Human resources practices for managing the ageing of the workforce

Abstract

The ageing of the population has many repercussions on the labour market. It is possible to observe a rising proportion of older workers, therefore there are now workplace policies and practices aimed to help the organizations cope with the ageing of the workforce. For this present study, an online survey was used. The objective was to verify whether organizations follow the human resources practices designed to address the ageing of the labour force. The sample involves 99 Human Resources Managers from different organizations and different sectors of activity and 3 individuals delegated by the people in charge for the Human Resource in those organizations. The overall results showed that majority of the organizations follow the practicies laid out to address older workers. The most used practices were related to the culture inside the companies and the work organization. Most companies have a culture based on the respect and recognition of all workers. They also promote on the job learning/training, and strongly advocate diversity concepts. The least used practices were letting older workers dictate their own work rhythm besides offering different models for going into retirement. The implications for practice of these findings are further discussed.