Adapting Personnel Development to Older Employees

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Adapting Personnel Development to Older Employees

• Margarete Laschalt
• Institute for Communication in the Professional
  Fld and Psychotherapy
• University of Innsbruck
• A-6020 Innsbruck, Schoepfstrasse 3

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Agenda

• Demographic changes and its consequences
• Employers point of view
• Employees point of view
• Possibilities in personnel development

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Demographic changes and its consequences
Demographic changes(ageing and shrinking
population due to increasing life expectation and
low birth rate)
Shortage in labour marketAgeing workforces in
companies
Adaptations in personnel development in companies
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Employers point of view (1)

• Not seriously concerned
• No shifts in age structures noticed
• Difficulties in personnel recruitment

Concernment
based on expert interviews (Laschalt 2004)
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Employers point of view (2)
Qualification
Health
Career
Social and legal conditions
Strategies
Knowledge transfer
Corporate culture
Age structure
Personnel marketing
based on expert interviews (Laschalt 2004)
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Employees point of view (1)
Interviews with older employees have been carried
out to learn about their subjective theories

• How do older employees perceive their working
  situation and their job performance?
• Which needs do older employees have concerning
  promoting and motivating working environment?
• How do they appraise existing concepts of
  personnel development for older employees?

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Employees point of view (2)
Data collection
Problem-centred interviews (Witzel 2000)
White collar employees without leadership
function aged 55 to 64 years Companies in Tyrol
with more than 250 employees
Sample
GABEK/WinRelan (Buber/Zelger 2000) computer
supported qualitative data analysis method
Data analysis
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Possibilities in personnel development
Provide general conditions for development, produc
tivity and motivation
Personnel development reforming the companies
human capital in order to be utilizable in an
ideal way
Actively apply and advance abilities, skills and
knowledge

• Minimize man-made-ageing

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• Thank you for your attention!

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References

• Witzel, A (2000), The problem-centered interview,
  Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum
  Qualitative Social Research Online Journal,
  1(1), available at http//www.qualitative-research
  .net/fqs-texte/1-00/1-00witzel-e.htm Date of
  Access 05 23, 2005.
• Buber, R Zelger, J (eds.) (2000), GABEK II. Zur
  Qualitativen Forschung. On Qualitative Research,
  Innsbruck, Wien, München Studienverlag