Page 116 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

7.3. Key elements for success

There is a question of whether age management and guidance are always
successfully implemented in an organisation. There are factors that limit potential
success and potential outcomes. In most situations the key elements for success
are linked to the size of the organisation:
(a) time and money must be available for development and implementation;
(b) activities must be entrenched and anchored in existing policy;
(c) mutual trust is important;
(d) (external) expertise is important for development and implementation;
(e) the activities must fit in the organisation.

Important obstacles to success are time and money. In some cases the
benefits do not outweigh the (short-term) additional costs, which can restrict the
development of policy as a whole and also the hiring of the necessary (external)
expertise. This hinders not only the initiation of these types of activities, but also
the implementation process. Some cases had to abort or restrict further
development because:
(a) the intended approach was proving to be more expensive than thought, and
grew (financially) too large to be fully implemented;
(b) the (policy) priority of the organisation changed because of a specific event
(the economic situation of the company deteriorated or an incident in the
workplace changed the priority of the organisation);
(c) it can be difficult to find substitutes if an employee needs to reduce working
hours. This creates high workload for other employees, and guidance
activities might not be implemented as planned due to time limitations (this
problem was encountered in Kiruna).
Putting effort into entrenching and anchoring the project in all levels of the
organisation, especially in larger organisations, is an important key element. Most
of the instruments have to be embedded in human resources policy, such as
individual employee meetings. Entrenchment can be one of the core success
factors of an initiative.
Kronoberg County Council is a good example. In this case, considerable
effort was put into entrenching and anchoring the project at all levels of the
organisation, such as the political administration, human resources department
and the central working environment committee. The unions were also involved in
the process. Most of the instruments were embedded in human resources
management, such as individual employee meetings.
This seems especially relevant in organisations where there is a high turn-
over of employees and management. To maintain awareness of the age

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