There are internal jokes in the office that they do not understand, Viber groups are created in which they are not members, and the head constantly relieves them of duties. The daily working life of people over 55 and approaching retirement can only be described as unpleasant—provided, of course, that they themselves are in the middle of the hierarchy. “Promoting Inclusion at Work – Training to Support Employees Over 55” is an online training that takes place over several days online by the company Center for Social Action and Innovation (KMOP). “Next week, we will train employers, CEOs, HR managers and others on how to manage older workers so they feel like functional members of a larger team,” Ms. Marina Nation, project manager for the European Silver program, in which CMOS is a partner. This Erasmus+ program involves institutions from the UK, Portugal, Romania, Denmark, Slovenia and France. The cumulative participation proves that the problem concerns and occurs everywhere. “During the pandemic, when the use of new technologies has become a one-way street, the generation gap within companies has widened even further. That’s when the idea for the program was born,” she adds.

As emphasized by Ms. Natsiou, the age of 55 is indicative. Workers of this age often feel “worthless”. When it comes to women, the targeting gets more intense. Typical is the case of Canadian journalist and news anchor Lisa LaFlamme, who was allegedly fired because she decided to stop dyeing her hair. ageist racism and sexismsince gray temples in men are synonymous with charm, and in women it is the complete opposite.

“Psychological and social isolation can start at this age, much later or never,” she elaborates, “we don’t generalize.” After all, the data for each employee is different: some want, for psychological or even financial reasons, to work at the same pace as before – therefore, it may often be necessary to change roles within the company or retrain – others want to smoothly transition to their retirement, some are forced to retire early due to family responsibilities (becoming informal guardians of the patient). Project partners distributed questionnaires to people who had just retired, as well as to employers. The responses indicate that employees received no support during the transition period, while many would be interested in remaining professionally active. On the other hand, the vast majority of employers say older workers are valuable to their companies. “For us, the preferred tactic for companies is to use these employees, encouraging them to pass on their work experience to younger people by taking on the role of a mentor.”

Silver Program drew on some of the best practices applied in European countries in three different areas: psychosocial support for workers approaching retirement age, intergenerational exchange of know-how and extension of working life through changing working conditions (shortened working hours, remote work, etc.). ) . For example, “Retirement Inspiration Course – Prepare Your Future” takes place in Denmark in the form of workshops. The unions are inviting workers over 58 to join, who are paid as usual while attending the unions. Discussions take place in small groups with trainers and relate to the person’s new life situation, which they compare to the “corporate ego”. 90%-95% of participants reported being satisfied with the course and feeling less insecure about switching. In addition, 66% have changed their plans for the next few years, 33% will stay at work longer, 40% will improve their healthy habits, and 45% will become retired volunteers.

Mentors

In Portugal and at Acenture, where the average age of employees is 34, a “Peer Mentoring Program” is being implemented. The goal is to improve relations between four generations of employees through the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience. In this case, “pairs” of mentor-mentee are created. The philosophy of the program “Transfer of knowledge and skills between generations”, which operates in companies in France, is similar. Emphasis is placed both on recognizing the contribution of older workers and on the reception, training and integration of young people.

In Denmark, a practice called Retaining Workers Over 60 aims to help more workers over 60 stay at work longer and reduce sick days. To do this, they reduce working hours from 37 to 30 per week, while the employee receives full wage compensation, and his pension contribution remains unchanged. Pension contribution for 30+ hours for this purpose is paid at the workplace. The program received a great response, as did the award-winning program from construction company Enemaerke & Petersen. As a result, 10-20% more older workers are extending their working lives. The company designed it with employee attrition in mind and, of course, demographic factors – they wanted to make an attractive offer for workers over 55 years old. Therefore, they introduced flexible working hours, freeing them from heavy physical work, etc.

Transition

Psychologists compare retirement to adolescence: our identity is changing, the self-image that others have and ourselves is changing. We are taking a step towards aging, and this worries us. Therefore, it is recommended to prepare for a new stage of life and seek help from specialists – if this is not provided to us. In the near future, CMNP will hold seminars for employees over 55 years old, at which all the above data will be processed.