Increasing the Value of Age: Guidance in Employers' Age Management Strategies. Research Paper No 44

The European active population is ageing. In the face of growing skills shortages, both national States and employers need to prolong the working lives of their most experienced workers. While enterprises strive to respond to this challenge, most still have not fully explored the potential of guidance activities in addressing age-related issues in career development. This Cedefop study analyses the role of guidance in the age management strategies of firms. Evidence from this report illustrates how guidance activities allow older individuals to plan their mature career stages and exit strategies in a structured way, increasing the likelihood of successfully prolonging their careers. Guidance also allows firms to maximise the potential of their human resources, by providing tools to assess and develop worker skills and knowledge, as well as strategies to increase the productive contribution of the older workforce. If supported by a life-span perspective, guidance allows for effective age management strategies, with smooth integration in internal processes and covering all staff. The findings of this report encourage further development of the role of guidance in age management strategies, offering insights on the creation of incentives for firms and individuals, on strategies for stakeholder engagement, and on the application of quality frameworks. [This report is the result of team work, particularly Cedefop expert Pedro Moreno da Fonseca, who supervised the study, and of Bert-Jan Buiskool, Paul Vronhoof, and Michel Winnubst of Panteia, who undertook the research and drafted the report. Work was carried out under Cedefop service contract 2012-004/AO/ECVL/MILA/Guidance-in-age-management-strategies/019/11.]