Abstract
Due to the global demographic change many more people will need to work until an older age, and organisations and enterprises need to implement measures to facilitate an extended working life. The aim of this study was to investigate organisational measures and suggestions to promote and make improvements for a healthy and sustainable working life for all ages in an extended working life. This is a qualitative study, and the data were collected through both focus group interviews and individual interviews that included 145 participants. The study identified several suggestions for measures and actions to increase employability in the themes: to promote a good physical and mental work environment; to promote personal financial and social security; to promote relations, social inclusion and social support in the work situation; and to promote creativity, knowledge development and intrinsic work motivation, i.e., based on the spheres of determination in the theoretical swAge-model (sustainable working life for all ages). Based on the study results a tool for dialogue and discussion on employee work situation and career development was developed, and presented in this article. Regular conversations, communication and close dialogue are needed and are a prerequisite for good working conditions and a sustainable working environment, as well as to be able to manage employees and develop the organisation further. The identified measures need to be revisited regularly throughout the employees’ entire working life to enable a healthy and sustainable working life for all ages.
Highlights
The result of measures and strategies to highlight in the organisational work, to make improvements for a sustainable extended working life for all ages, are presented under the following themes: Measures for the work environments health effects; Measures for personal financial security; Measures for relation, social support and inclusion; Measures for execution of work tasks
The interviewees were of the opinion that a high level of physical and mental demands for many years in a problematic work environment often led to physical health problems, especially in the last year of employment
The results of the conducted interviews in this study presented several organisational measures and suggestions to make improvements and to promote a healthy and sustainable working life for all ages in an extended working life, which aligns with the nine determinant areas in the swAge-model [5,6,7]
Summary
The average life expectancy is above 80 years of age in more than one in three countries on Earth [1,2,3]. The ageing of the population is expected to be very rapid in Greece, Korea, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, while Japan and Italy are already among the countries with the oldest populations. The population of the labour force in the OECD countries (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) is estimated to decrease by an average of ten percent in 2060 [2]. This varies between countries; in Greece, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland the
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