Page 100 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

Increasing the value of age: guidance in employers’ age management strategies

learning new skills; this added-value for the employee is usually seen as enough
incentive for employees to participate.

6.3. Guidance delivery

In this section the methods used to deliver (and obtain) guidance are discussed.
The same distinction as above – who, what, why – is used.

6.3.1. Who participates in the delivery stage?
This section examines the following dimensions:
(a) entitlement and/or obligation: who is entitled or obliged to participate, and
when is such a selection made (if any)?
(b) actors involved (apart from the employee(s)).

Some case studies require mandatory participation of selected employees.
This can occur on both the delivery and the start-up stage. In most cases where
the two-step approach is used, employee participation in the delivery stage is
voluntary.
Cases can be classified according to the level of obligation:
(a) low directive nature: the employee decides whether or not to participate;
(b) medium directive nature: the employee and management jointly decide
whether or not the employee will participate;
(c) high directive nature: management decides which employees can
participate.

Cases can also be classified according to the involvement required from the
employee:
(a) low involvement, where the required input of the employee is minimal (such
as attending a lecture);
(b) medium involvement, where some input is required from the employee (such
as. attending simple training over a couple of days);
(c) high involvement, where the employee is required to commit time and effort
and is very involved in the entire process (such as an intensive mentorship
programme).
Table 10 shows an analysis of obligation level for guidance activities against
the involvement required from the employee, with a direct relationship between
both variables. When the level of obligation is low, the involvement required from
the employee is low or medium in most situations; a higher level of obligation
tends to carry a higher level of engagement. This is an unsurprising conclusion,

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