Villalba-van Dijk, Lidia

Eurofound’s research on ‘Restructuring in recession and labour force participation’ explored the age management practices of companies in light of restructuring undergone during the recession. The study looked at policy in relation to the retention of older workers (aged 50 or more) in employment at national and establishment levels in nine European Union (EU) Member States. This is the report for Spain.

Eurofound’s research on ‘Restructuring in recession and labour force participation’ explored the age management practices of companies in light of restructuring undergone during the recession. The study looked at policy in relation to the retention of older workers (aged 50 or more) in employment at national and establishment levels in nine European Union (EU) Member States. This is the report for the Netherlands.

There are two approaches to age management at Abengoa. Firstly, Abengoa has HR practices and policies that promote the employability and mobility of all workers - although these policies apply to the whole workforce, regardless of age. These policies enable employees to remain in the job market and also help to extend their working life. Secondly, the organisation has specific age management policies including partial retirement policies.

The HR department at Ford works in accordance with the Ford Collective Agreement agreed directly at the company level. The Collective Agreement has some specific policies aimed at older workers and these are implemented fully at Ford. The following elements of the Agreement directly affect this age group: seniority bonuses, retirement practices.

In the Netherlands, until 2008 workers over the age of 52 were entitled to additional holiday entitlements of one day a week. However, as part of the efforts to make employing older staff more attractive to companies, the trade unions agreed that in some sectors older workers should lose their preferential age-related benefits, such as additional holidays. Instead, employers were encouraged to invest more in education and training.

DHV is a company reliant on the knowledge and personal skills of people. People are the most important asset of the company, and as a consequence the philosophy is to ensure strong HR policies that encourage employability and mobility of workers over time for the entire workforce. The company has therefore placed strong emphasis on training and development, on promoting a healthy workforce, as well as on new ways of working, all of which provide more freedom for workers to choose the means to do their work. These measures specifically address the main causes for which older people exit the labour market early (health, degradation of skills, and lack of flexibility in work arrangements).