Age is just a number: supporting older workers

It’s a fact: Europeans are living longer than ever. A couple of years ago, life expectancy in the EU was 81.5 years, and the trend is moving upwards. This means that we are generally healthier and have more opportunities to live well and enjoy our years. Work remains an important element of our lives as we age, but what can we expect as we become workers ‘of a certain age’?

Getting older certainly brings wisdom, but it also brings employment issues we didn’t have when we were younger.

Here are some examples:

invasion of new technologies on which we are not trained;
family responsibilities and not enough support, which often leaves no choice but to stop working;
stereotyping older workers as less productive and more likely to miss work due to health issues;
lack of information on how to safeguard health in the workplace according to our new needs.

Out with the old? Not so, several EU countries say

Countries across the EU are setting the example by making consistent efforts to keep older workers in work. Let’s have a look at some good practices and how they help shape the future of inclusive employment:

Sweden: 77.3 % of 55–64-year-olds are in employment, a record percentage compared to the EU average. How does the country motivate its citizens to stay in work for longer? For one, it has introduced a flexible pension system, whereby postponing your retirement allows you to increase your pension. Older workers are also protected by law and cannot be discriminated against because of their age.
Cyprus: The country addresses a significant barrier to older workers staying in work by supporting their digital training. The Cyprus Productivity Centre runs the ‘Digital skills for 55+’ programme, which is provided free of charge to those 55 and older.
Greece: ThePublic Employment Service – a government organisation that matches employers to employees – includes programmes aimed at helping older workers reintegrate into the workforce. In addition, emphasis is placed on upskilling and reskilling. Such lifelong learning initiatives are open to all, but older workers are an important target group.
Germany: Incentives encourage older workers to remain in employment by focusing on improving their work-life balance and designing age-appropriate work environments. Employers also receive grants from the government to hire people who are difficult to employ. Those over 50 are entitled to stay under this grants scheme for 36 months.
Hungary: A special ‘job-sharing’ scheme pairs an older worker nearing retirement with a younger one to share a job. This has a double benefit: helping the older worker remain active while allowing the younger one to learn on the job.
Luxembourg: Older workers are encouraged to remain in work by addressing their skills shortages, while at the same time tackling the broader issue of the country’s reliance on foreign workers. Furthermore, its recovery and resilience plan focuses on training jobseekers over 45 in digital skills and soft skills (e.g. communication) to improve their employability.

The above actions show that getting older doesn’t automatically mean that your career is over. Initiatives throughout Europe are actively working to make sure that age is just a number for those workers who are backed by the right support systems.

Interested in finding out more about how the EU is helping workers stay relevant in our rapidly changing work environments? Read The skills we need for the jobs we want.

Older workers; what Europe does for me

The Irish Times: Ageing gracefully: How the EU can accommodate an older workforce

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