Page 49 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

instruments, mainly focused on on-the-job training and self-directed learning.
Larger organisations more varied training instruments (including internal and
external training, mentorship, study circles);
(e) little research is done on how guidance activities are embedded in active
age management strategies;
(f) the integration of guidance activities in the firm tends to have an
instrumental, situated character, with little concern for the lifelong
development of individual career paths;
(g) previous research on career guidance in the workplace shows that, although
there are positive examples of guidance and counselling in the workplace,
they are frequently not systematic, not clear and do not necessarily account
for individuals’ characteristics;
(h) most workplace guidance support is targeted at key talents groups such as
management staff and young recruited, while most other employees, such
as older workers, are expected to take responsibility for their own career
development;
(i) access by lower-qualified, older workers to guidance and learning is
dramatically reduced since it becomes dependent on individual initiative to
access outside, formal career support services. Older workers are frequently
demotivated, with low levels of self-confidence and self-esteem, and unlikely
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autonomously to search for external support ( ).

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( ) See the comments of Plant (2008) for further discussion on this matter.

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