Age management – Polish experiences

Summary

ABSTRACT

The low economic activity of population in Poland, especially among persons aged 55–64 years (28.1% in 2006), is largely caused by generous solutions allowing workers aged 50+ to retire early. This situation calls for effective age-management methods. The presented article builds on the experiences that were gathered in the course of applying the job-coaching method to solving the problems of older workers facing redundancy in the health care establishments. A hypothesis was formulated that individual-oriented guidance on the possible paths of education provided within a job-coaching program might help workers aged 45+ retain their jobs by upgrading or changing their qualifications. The article takes advantage of the questionnaire surveys conducted among the 45+ beneficiaries of the Alliance for Work project that was carried out in Poland. The hypothesis that job-coaching is a successful method for supporting older workers in the labour market has in fact been corroborated: the psychological workshops make it easier for such workers to have confidence in their development potential and training improves or adjusts their qualifications. Another project outcome is the availability of a new occupational specialty to persons deciding to take 4-semester post-graduate studies that teach vocational guidance and train the job-coaching experts specializing in persons aged 45+.

Key words: ageing labour, Human Resource Management, training, job coaching, lifelong learning.

Acknowledgements

The survey was conducted by a team headed by the author of the article under the partnership “Alliance for Work” funded by the European Social Fund through the EQUAL Programme.