Thessaloniki (GR), October 2008 - The Cedefop workshop "Working at old age: Emerging theories and empirical perspectives on ageing and work" was held in Thessaloniki 29-30 September 2008. During the presentations it was shown that a continuous above-average performance requires experience and expertise. The value of that expertise, however, depends on the ability to keep it current.
This means that biological age is far less important than the worker's "individual learning biography", i.e. to what extent she or he is willing and able to acquire new knowledge and skills.
The workshop was organised by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). During the presentations, the researchers' findings stressed that performance and learning ability affect each other positively: the more someone learns, the better he or she performs. Conversely, jobs with low learning requirements lead to a degeneration of skills - a phenomenon described as "work-induced ageing".
The implications for training policy are clear, and employers in many countries are already finding that their policy of replacing older workers with younger ones is becoming untenable. Thus, they need to be encouraged to offer training to all workers regardless of age, to furnish the right kind of training for more experienced workers, and to support work arrangements and practices that are conducive to learning.
In addition, mentoring, assessing, and forms of flexible work - or flexible retirement (i.e. retirement which includes some component of work) - can be implemented to make the best use of older workers' expertise and to lift the present barriers to older workers' learning.
Background statistics from Eurostat:
By 2050, the over-65 cohort will reach 30% of the EU-27 population, compared to 16.7% in 2006, an increase of 13.3%.
In the same period, the younger age cohort (>25) will decline from 30% to 23%.
