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Kronoberg County Council, Sweden: flexible work practices

Organisational background

Kronoberg County Council’s most important responsibility relates to health care, and around 85% of its activity is devoted to medical and health services. Currently, the council operates 24 medical centres, public dental services in 15 district clinics, and three hospitals, one of them specialising in psychiatric care. The council also supports cultural activities, public transport etc. It is an organisational unit of the county of Kronoberg and is politically governed.

The council represents the largest employer in the county of Kronoberg, with 5,280 employees, 80% of whom are women. The five largest staff categories are nurses (28%), assistant nurses (15%), doctors (9%), keepers (9%) and administrators (8%). Employees’ average age is 47 years. Almost 20% of the workforce are aged between 50 and 59 years, almost 28% are over 55 years and more than 11% are aged over 60 years. The council expects many employees to retire within 10 years. Staff turnover is currently 6.7%.

Problems in maintaining staff levels are anticipated by the council, particularly as research shows that 40% of health care employees will leave the labour market within 15 years. Therefore, the council depends on its older employees for both skills and staffing.

Dialogue with the trade unions is cooperative and the unions are involved in initiatives aimed at addressing the future labour supply.

The original initiative

The council introduced an initiative primarily aimed at creating a longstanding work organisation and leadership approach that would improve the work environment and lower rates of sickness absence. It also aimed to increase opportunities for older employees to stay at work longer.

In practical terms, the initiative tried to adopt an age-management approach by improving the ability of employees aged over 55 years to stay at work. The council wanted to create a positive attitude among management in relation to its own and other employees’ ageing. The initiative also aimed to increase management’s ability to create individual solutions that took into account older employees’ strengths and weaknesses, and to develop a more person-focused leadership approach that would benefit all employees, irrespective of age.

The initiative’s most important effect was to create an awareness within the council of the issues relating to an ageing workforce and to improve attitudes towards older workers. Evaluations show that participants found the individual discussions with educators to be its most rewarding feature. The initiative also resulted in a more structured approach to strategies designed to retain employees; in addition, it increased opportunities for older workers’ to share their skills.

Good practice today

Kronoberg’s County Council continues to implement the comprehensive age-management measures that it developed in the original initiative. Such measures include:

§ skills training for managers – a plan for manager training is being prepared to ensure that the original initiative is implemented in everyday activities;

§ using pensioners as substitutes–employees at two of the council’s facilities can continue to work as substitutes after retirement when they reach 64 years of age;

§ career planning at 55 years of age(see below);

§ mentorship – one of the council’s facilities has a structured skills-transfer programme;

§ enhancing workers’ employability – the county council aims to keep all workers’ skills up-to-date to preserve their employability;

§ learning centre – the council has set up local learning centres that use moderntechniques and where workers can pursue formal education or other training, flexibly and at their own pace;

§ validation – the council plans to validate experience-based knowledge so that workers can more easily move between job categories or employers;

§ career and advice centre – the council plans to set up a career and advice centre to facilitate career planning;

§ revisions of policy documents – policy documents are being revised to reflect the original initiative’s message regarding the importance of age awareness and person-focused management.

Some of these measures (e.g. pensioners as substitutes, career planning at 55 years of age, and mentorship) are first implemented in one or more facilities, while others are implemented at the same time throughout the organisation.

In 2004, the county council introduced a career planning initiative among workers aged 55 years, to help them plan the next 10 to 12 years of their working lives. This initiative is aimed at dealing with expected shortages in the labour supply by encouraging older employees to stay on at work. It is also a way of dealing with rising rates of absenteeism, especially among workers aged 55 years and over, and with early retirement. Health problems and stressful work are the main reasons for early retirement.

The career-planning discussion aims to keep older employees at work for longer. The personnel manager describes it as a way of shedding light on employees’ last working years and of taking into account their ideas on how to end their careers. Consideration is given to workers in relation to their job aspirations, for example, regarding a change of tasks. For instance, one of these discussions resulted in two workers, a kitchen assistant and a cleaner, switching their jobs.

To date, around 30 employees have taken part in these discussions. The personnel manager also observes that career-planning discussions would benefit employees throughout their working lives.

Overall, the discussions have been successful . Older employees appreciate the attention and recognition that the consultation implies. They perceive it as a focused discussion that has greater scope compared to the regular performance reviews and they also appreciate its long-term focus. One negative effect, however, is that it can create expectations that the council cannot fulfil.

It is too early to say how the initiative has affected the organisation as a whole and if the expected effects, such as a prolonged working life, have been achieved. The council plans to continue its career-planning discussions for workers aged 55 years and, if the results continue to be positive, to extend the measure throughout the organisation.

Further information

Carl Krekola, Personnel manager, email: carl.krekola@ltkronoberg.se

Company website: www.ltkronoberg.se