Page 27 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

2.2.1. Assessment at system level
At system level, the national context of active age management policies has been
assessed, along with the diversity of initiatives that have been developed
(historical background, prevailing ideologies, and welfare regimes). Focus is
given to the role of guidance in these policies, assessing whether guidance
activities are well integrated or if they are considered a separate world.
To achieve this, political and legal frameworks were assessed, including
broader active age management policies, legal arrangements for older workers
and public sector approaches supporting active age management (policies and
programmes) and the role of guidance in these policies.
Existing structures and the role of stakeholders were also assessed. This
analysis considered the funding schemes, including government funding (local,
regional, national), enterprise-funded initiatives, and European funding (such as
the European Social Fund (ESF)). Outputs and results from national policies
were also assessed.
System level analysis is viewed against the development of the European
Council priorities for lifelong guidance policy in the specific context of active
ageing (Council of the European Union, 2008b). This drives the analysis to
investigate matters such as the level of access of older workers to career
counselling services, the existence of national level strategies for the
development of career management skills (CMS) for diverse age groups, or the
level of concern that partners in active ageing programmes show in assessing the
impact of guidance activities.

2.2.2. Assessment at organisation level
The organisation analysis also accounts for the contribution of guidance to value
formation in the organisations, implying a value chain approach. As with other
activities within organisations, guidance elements that will tend to generate
greater value added are:
(a) the quality of its inputs, such as the skills of the professionals involved, the
adequacy of methods employed;
(b) the organisation of its processes, strategies for worker engagement, level of
formalisation of the approaches, ethical concerns, resource to distance
guidance, external cooperation;
(c) quality assurance of outputs, monitoring and assessment systems put into
place.

An organisation has (or rather can have) an age management strategy in
which every organisation aspect related to age plays a role. Whenever present,
this age management strategy will be embedded in human resources policy.

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