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Working and ageing
208 Guidance and counselling for mature learners

11.3. Key findings

Forty companiesʼ practices were examined and described, with respect to:
(a) areas of action covered and combination thereof, in accordance with their
primary focus (health, skills or commitment);
(b) types of practices, depending on whether they were more or less geared
at the individual or/and the environment and depending on whether they
were guided more by action in the field of human resources and/or the
field of task accomplishment conditions;
(c) action targets (individual versus group, seniors versus all ages);
(d) action timeframes, depending on whether these were preventive and/or
remedial;
(e) implementation procedures (scope of initiative, types of players involved).
Based on the analysis, the first success factor identified in the initiatives
taken appears to be the degree to which they are connected with the
organisationsʼ performance objectives. In this sense, the initial issue identified
by companies does not necessarily pertain to the senior age group, even
though features specific to that population can be uncovered along the way.
Therefore, at the outset, the question is not so much determining how to keep
seniors active in the workplace as understanding how seniors came to appear
a beneficial resource – or a problem – for companies, as they strive towards
their objectives.
The following two main models were identified:
(a) defensive thinking (senior employment maintenance is approached as a
problem): the challenge is to adapt skills or lower the costs arising from a
decline in health indicators);
(b) offensive thinking: (senior employment maintenance is a prerequisite to
durability): the challenge is to retain skills, attract new resources and build
loyalty in them.
Regardless of the question set out initially, many companies carried out
(internally, or with assistance of an outside party) a diagnostic review prior to
taking action. This review was used to set the process in motion, both by
bringing out and spreading knowledge about the issues at stake in a senior
employment plan, and by better delineating the companyʼs particular situation
and paving the way for mobilisation. This stage proved particularly important
when creative action was to be taken, in which company members – and,
first and foremost, members of management – were not accustomed to
playing a part.