age management in the organization requires appropriate measures in the system of personnel processes and activities, especially in personnel planning, job placement processes, performance management and employee evaluation, remuneration, education, career development and management, dismissal of employees and in personnel consultancy (for recommendations and guidance for HR professionals in relation to ageing of employees see SHRM, 2016).
Employees’ skills, not their age, should be the criteria applied in personnel processes. Working ability is co-determined by the work demands of every age, individual capability to cope with work and working conditions. Older age groups employment requires focus on the factors influencing their working skills, their preferences, motivation and working needs, especially education and career path needs, and on the factors that influence sharing of experiences.
Personnel planning and recruiting is very important for the management of the age structure of employees in the organization. It provides the necessary number of employees with the required skills and current and future development potential.
Job placement processes are essential to ensure the organization’s employees. The task of recruiting employees is to “reach” applicants from internal or external sources, the task of selecting employees is to select the candidates best suited to the requirements of the job. The deployment of employees within the framework of internal mobility (i.e. promotion, transfer to another work or workplace and reassignment of an employee to a lower function) is intended to ensure that employees’ skills meet the demands of their positions and are used up to the maximum.
Recruitment, selection and deployment of employees ensure the quality of people in the organization. Even though the legislation prohibits discrimination on the grounds of age, discriminatory advertising and consideration of the age of job-seekers are prohibited, the higher age of existing and potential employees often significantly disfavours them in recruitment, selection and deployment processes in the organization (more on age discrimination in the recruitment of employees e.g. Derous & DeCoster, 2017; Fasbender & Wang, 2017; Kaufmann, Krings, Zebrowitz & Sczesny, 2017). In the job placement processes, the employee’s ability in relation to the work activity should always be an essential criterion.
Performance management is a comprehensive approach to influence a work performance, which monitors the development of working skills. Performance management should include an agreement on the objectives – on job performance, on the related training and development, it also includes the motivational guidance and the provision of feedback, the assessment of the work performance and the remuneration and career management of the employee according to results.
The indicator of the employee’s evaluation should be his/her work performance and working behaviour. If the evaluation of employees is supposed to be motivational, it should be linked to their development and career path. It is also possible to use skill analysis – competency testing, results of the development centre to assess employees´ skills in the context of personnel decisions, such as inclusion in an educational or career programme, promotion or dismissal of an employee (Armstrong, 2006). However, these tools are often not used in the case of older employees.
Employee remuneration represents the compensation for work, includes financial rewards, employee benefits and intangible rewards (recognition, appreciation, success). For older employees, it is very important to appraise their knowledge and skills, their work and their contribution. Organizations should reflect their different needs in relation to age and customize, for example, the offer of benefits to them (see The Sloan Center on Ageing & Work at Boston College, 2016).
It is necessary to develop the skills of employees according to their needs and needs of the organization, so that their competencies correspond the future work activities demands. Legislation prohibits the prevention of promotion and participation in education, even in terms of age. Older employees have been still neglected in further development, including education, personal development and career management programmes, in particular because their development prejudices, and because the funding of their education is seen as an ineffective investment (see e.g. Beck, 2014; Canduela, Dutton, Johnson, Lindsay, McQuaid & Raeside, 2012; Trochimiuk, 2015).
Employee retirement has many important psychological and social aspects, although people are experiencing this situation differently. In the case of redundancy, older employees are dismissed first, without considering their performance and abilities. Many of them are affected by long-term unemployment, which is often uninterrupted for years before their entitlement. They have difficulties to obtain a new job because of their age (see e.g. Axelrad, Malul & Pods, 2018).
Personnel consultancy, both internal or external, could be an important help in the employment of older employees. HR professionals and other internal experts (psychologists, adult educators) should recommend, within the framework of the personnel strategy and the personnel policy, the measures that address the employment, development and stabilisation of older employees. The organization can use the services of external consultants to set up the personnel system and the realization of personnel processes in relation to older age groups.
Cooperation between stakeholders also includes a comprehensive approach to this issue, such as the medical practitioner, employees and their representatives, and the management of the organization. Cooperation among occupational safety and health protection managers and HR managers is crucial. They deal with areas of impact on safety and health, especially in the psychosocial dimension of the working environment.
Figure 1: Elements of age management (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 2016)