Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa

CHAPTER 1
Setting the scene: promoting an inclusive labour market for ageing workers 13
Recently, the EU raised the target of 25 to 64 year-old adults active in
lifelong learning to 15 % to be reached by 2020 (Council of the European
Union, 2009a). Adults/older workers are not always aware of the qualification
opportunities available to them and they sometimes have no clear view of their
own skills and know-how. Also learning opportunities for skills development
in formal as well as non-formal and informal settings are not transparent
enough and are not easily accessible for adults in working life (Cedefop, 2011).
To improve this situation, the agenda for new skills and jobs emphasises,
among other things, that careers guidance should be available for all
employees to have better access to lifelong learning and validation of nonformal
and informal learning (European Commission, 2010a).
1.2.3. New careers and emerging career development models
To understand the main impact of trends in work and organisations on careers
and career development for individual workers at micro level, we need to
consider the psychological contract between workers and firms. The core
insight from psychological contract theory (Argyris, 1960; Levinson et al., 1962)
is the implicit non-written labour contract based on the (justified) expectations
of workers and employers. Attention to this labour ʻcontractʼ increased, resulting
from the changing nature of workers/employers relationships (van Loo, 2005).
In traditional careers, which evolved within one or a few organisations over a
lifetime, success was defined by increasing salary and promotions. Workers
exchanged loyalty for job security. In a modern, more contingent, employment
contract, with the needs for cost reduction, increased flexibility and
performance improvement, workers exchange performance and flexibility for
continuous learning and marketability (Sullivan, 1999).
Changes in the ʻdealʼ between employers and employees also have an
impact on careers. Sullivan and Emerson (2000) described three changes
marking the transition from organisational to borderless careers:
(a) a move towards professional loyalty instead of organisational loyalty;
(b) a change in focus from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards (or psychological
success; Hall, 1996);
(c) a move towards self-reliance.
Moving towards a borderless career implies that career development will
be cyclical rather than linear, that mobility will become a standard feature of
careers and that career development responsibility shifts from the organisation
to the individual (Mirvis and Hall, 1994, p. 368-369). The new career concept
also appears as the ʻproteanʼ career in literature (Hall, 1976). It is defined as
ʻa process which the person, not the organisation, is managing. It consists of