Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
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<strong>Working</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>ageing</strong><br />
Guidance <strong>and</strong> counselling for mature learners<br />
have no capacity or ability to introduce measures for <strong>ageing</strong> workers. The<br />
study was conducted at two levels: first, collecting <strong>and</strong> analysing available<br />
general company documentation, human resources management methods,<br />
senior employment maintenance policies <strong>and</strong> practices; <strong>and</strong> second,<br />
interviewing those involved in the process (company leaders, human<br />
resources managers, worker representatives, employees), to gain a better<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>ing of their intentions <strong>and</strong> achievements <strong>and</strong> take stock of existing<br />
viewpoints today. The inquiry process, which lasted an average of one to two<br />
days, was then recorded in monographs, summing up the background<br />
information, issues at stake, intentions <strong>and</strong> achievements <strong>and</strong> actual<br />
outcomes. No specific size or business sector criteria were applied, when<br />
looking to capture, above all, the most significant initiatives <strong>and</strong> most diverse<br />
range of situations <strong>and</strong> practices.<br />
Senior employment maintenance or return to the workplace is dependent<br />
on employability, which in turn results from dynamic interaction between:<br />
(a) characteristics of employeesʼ work environments, which determine the<br />
extent to which they foster professional development;<br />
(b) employeesʼ abilities <strong>and</strong> their development conditions, the way in which<br />
they are mobilised <strong>and</strong> the conditions of mobilisation.<br />
This accepted meaning refers to a contemporary approach of the concept<br />
of employability, dynamic <strong>and</strong> interactive, combining individual <strong>and</strong><br />
organisational, internal <strong>and</strong> external dimensions, that many authors embraced<br />
(Gazier, 1990; 2006; Finot, 2000; Hategekimana <strong>and</strong> Roger, 2002).<br />
<strong>Cedefop</strong> defines employability as follows: a combination of factors which<br />
enable individuals to progress towards or get into employment, stay in<br />
employment <strong>and</strong> progress during their careers (<strong>Cedefop</strong>, 2008, p. 70). Finot<br />
(2000) points out two types of individual determinants of employability:<br />
characteristics (personality, potential, desires, values, network) <strong>and</strong> behaviours<br />
(responsiveness, capacity to work autonomously, difficulties, assumption of<br />
responsibility, adaptability). In a more recent article, Saint-Germes (2004)<br />
enumerates the ways human resources management can foster employability:<br />
conditions of completion of work fostering initiative <strong>and</strong> creativity, vocational<br />
training not only devoted to adapt oneself to the present job but also to develop<br />
broader skills, mobility opportunities conducive to learning, <strong>and</strong> recognition<br />
methods including helping employees elaborate new career plans. As far as<br />
ergonomics is concerned, Marquié (2010; Marquié <strong>and</strong> Delgoulet, 1996;<br />
Marquié <strong>and</strong> Ansiau, 2008) points out that the nature of the job activity itself<br />
can affect development of employeesʼ cognitive resources. Firms fabricate<br />
employability or unemployability, especially when they stabilise employees in