Page 88 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

All cases have introduced an age management strategy, have used
guidance in implementing the strategy, and have embedded it in their (written)
human resources policy or work process. All can be seen as a form of innovation
and system change, the possible exception being Rabobank, where the
community created by employees themselves is not formally embedded in the
human resources policy of the organisation. However, management informally
supports the initiative and the community has access to resources of the
organisation, such as the Rabobank intranet, so this case is also categorised as
an innovative change.
Signposting and informing are the most common guidance activities found in
the case studies; in all except one, employees are informed about the age
management strategy. This is a necessary first step, especially when the strategy
has recently been introduced in the organisation.
This is an overarching type of guidance, aimed at promoting opportunities for
older employees. Eesti Energia is an exception, in which the management
consciously decided not to inform employees about the specific age management
strategy for fear of a negative response from staff. The management worried that
its actions might be seen as confirming stereotypes of older employees and
giving them the feeling that they were redundant.
Counselling activities can be found in several case studies, although with
relatively unstructured approaches. These activities are referred to as ‘talks’ or
‘conversations’ with direct supervisors or members of management, aiming at
shared reflection on the employee’s career and its development possibilities.
Although close to conventional counselling sessions in some ways, these
reflexive exercises are not clearly supported by a theoretical counselling
framework or by specialised staff (although reference is made to counselling
training and the presence of consultants). It is also not always clear if these
conversations have a fully voluntary and open character. Interesting examples
are the ‘individual interviews about latter career stages’ at Crédit Industriel et
Commercial (CIC), the ‘senior conversations’ at Enemærke og Petersen or the
‘career guidance meetings at 55’ at Kronoberg County Council.
Mentoring activities can frequently be found, although not necessarily being
aimed at offering support to older employees to help them overcome personal
barriers. Often mentoring programmes are aimed at increasing productivity and
knowledge sharing between generations. When correctly implemented (under
ethical practice) mentoring activities increase the productive contribution of all
workers and enhance the professional and personal roles of both age groups in a
personally rewarding way.

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