Page 29 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

life and work paths (before and after they enter the labour market) (Cedefop,
2005; 2008c).
Age management covers the various dimensions by which human resources
are managed within organisations with an explicit focus on ageing and the overall
management of the ageing workforce via public policy or collective bargaining
(Walker and Eurofound, 1997).
Eurofound (2006) identified eight dimensions of age management, which
can be seen as different approaches to reaching the goals of the (overall) age
management strategy:
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(a) job recruitment ( );
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(b) training and lifelong learning ( );
(c) career development;
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(d) flexible working time practices ( );
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(e) health protection and promotion, and workplace design ( );
(f) redeployment;
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(g) employment exit and the transition to retirement ( );
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(h) comprehensive approaches ( ).
These eight dimensions do not only reflect purely functional aspects of
activities, such as the matching of knowledge and skills to tasks, and recruitment
procedures. They also impinge on development issues related to work-home
balance, transmission of knowledge, and motivation.
Guidance, while incorporating models which match talents to jobs (Parsons,
1909; Williamson, 1939; Holland 1973, 1985), within a static and limited
understanding of the individuals, also incorporates a holistic approach that
reflects lifelong career paths. This approach clearly considers the various roles
an individual plays all through his/her life and the change in their importance and
meaning for the person as he/she becomes older (e.g. Super, 1980; 1990).
The first type of approach tends to privilege the use of testing as a
preferential tool to assess skills, values or other characteristics, attempting to
create informed correspondence with tasks and occupations. The second tends
to privilege the promotion of reflexivity, frequently through face-to-face methods,

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( ) Walker and Eurofound, 1997, p. 3.
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( ) Walker and Eurofound, 1997, p. 4.
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( ) Walker and Eurofound, 1997, p. 5; Naegele and Walker, 2000, p. 8.
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( ) Naegele and Walker, 2000, p. 8.
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( ) Naegele and Walker, 2000, p. 10.
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( ) Walker and Eurofound, 1997, p. 11.

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