Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
152<br />
<strong>Working</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>ageing</strong><br />
Guidance <strong>and</strong> counselling for mature learners<br />
Denmark achieved high rates of employment <strong>and</strong> low unemployment with<br />
a quarter of workers changing employers annually. ʻFlexicurityʼ brings together<br />
flexibility <strong>and</strong> security as supportive rather than contradictory to the concept.<br />
In considering the needs of organisations, employers will relate policies <strong>and</strong><br />
practice underst<strong>and</strong>ably to financial viability. Small <strong>and</strong> medium-sized<br />
businesses in particular may not readily implement policies <strong>and</strong> regulations<br />
to support older workers, for example access to training <strong>and</strong> promotion. Initial<br />
recruitment may exclude them as well. However, employers find that stable<br />
employment relations <strong>and</strong> retention of loyal <strong>and</strong> well-qualified employees can<br />
be positive, <strong>and</strong> employees can be interested in more flexible ways of<br />
organising work, such as balancing work <strong>and</strong> family (Bredgaard et al., 2005,<br />
p. 19). It is an alternative to the ʻ(male) full-time, lifelong employment security<br />
with the same employer, but is instead a “floating equilibrium” of a 30-hour<br />
working week over a lifetime, for both men <strong>and</strong> women.ʼ (Bredgaard et al.,<br />
2005, p. 23).<br />
Such flexibility <strong>and</strong> high mobility raise challenges for education <strong>and</strong> training.<br />
Training providers requiring a cohort, a critical mass of learners for financially<br />
viable delivery to, for example, a class may find that part-time work schedules,<br />
job-sharing, support or lack thereof from management, workers moving<br />
between jobs presenting difficulties.<br />
Within this innovative approach to the labour market in Denmark, there is<br />
no special attention to older workers. With this approach encouraging frequent<br />
job changes, groups of workers can become isolated. In this scenario, people<br />
retire later than the EU average, at 61.8 years, <strong>and</strong> older workers have an<br />
employment rate of 58% <strong>and</strong> higher participation rate. Older workers,<br />
however, can find it more difficult to get a new job if unemployed, <strong>and</strong> tend to<br />
have less adult vocational training (Bredgaard et al., 2005, p. 26).<br />
8.4. Training<br />
Being older can mean less access to vocational education <strong>and</strong> training. Older<br />
workers receive less adult vocational training than younger workers<br />
(Bredgaard et al., 2005, p. 26). According to <strong>Cedefop</strong> (2010) trends in Europe<br />
indicate that older workers (55-64) miss out on training for reasons such as<br />
conflicts with work schedule, family responsibilities, or training being too costly<br />
for them to afford. Employers are able easily to hire <strong>and</strong> fire workers <strong>and</strong> not<br />
provide training, so more vulnerable groups of employees such as older<br />
workers need public-sector support (Bredgaard et al., 2005, p. 26). The Danish