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CHAPTER 11
Maintaining senior

employment: some lessons

from best practices in France

Fabienne Caser

In 2009, ANACT (French national agency for the improvement of working
conditions) carried out a study on companiesʼ best practices as regards
maintaining or bringing senior employees back to the workplace. Involving 40
French companies of varying sizes, status and business sectors, the study
shows that action taken to foster senior employment concerns three
complementary dimensions: preserving employee health; developing their
skills; and fostering worker commitment. The practices identified cover a broad
range of initiatives, focusing both on the work environment (working
conditions, human resources management practices, management methods)
and on employees (recruitment, training, etc.). They include vocational risk
prevention and job development anticipation initiatives, designed not solely
for senior employees, but for all company employees in general. Some of the
practices involve employee guidance or counselling, in particular for
employees who have reached career end, through various training, vocational
review, preparation for sharing of experienced-based know-how or
entrepreneur support systems. With regard to this type of action, the study
shows that the basic features of such systems play as an important part in
fostering job maintenance for seniors as do their consistency and interplay
with the employeesʼ work environment. It also shows that it is important, when
designing and implementing such systems, to consider certain features
specific to the senior audience, and to focus on the preliminary step, that is
mobilisation of those who might benefit from the programme.