Qualifying older employees for maintaining employability: the project “BusQua”

1. Qualifying older employees for maintaining employability:the project “BusQua” Matthias Vonken University of Erfurt ECER 2009

2. Contents • Some statistical issues • Reasons for leaving the labour force • The principal ideas for the project • The BusQua project and it’s successor • First results in brief

3. Employment rate of older people (55+) Eurostat, LFS 2009

4. Average exit age from the labour market and employment rate (2007) Eurostat, LFS 2007

5. Average exit age from the labour market and employment rate • Difference between exit age and employment of older workers: • Exit age means to leave the labour force:not being available for the labour market anymore • Exit age is usually around 60 years • early retirement, leaving due to illness and statutory retirement included • Employment rate after the age of 55: between around 30% and 50% • difference between retired people and older labour force in the ages of 55 to 60 -> usually unemployed

6. Why do older people leave the labour force/the labour market? • In EU-average most people leave when reaching (not necessarily statutory) retirement age • The others – those below retirement age – leave due to • health reasons • care reasons • loosing job • having problems in the job

7. Reasons for (early) retirement (2006) Eurostat, LFS 2006, percentage of the answers

8. Why do they leave? • Push and pull factors: • Push: • dismissals • illness/disabilities • problems at the work place • inflexible working time (work-life balance) • Pull: • early retirement • care for others

9. Avoiding push and pull factors Eurostat, LFS 2006

10. Conclusions • Work related problems, inflexible working hours and a lack of possibilities for further training seem to be strong particularly in Poland, but also in the other countries. • To maintain employability and to give reasons for working until statutory retirement age, a chance should be given to develop an individual career even in higher ages.

11. What employers think about older employees (Institute for Employment Research IAB) • More experiential knowledge than younger employees • Partly more discipline • Less physical capacity • Less mental capacity • Ageing adequate working tasks have to take experience into account and to avoid physical and mental demands. Meets the self-concept of older employees in a qualitative study in Thuringia

12. The Idea • Keeping employability can be reached by developing ageing adequate working tasks that are regionally prospective and beneficial for companies. -> no adapted or sheltered workplaces • Developing curricula with respect to learning at higher ages and to needs of companies.

13. The Idea in detail • Using the strength of older workers while avoiding the weaknesses. • Using self organized training methods at the workplace to allow for anyone his/her own learning tempo. • In the Thuringian context of former project “Kund.i.K” (2007) that led to • using “APO” (work process oriented learning) and • developing qualifications in the customer consultant sector.

14. Order processing completed Reviewing the documented order processing Telephone contact with the customer to ask for the customer’s satisfaction Content/process and result of the completed customer-order are known Forwarding a written request to the customer to solicit feedback Telephone contact with the customer to solicit feedback Fact-to-face contact with the customer to solicit feedback Complement the documentation with the feedback results The customer is dissatisfied and reports a problem The customer is satisfied Feedback is documented Example for APO-Curriculum

15. Business development and Qualification (BusQua) • Three European regions with different backgrounds: Poland (Silesia), the Netherlands and Germany (Allgaeu). • Research on economy, labour market and labour policies -> country reports. • Adapting the curriculum to regionally prospective fields of working. • Accompanying research on learning strategies of older employees. • Funded by “Transfer of Innovations” program (Leonardo-da-Vinci). • Partners: KBA (Nijmegen), Zory Chamber of Commerce (Zory) and Eichenbaum GmbH (Gotha). • Duration 10-2008 to 9-2010

16. First results in brief

17. Conclusions for qualifications • In Algaeu, curricula in the combination of health care and tourism will be developed. • In the Netherlands, a curriculum for the home care sector is under development. • In Silesia, a curriculum for coordinating construction work is under development.

18. Accompanying research • Project activities follow the assumptions widely stated that older people • need more time for learning, • prefer not to be in school-like situations • need more breaks in learning • prefer to learn in whole/keeping the overview than learning in segments (cf. e.g. Kade 2007, Kruse 2008) • Nevertheless: Lack of knowledge about learning strategies of older people

19. Survey principals • Development of a standardized questionnaire • Distribution in three different European countries: Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, electronically and p&p(app. 300/country) • Target group: older persons (45 +) (employees in particular, but also unemployed/recently retired people) • Method: Descriptive and explorative analysis

20. Aims • Knowledge about learning strategies. • Knowledge about learning experiences. • Comparison of regionally different strategies, in connection with regional cultural and historical background (comparison with regional reports). • presently in the translation process

21. Thank you for your attention

22. References BMBF (2003): The Advanced IT Training System. Bonn. Eurostat: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. Kade, S. (2007): Altern und Bildung. Eine Einführung. Bielefeld, Bertelsmann. Kruse, A. (Hg.) (2008): Weiterbildung in der zweiten Lebenshälfte. Bielefeld, Bertelsmann. Rohs, M. & Büchele, U. (2002). Work Process-Oriented Competence Development, In Federal Ministry of Education and Re-search (BMBF) (Ed.), Systematic Continuing Education in IT: New perspectives for Specialists and organisations. (S. 69-76) Bonn: BMBF. Rohs, M. (2004). Der didaktisch-methodische Ansatz der Arbeitsprozessorientierten Weiterbildung in der IT-Branche. Zeitschrift für Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik, Beiheft 18, Innovationen und Tendenzen der betrieblichen Berufsbildung, 187-198.

23. Issues / range of topics Further training & learning • Number of trainings during whole working life • Number of trainings during last three years • General experiences after attending training • Location of trainings • Time of trainings • Costs of trainings • Conditions for the participation in training during leisure time • Conditions for paying the costs of training • Kinds of attended further training – frequency within certain periods of life • Reasons for attending further training • Reasons for not / rarely attending or cancelling further training • Importance of certain training conditions • Frequency of learning activities • Use of learning activities

24. Issues / range of topics Working life • Number of companies worked in • Self-determined or other-directed company change(s) / exit(s) • Reasons for company change(s) / exit(s) • Number of unemployment times • Duration of unemployment altogether • Activities during unemployment times • Number of different jobs carried out altogether • Current occupational status

25. Issues / range of topics Current job • Duration of working in current company • Number of jobs changes within current company • Self-determined or other-directed decision on job change(s) in current company • Duration of performing current job • Changes concerning the job • Processing of changes • Other persons’ support concerning changes • Employer’s support of further training • Self-directed activities in the case of job in danger • Other-directed activities in the case of job in danger • Evaluation of current job and its associated demands