

In a transnational project there is usually a great variety of perspectives that must be accommodated. In-dividual country and sector specifics, research ambitions and pragmatic business practice, nine different organi-sations with different cultures and leadership styles – to combine all this in a joint approach is a challenge in itself. the development of common “terms of reference” for the interventions and a joint research methodology took its time, but proved to be necessary. And once the initial obstacles had been overcome, it became clear that transnational exchange allows for fruitful discussions, self-reflection and learning from others. thus, the added value of exchange through webinars and meetings was achieved on different levels. It turned out that, despite the great effort that the project partners made to find employers and despite the growing awareness of skilled labour shortages, it was no easy task to convince small and medium-sized enterprises and public institutions to take part in the interventions. the reluctance of many organisations can partly be attributed to the requirements set by the project as regards the scientific evaluation. nevertheless, it remains an important task to look at the reasons why

635. reCommendations | 6. ClosinG remarKs

organisations are hesitant to introduce age management and to develop more effective communication strategies towards employers. our lighthouse organisations underwent an individ-ually adjusted and developed age management interven-tion, and despite the short time period it can already now be seen that they benefit positively – albeit very differently – from the project. the lighthouses have be-gun to “shine”, and this was one of our key project aims. the project partners themselves experienced many times how inspiring it can be to hear about age management directly from those who decided to introduce measures in their organisations or from those who benefitted from these measures. We hope that our “lighthouses” can fulfil the same function, inspire other employers and help raise awareness among organisations and social partners in the partner regions and beyond. As regards the lessons learnt from the age manage-ment interventions, only some aspects shall be high-lighted here. It was of utmost importance for nearly all interventions that there was at least one person who functioned as a change agent and driving force for the intervention. In our project this was usually the Internal mentor. It also proved successful to pair this person with an external Advisor who provided not only experience and know-how, but also a bird’s eye perspective and a fresh

approach. At the same time, it should be kept in mind that this advisor should not instruct the organisation on how to follow a blue-print, but rather help it develop its own strategy. After all, no one knows the organisation as well as the people who run it and no one knows the employees’ needs as well as the employees themselves. We also found that when starting an age manage-ment process it is wise to take small, but effective steps at first in order to secure the involvement and support of employees and managers of all levels of the organisation. many different organisational tasks and processes take place at the same time, and age management should not become an additional burden, but a strategy to make work more manageable and productive for everyone. furthermore, appreciation, leadership and full commit-ment of the top management always recur as principle preconditions for implementing age management in a sustainable manner. to sum up: enthusiasm has to be generated in the short term, but perseverance is needed to transfer age management from a single project into a lasting process. Although the intervention approach that was developed, tested and evaluated in this project has proven success-ful, it is still only one approach of many. It does not matter which path one takes – staying on it is far more important.


“I would like to advise employers to value older employees, even if their health might get worse or their physical capacity might decline.”

tercizijus varkala, phdfacilitating Partner at Ktu regional science Park


What did you learn for your personal working life? my work experience is more than 35 years. In my working life I met many persons of various age, with various opinions and characters. I have always supported and, up to now, am supporting the creation of work teams with persons of dif-ferent age and different experience. the results of the survey of the Best Agers lighthouses project confirmed that this way is the most efficient and that it allows achieving maximum outcomes.

What is the most important lesson learnt from the project?

I would like to mention two most important lessons from the project. firstly: each person (es-pecially superiors) should be an attentive listener in the communication process, in particular with older persons. secondly: the management of the organisation should assess core factors affecting individual work ability (health and functional capacities, competence, values, attitudes and motivation).

What is your argument to convince employers to start an age-management process?

I would like to advise employers to value older employees, even if their health might get worse or their physical capacity might decline. employ-ers should know that other functions, such as strategic thinking, considerateness, wisdom, ho-listic perception improve with age. older employ-ees have priceless experience and are more loyal to their employer. All this has been confirmed by my own experience.

Photo CredIts

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ilmarinen. j. (2006). “towards a longer Working life. Ageing and the quality of worklife in the european union”. helsinki: finnish Institute of occupational health Kadefors, r. (2011). “Costs and Benefits of Best Agers employment.” Project report, www.best-agers-project.eumykletun, r. j. furunes, t. (2010). “the Ageing Workforce management Programme in vat-tenfall AB nordic, sweden: final report”, in: r. ennals, r salomon (eds.), “older workers in a sustainable socie-ty”. Berlin: Peter lang verlag – education, labour and societysimpson, p. Greller, m. stroh, l. (2002). ”variations in human Capital Investment activity by age”, journal of vocational Behavior 61:109–138sterns, h.l. (1986). “training and re-training adults and older adult work-ers”, in: j.e. Berren, P.K. robinson, j.e. livingston (eds.), Age, health and employment, englewood Cliffs: Prentice-hall, pp. 93–113taylor, p. Walker, a. (1998). “employers and older workers: attitudes and employment practices”. Ageing and society 18:641–658towers perrin (2005). the Business Case for Workers Age 50+: Planning for tomorrow’s talent needs in to-day’s Competitive environment. http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/workers_fity_plus.pdfWallin, m. hussi, t. (2011). “Best practices in Age management – evaluation of organisation cases.” http://www.tsr.fi/c/document_library/get_file?folderId =13109&name=dlfe-8009.pdf

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BIBlIoGrAPhY

publisher: Wirtschaftsakademie schleswig holstein Gmbh, Kiel, www.wak-sh.deeditors: lars schieber and hauke siemen, rem · Consult, hamburg, www.rem-consult.eudesign, layout and illustrations: lynn Grevenitz, Kulturkonsulat Gbr, hamburg, www.kulturkonsulat.com

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ImPrInt


© Best Agers lighthouses project, september 2014

this publication has been produced with the assistance of the

european union.

the content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the

Best Agers lighthouses project and can in no way be taken to

reflect the views of the european union.

www.best-agers-lighthouses.eu

demographic change affects the labour markets around the Baltic sea region. employers

have to deal with the ageing of their employees and adjust human resource management

to maintain their competitiveness. In the course of the “Best Agers lighthouses” project,

nine public and private organisations started age management interventions which included

various measures aimed at retaining older employees’ knowledge and creating a work envi-

ronment that enables employees of all ages to work up to their potential. the interventions

are presented and evaluated as case studies in this booklet and recommendations are given

for employers, policy makers and social partners.

Documents

Competitiveness and employment for the uture:f … Agers...Šiauliai Chamber of Commerce, industry and Crafts, lithuania the Šiauliai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts (sCCIC)