Social partners discuss employment of ageing workforce

Within the framework of the EU project Ageing Workforce 2, a conference entitled ‘Ageing workforce – a challenge or a threat’ took place on 25 June 2010 in Bratislava. Organised by the National Union of Employers, it was attended by representatives of employers, trade unions, the Slovak Statistical Office and experts from research institutions. Delegates analysed the reality of the situation faced by companies and offered their views on Slovakia’s ageing workforce.

Conference on ageing workforce

Within the framework of the project Ageing Workforce 2, funded by the European Commission, social partners discussed the employment issues raised by an ageing workforce at a conference entitled Ageing workforce – a challenge or a threat? Organised by the National Union of Employers (RÚZ SR) in Bratislava, Slovakia on 25 June 2010, it was attended by representatives of employers, trade unions, the Slovak Statistical Office (ŠÚ SR) and experts from research institutions. Particular attention was paid to strengthening the bipartite social dialogue in companies on policies dealing with the employment of an ageing workforce.

At the beginning of the conference, the project Ageing Workforce 2 was outlined and its objectives, progress and expected outcomes were presented to the delegates. This was followed by descriptions from different perspectives of some of the issues involved. Issues highlighted during the conference included:

• current trends in demography;

• the impact of an ageing population on the economies of the EU countries;

• the position of elderly workers in the Slovak labour market and in society;

• the ‘ silver economy’ as a new phenomenon in the labour market;

• an ageing workforce as a new challenge in the field of occupational safety and health;

• examples of best practice in the employment of elderly people.

Existing conditions for employment of an ageing workforce

Age management is a new issue in the Slovak Republic and it is difficult for individual companies to access information about practical approaches to the problem even though employers are aware that elderly people will play a more important role in the labour market in the future. Bigger companies can analyse their human resources (HR) management and take steps to prolong effective functioning of their ageing workforces, investing in training programmes and health programmes, and offering benefits tailored to the needs of an ageing workforce. Common examples include leave for the birth of grandchildren and investing in adapting workplaces to make them suitable for elderly workers. The motivation behind such an approach is to retain expertise and ensure the transfer of elderly workers’ knowledge and experience to the younger generation. In small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), however, where companies often do not have the financial resources to invest in adapting the workplace or offering special employment benefits, young employees are preferred.

Several interesting reports were presented at the conference; one dealt with the position of the Slovakia’s middle-aged generation, caught between fulfilling their duties to care for elderly relatives and also trying to help younger members of the family, both financially and by providing vital services such as taking care of grandchildren.

Views of social partners

Employers expect and demand that elderly employees be more open to new forms of work organisation and innovative practices and technology. Yet the need to be more flexible is not the only issue faced by those working into the later years of life. Successful employment for older workers also requires a general shift in attitudes to ageing in the whole workforce, focusing for instance on the need to lead a healthy lifestyle in young and middle age, so that workers will still be active and be able to enjoy a good quality of life in old age. This can be expressed in the belief that ‘it is not about years being added to life, but about life being added to years’.

Representatives of trade unions at the conference criticised the efforts of employers to prioritise flexibility of employment conditions at the expense of workers’ social security. They agreed with employer representatives and other conference participants that society as a whole needs to change its attitude to the ageing process. There is a growing requirement to develop training programmes with an ageing population in mind, and to develop and implement support programmes for enterprises, especially SMEs, to encourage them to employ older workers in Slovakia.

Beata Perichtová, Institute for Labour and Family Research