Page 26 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

CHAPTER 2.

Research questions, concept and methods

2.1. Objectives and research questions

With current demographic and economic trends requiring extension of older
workers’ careers until statutory retirement age or even beyond, this Cedefop
study is aimed at:
(a) exploring the way the European Union (EU) and national policy and strategy
frameworks address the ageing workforce across the EU-27. Specific focus
is on ageing as a transversal element in policies and strategies linked to
employment, education-training and social inclusion of older workers;
(b) identifying good practices which reflect innovative approaches in designing,
developing, implementing and monitoring age management strategies in
public and private sector organisations, with guidance as an integral
element. Such strategies should as a minimum have two specific features:
promoting (lifelong) learning and career development opportunities in the
work place; and offering flexible work practices to ageing staff members with
a view to keeping them longer in employment;
(c) delivering key messages for EU and national policy and decision-makers, for
employers and for guidance experts, to support future policy and practice.
The aim here is to strengthen the role of guidance in active age
management strategies at national level as well as to support employers in
setting up and implementing such strategies in workplaces across Europe.

2.2. Three-level approach

On a macro level, this study analyses how EU and national policies address the
issues of staying long in employment and provides a framework for organisations
to deploy guidance in age management strategies in the workplace.
On a meso level, it addresses how lifelong guidance – in its different
activities and strategies – is embedded in employer’s age management strategies
supporting lifelong learning and skills development of older workers).
These levels form the analytical starting point of this study, studying each
level separately but also in interaction with each other, to allow understanding of
guidance effects and relevance at worker level (micro level) with particular
emphasis on the group of older workers.

20