Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
CHAPTER 11<br />
Maintaining senior employment: some lessons from best practices in France 217<br />
<strong>and</strong> security needed to look ahead to a different future. It is also a sign of<br />
the companyʼs recognition for the employee;<br />
(b) importance that needs to be given to the programme before signing on.<br />
With the pharmaceutical company, group information sessions instituted<br />
when the system was launched <strong>and</strong> offered to all participants at the first<br />
meeting, seem to have played an important part. Run by an external<br />
expert, they made it possible, through interaction between employees, to<br />
reassure <strong>and</strong>, in some cases, defuse their fears about the system;<br />
(c) importance of interaction between the programme <strong>and</strong> the work environment.<br />
In this case, lack of thinking about what kind of opportunities may be offered<br />
to manual workers might disappoint them <strong>and</strong> discredit the whole approach.<br />
11.4.2.3. The granule mining company example: guidance to pass<br />
on experience<br />
The company <strong>and</strong> the programme<br />
A few years ago, this 70-employee granule mining company found itself facing<br />
many unforeseen departures in the ranks of its most experienced employees.<br />
Over a period of three years, 80% of the extraction staff changed, shaking the<br />
company to its foundations. In this industry, where there is little vocational<br />
training <strong>and</strong> where skills develop first <strong>and</strong> foremost through h<strong>and</strong>s-on<br />
experience, know-how of senior staff was suddenly lacking <strong>and</strong> the company<br />
had trouble hiring <strong>and</strong> building loyalty in its new staff.<br />
The company had an opportunity to set up a tailor-made system adapted<br />
to its characteristics. Spearheaded by a consultant, the approach was built<br />
around ensuring skills transfer from senior employees to less-experienced<br />
ones <strong>and</strong> new recruits. It gave priority to skills gained through experience,<br />
such as operating movements, sensitivity to the product, tips <strong>and</strong> pointers –<br />
all of which are difficult to consider in reference bases on employee activities<br />
<strong>and</strong> skills. It was built on a methodology involving several different stages:<br />
(a) opportunity diagnosis: broaching issues, measuring feasibility of<br />
embarking on a system easing transfer of experiential knowledge<br />
(conditions needed, prerequisites);<br />
(b) identifying critical experience-based know-how: identifying the activities<br />
where proficiency can only be achieved through experience, analysing<br />
their degree of criticality (strategic, influence of experience, risk of loss,<br />
lack of existing training), choosing tutors <strong>and</strong> identifying potential<br />
beneficiaries;<br />
(c) mobilising players in the system (mentors, trained personnel,<br />
management) <strong>and</strong> training those transferring knowledge: getting