Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the situation of ageing workers faced with industrial change — providing support and managing age diversity in sectors and companies (own-initiative opinion)

On 17 January 2008, the European Economic and Social Committee acting under Rule 29(2) of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an own-initiative opinion on:

‘The situation of ageing workers faced with industrial change – providing support and managing age diversity in sectors and companies’ (own-initiative opinion).

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship/Labour Market Observatory, which was responsible for preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted the section opinion on 10 March 2009. The rapporteur was Marian KRZAKLEWSKI.

At its 452nd plenary session, held on 24 and 25 March 2009 (meeting of 25 March), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 159 votes to eight with eight abstentions.

1.1 The EESC believes that the issue of employment in the European Union should be considered in its entirety because it affects all age groups. This is especially true in the context of the current crisis.

1.2 The European Economic and Social Committee calls on the Commission to specifically address the issue of older workers on the labour market and notes that it should enhance and strengthen the implementation of the regulations concerning age in the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC by setting out a European programme and Support Framework for the Employment of Older Workers.

1.2.1 The document should identify a set of best practices facilitating the recruitment and retention of older workers aged 50 or over and, in particular, all those approaching the legal retirement age. Businesses, older workers as soon as they reach the middle of their career, and practically all of society should be made aware of the opportunities and benefits of older workers being in the labour market.

1.2.1.1 All action taken in respect of older workers should maintain measures which promote employment, particularly among the younger generations entering the job market.

1.2.2 The EESC believes that the open method of coordination should be used to establish a common framework and set of principles at EU level for issues related to older people and the job market. This is of particular importance in the current economic climate with increasing job losses where older workers might be discriminated against on the grounds of age rather than capability

1.3 The models and approaches proposed by the EESC in this opinion focus on older workers at risk of losing their jobs and on those workers who, given their age, are (or soon will be) eligible for normal or early retirement yet who choose to remain in employment.

1.4 Given the significant differences across the EU in the level of employment among older workers, the Member States should draw up and develop ‘National Support Frameworks for the Employment of Older Workers’ outlining a combination of the following areas of action for older workers and in countries where such national support frameworks already exist, they should be regularly reviewed and further developed through:

1.5 The EESC notes with some concern that in spite of the gradual growth in the employment rate among older people, only a small proportion of EU companies consider the issue of older workers to be an important part of their policies. It is therefore important to identify as quickly as possible why businesses are not implementing good practices for the employment of such persons when all studies show that this advantageous solution has been promoted by the authorities in certain Member States.

1.5.1 If older people are to be employed, it is vital to ensure that the prolongation of employment contracts is economically viable for both employers and workers. This should be gauged on the basis of an extended cost/benefit analysis, covering:

1.5.2 The EESC believes that the key issue for employers wishing to recruit older workers is to establish how they can make the best use of the experience and skills of older people.

1.6 The Committee calls on the European institutions, the governments of the Member States and the social partners to promote age diversity management among companies and employees as an effective method of managing productivity and as a suitable response to the difficult situation on the labour market.

1.7 The Committee wishes to stress the need for the European institutions and Member States to adopt a proactive approach to the issue of age management.

1.7.1 The EESC believes that training in the area of age management should be introduced into training courses for managers and management studies curricula and include discussion and analysis of such issues as:

1.7.2 With a view to increasing the employment rate of older people, the EESC stresses the key importance of a commitment to continuous learning and to policies and practices that encompass school and further education, which clearly serves to improve the level of education among older workers.

1.8 Given the significant difference between men and women in the employment rate for the 55-64 age group, the EESC believes that the European Commission and the Member States must take action to build on the current approaches to the employment of older women and be bold in the formulation of models that have not, as yet, been used.

1.8.1 Raising the employment rate among women in the 50+ age group could be of key importance for achieving the employment rates set out in the Lisbon Strategy.

1.8.2 The Committee urges the Commission, in cooperation with EU agencies, to conduct research to establish whether the low employment rate among women aged over 50 is an example of discrimination on the labour market.

1.9 The Committee draws attention to the fact that e-exclusion is one of the major obstacles to increasing the rate of employment among older people. In order to be able to address this issue effectively, the lifelong learning programme of the over-50 age group should be integrated as much as possible with training in the use of ICT. To overcome any fears older people may have about using ICT, the first stage of ICT training courses could be held in groups where all participants are of the same age and have similar skills.

1.9.1 Equally, the EESC believes that the responsibility for creating the conditions for plugging skills gaps in new techniques and technologies among the over-50s should lie with the Member States with the active involvement of national and local government, social partners and educational institutions.

1.9.2 This will require a detailed analysis of the current need for basic skills enabling a person to function in the information society so that, where necessary, ways and means to supplement this can be developed with the Member States.

1.10 The Committee wishes to draw particular attention to the fact that any solutions which aim to help integrate older people into the labour market require both systematic, integrated action and an individual approach to specific cases or people.

1.10.1 Such an approach requires instruments for anticipating industrial and technological changes as well as training needs and social changes. The observatory of the labour market, people’s skills and changes in society, as well as the statistical (information) systems of the Member States and the EU will all have a particular role to play in this context.

1.10.2 The Committee calls on the Commission to ensure that statistical research on employment among the over-50s is conducted more frequently than in the past, particularly given the significance and sensitive nature of this issue. This need has become all the more important in the context of the current crisis. Older workers are among those most at risk of becoming an ‘adjustment variable’ in current and future restructuring plans.

2.1 To contend with a shortage of workers in the future due to demographic change, in March 2001 the EU set an employment rate target of 50 % for workers aged 55 to 64 by 2010. Preliminary assessments suggest that the EU will have great difficulty reaching this target by 2010.

2.2 EESC opinions – both those on Commission and Council documents (1) and exploratory opinions (2) – have covered the following issues in detail:

2.3 If the employment rate among older people is to be improved, policies and procedural models must be drawn up, promoted and implemented to address the problems faced by workers due to age and/or industrial change. Change management through age, educational and skill diversity which focuses on support for workers of all age groups represents one of the more important approaches discussed in this opinion.

2.4 In line with the subject of the opinion, the models and approaches put forward in the own-initiative opinion focus on older workers at risk of losing their jobs due to their age, restructuring processes, various socio-economic changes and on those workers who, given their age, are eligible for normal or early retirement yet who choose to remain in employment. Particular consideration must be given at the present time to age diversity to prevent discrimination against older workers in a period of economic downturn and job losses.

2.4.1 The approaches discussed in the opinion also broadly cover older unemployed people who wish to return to the job market as well as pensioners who, for a variety of reasons, intend to start working again.

3. Findings based on the analysis of current statistical information on older workers in the EU

3.1 As at the end of 2005, 22.2 million people aged 55-64 were in work across the EU. Within this age bracket, 1.6 million people were officially unemployed while 28.5 million were not in active employment. Increasing the rate of employment among older people was included among the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy.

3.2 In the EU-25, the employment rate of older people rose from 36.6 % in 2000 to 42.5 % in 2005 (see graph in Appendix 1). This rate increased in all EU countries except Poland and Portugal. In 2005, the employment rate for workers aged 55 to 64 was higher than or equal to the 2010 target in Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Finland and Ireland.

3.3 In 2005, the employment rate among older people in the EU-25 reached 51.8 % for men while the figure for women in this age group was 33.7 %. However, the growth in the employment rate in the years 2000-2005 was higher in the case of women (+6.8 %) than men (+4.9 %).

3.4 The employment rate among the 55 to 64 category is far from uniform across this age group. The graph in Appendix I shows the substantial difference between the employment rate among people aged 55 to 59 and that of the 60 to 64 age group. In 2005, the employment rate for these groups was 55.3 % and 26.7 % respectively. For both men and women, the gap in the employment rate between the 55 to 59 age group and the 60 to 64 age group, which amounted to as much as 28.6 %, was much greater than the divergence between the 50 to 54 and 55 to 59 age groups, which was 17 %.

3.5 The employment of older people is highest in Sweden, which recorded employment rates of 79.4 % and 56.9 % for the 55 to 59 and 60 to 64 age groups respectively. The lowest rate was in Poland, with employment at 32.1 % in the 55 to 59 age group and Luxembourg, with 12.6 % employment in the 60 to 64 category.

3.6 When analysing the data in Appendix 2 comparing the employment rate of older people with their level of education, it is worth stressing that in the case of both men and women, older people with a higher level of education are much more likely to be in work than those who have only basic-level education. Across the EU-25, only 30.8 % of older people with only the most basic level of education (on a three-tier scale) are in employment. In the case of older people with the highest of the three levels of education, 61.8 % are in work.

3.7 CEDEFOP’s analysis of the most recent European survey on continuing vocational training (3) reveals that the participation of older people in CVT is significantly lower than that of young people, and that this is true across practically all the Member States. In the EU-27 in 2005, 24% of workers in the over 55 age group took part in CVT compared with 33 % of workers aged 24 to 54. The low participation of older workers in CVT is most visible in the SME sector. Only 13 % of older workers (aged 55 or over) in small businesses took part in CVT. This data is outlined in detail in the table in Appendix III.

3.8 Older people in the 55 to 64 age group are more likely to undertake part-time work than individuals in the 30 to 49 age group (22.2 % compared with 16.8 %). This form of employment is much more common among women in the 55 to 64 age group (39.5 %) than among men (10.3 %).

3.8.1 Self-employed work is also more common among the 55 to 64 age group than the 30 to 49 category (23 % compared with 15.4 %). However, unlike in the case of part-time work, the number of men who are self-employed far exceeds that of women.

3.8.2 Taking into account the impact of the key factors for the employment of older workers, a cluster analysis (4) was conducted in respect of six characteristic groups of EU countries, which analysed the impact of three system approaches applied in respect of older workers in the Member States. A set of key factors affecting the labour market was allocated to each of these approaches.

3.8.3 The cluster analysis showed that system I was widely applied in the EU’s Nordic countries, but to a much lesser extent in the new EU countries of Central Europe and the Baltic and Mediterranean Member States. System II was widely applied in the EU’s western (continental) and Mediterranean Member States, while the English-speaking countries made wide use of system I and limited use of system III.

4. Policies and procedural models addressing the problems faced by ageing workers due to age

4.1 The policies and support models outlined below target workers aged 50 and over (and 45 and over), employed in SMEs and large businesses and in the services sector, at risk due to:

4.2 If older workers are to stay in work, it is vital for firms to introduce into their management systems an anticipatory mechanism, including the regular use of career assessments, as early as the middle of a worker’s career, to avoid workers becoming at risk. This must be supported by government policy which makes it possible to retain workers or allows people to stay in work for longer or return to an active professional life.

4.2.1 The introduction or expansion within a company of the use of anticipatory mechanisms on a regular basis, combined to a great extent with the participation of as large a number of workers as possible in skills assessments is an important support instrument for older workers for identifying the moment or circumstances in which intervention should begin. This approach requires investment, which may be funded by the business itself, EU subsidies (in particular the ESF) and public funds.

4.2.1.1 A competence assessment is a procedure developed to promote the recognition of skills acquired either formally or informally; under the procedure, all workers are entitled to a review of their skills every few years based on an interview and tests, with the help of careers advice experts. Practical skills acquired could be recognised by a national network of public centres, providing a platform for further career development.

4.2.1.2 A skills audit should be conducted by an independent consulting firm; in cases where an worker’s skill set would be unlikely to secure him or her alternative employment with the same level of pay, the company in question will be required to arrange and pay for the training needed to make up the skills deficit and to bear the cost of progress assessments, while the worker will be required to undertake training and complete the training programme.

4.3 If workers are to be retained, it is important that new roles be created within firms for older workers e.g. as mentors or coaches (5) (often in connection with recruitment) or encouraging them to carry out shadowing (6) has proved effective, helping companies preserve their institutional continuity and values by teaching and transferring a variety of forms of business capital to new and younger workers.

4.4 One effective policy for retaining workers is to adopt a flexible approach to working hours and compensation packages. The demand for different work/leisure balances can be met through flexible working hours, part-time work and a programme of gradual cessation of work. It is also possible to change the structure of salary/benefit packages and make provision for pro rata benefits. Even such methods as introducing a shorter working week or allowing its conversion into extra holidays have been successful in retaining workers.

4.5 The process of retaining older workers at a company frequently involves workers having to decide whether to benefit from their right to early retirement or stay in work.

4.5.1 A policy of financial, social and organisational incentives should therefore be applied in respect of workers (e.g. transfer to a less demanding post requiring new skills acquired through training). The principle of the freedom of choice as to how long workers can stay in employment, one of the pillars of the flexicurity system, should be a priority.

4.5.2 The EESC believes that, due to the lack of a conciliatory and creative approach towards those people eligible for early retirement, too few workers in this position stay in work until they reach the normal age of retirement.

4.6 Education and training policies are vital for effective worker retention, and are also linked to productivity. Rather than age, it is skills and experience which should determine a given worker’s opportunities on the job market.

4.6.1 The most important educational and training policies for retaining workers aged over 50 include:

Recruiting older workers – how to win back older workers and persuade them to stay at the company.

4.7 One characteristic aspect is that it is up to the companies themselves to identify effective methods of reaching older workers who are out of the labour market and persuading them to give up their various activities or interrupt their retirement and return to work.

4.8 On average, one third of pensioners experience difficulties living on their pensions (8). Many of these potential workers are victims of a system of low pensions, who have been discouraged by their inability to find employment, ostensibly because of their age. These unfortunate former workers may be prepared to undergo retraining but have been out of the labour market for several years and have probably abandoned any intention of returning to it.

4.8.1 There is little doubt that there is a need to tackle the causes of this situation, where one third of pensioners experience difficulties living on their pensions, by improving on a system of just, stable pensions financed by employing all available human capital.

4.9 Those capable of returning to work include pensioners whose children have grown up and left home and who have suddenly found themselves with extra time on their hands and who want an additional occupation and/or income.

4.10 It is therefore vital to inform such individuals of the opportunities available and then to contact them directly to encourage them to get in touch with the company, and to get them involved in some form of continuing education or to encourage them to attend courses or training programmes organised to entice them back to work.

4.11 The success of recruitment drives for older people is often in large part down to networking. Businesses, government offices, social partners and other stakeholders should all be part of such networks in towns, cities, regions and countries. They can even be expanded to include international partnerships.

4.11.1 The key task for such networks is to help change social attitudes about the importance of staying in work for longer and to create the right conditions for persuading workers aged over 50 and employers to have faith in their ability to ‘keep pace with change’.

4.11.2 Such networks could also serve to inform employers about the benefits of hiring workers aged over 50 and to lobby for changes in government policies and the drafting of employment systems which support workers who stay in work for longer and employers who tailor their human resources systems to the needs of older workers.

4.11.3 At the same time, such networks could help the dissemination and development of ‘best practices’ and identify key competences.

5. Diversity management: an approach to addressing the issue of employment of older people

5.1 Research shows that diversity can improve workgroup performance in certain tasks as it brings a wide range of information, resources and decision-making approaches that lead to better outcomes.

5.1.1 In the past it was believed that diversity in the composition of the workforce based on age or race could create conflict. However, such obstacles can be tackled if workers are given sensitivity training and are encouraged to work in diverse teams to overcome their prejudices.

5.2 A number of well-known European companies practically apply a rule of ‘Managing diversity = managing productivity.’ The goal of managing a diverse workforce is to create a culture in which each employee can make a full contribution to the organization and to advance on the basis of excellent performance.

5.3 Diversity programmes which value the different backgrounds of workers and attract and retain the best qualified workers place equal opportunities at the heart of the human resource management approach. Non-discriminatory practices of diversity management are increasingly recognised as a managerial tool to increase efficiency and productivity. This is a priority topic for the International Labour Organisation – identifying the link between equal treatment and economic performance.

5.4 The models and policies for supporting older workers outlined in Chapter 4 can be successfully developed through age and skill diversity management methods. It should be emphasised that age management in effect begins at the start of an worker’s career.

5.5 Companies which practise age diversity management recruit or regroup within the company a certain number of older workers both to ensure an age ‘mix’ and in response to a shortage of skilled workers. The aim is to have a mix of age groups, qualifications, cultures and competences in-house.

5.6 Skill diversity management involves recognising and valuing the professional skills of older and younger workers and taking action to attract and retain the most highly skilled workers.

5.8 According to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin (9), success factors for age management include the following:

6. Areas of good practice for the implementation and development in the EU of policies and models supporting older workers

In order to practise and develop within the EU models and policies to help older workers, the following good practices may be exchanged and implemented:

Brussels, 25 March 2009.

The President of the European Economic and Social Committee

Mario SEPI

(1) Strategies for extending the age of exit from the labour market rapporteur: G. Dantin ; (OJ C 157, 28.6.2005), Promoting solidarity between the generations – rapporteur: L Jahier (OJ C 120, 16.5.2008), Adult Learning –rapporteur: R. Heinish (OJ C 204, 9.8.2008).

(2) Quality of working life, productivity and employment in the context of globalisation and demographic challenges rapporteur: U. Engelen-Kefer; (OJ C 318, 23.12.2006); The role of the social partners in reconciling working, family and private life, rapporteur: P. Clever (OJ C 256, 27.10.2007).

(4) Active ageing and labour market trends for older workers Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities – Unit D1.

(5) Mentoring is a method of helping others on the basis of one’s own (professional) experience. Coaching is a broader concept; it can include mentoring, but is wider in scope. A coach focuses on the learning process and on the achievement of objectives.

(6) Shadowing involves workers aged 50 and over accompanying younger, especially newly recruited employees in their work. This method is particularly useful for familiarising young employees with specific procedures and actions, where the young employees are unaware of their existence or scale.

(7) EESC opinion of 22 October on the Establishment of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), rapporteur: Ms Le Nouail-Marlière (CESE 1678/2008). Opinion on Lifelong learning, rapporteur: Mr Rodríguez García-Caro (OJ C 175 of 27.7.2007). Opinion on Adult learning, rapporteur: Ms Heinisch, co-rapporteurs: Ms Le Nouail Marlière and Mr Rodríguez García-Caro (OJ C 204 of 9.8.2008).

(9) Presentation of database on employment initiatives for an ageing workforce: Gerlinde Ziniel, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.