Cacace, Mirella

Vienna General Hospital sees the importance of the tackling the issue of ageing in terms of organisational strategy, organisational culture, personal development, organisation of work, and individual health of employees. The human resource department at Vienna General Hospital is responsible for the management of a distinctive skill mix. According to HR, amongst the personnel employed by the hospital, age management of qualified nursing staff is of particular concern.

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 Austria.

While age management at the Borealis Group has always made use of generous regulations for early retirement – particularly at BAM and its predecessor AMI – there has also been a movement to maintain older workers in the workplace by creating sustainable work processes and adapting work practices to take into account employees’ needs. For this purpose, AMI, the predecessor of BAM, introduced a ‘productive ageing programme’ in 1997. This programme reviewed working conditions for older and younger shift workers, provided health training, and helped to adapt the environment ergonomically.