Panel Descriptions

Session I: Strategies for an Aging Workforce - A Multi-Stakeholder Approach

This session is the first of the forum. As such, its purpose is to set the stage for forum discussions by providing participants with a broad overview of the various issues, challenges and opportunities presented by an aging workforce from the perspectives of government, business, labor, and social partner interests. The theme for the panel is broad, but is intended to act as an introduction to the more specific panels and introduce guests to the positions and perspectives on aging workforce issues from representatives of the major stakeholder groups.

Topics that may be addressed during this panel include:

• What are the major demographic trends effecting global labor markets?
• How will the aging workforce change effect the ways businesses and governments operate and how will these changes effect the competitiveness of industries and economies?
• How can government, industry, trade unions, and civil society work cooperatively to ensure that society is prepared for the changing nature of work and retirement?
• What is the role of the individual worker compared to that of government and industry in making changes necessary to adapt to the aging workforce? Should those living longer be forced to work longer? Should mandatory retirement ages be abolished?
• There will also be a perspective from a business leader (SIEMENS) who will present a business case study for effectively addressing demographic change in the workplace.

Session II: Changing Attitudes and Perceptions - Combating Age Discrimination and Promoting Age Diversity in the Workplace

This session is intended to explore diverse strategies for creating cultural and attitudinal change necessary to create a more hospitable and open environment for people to continue working beyond traditional retirement age. Employees and employers often hold stereotypical assumptions about the performance, abilities, and characteristics of older workers. At the same time, cultural and societal attitudes may sometimes enforce the notion that workers must retire at certain ages. This session will explore strategies that can effectively change attitudes and help create more age diverse and accepting work environments for people regardless of age.

Specific topics to be addressed will include:

• Attitudes and perceptions of employees and employers toward older workers and toward the issue of working beyond traditional retirement age
• Strategies and best policies that change perceptions about older workers, such as public awareness campaigns, intergenerational cooperation in the workplace, diversity training for managerial level employees or hiring officials, age neutral hiring practices, etc.
• Combating age discrimination through the implementation of laws and litigation

Within this theme, panelists may address the success and/or failures of the anti-age discrimination provisions of the EU Employment Directive passed in 2000, which mandated the adoption by member states of laws that protect against age discrimination in employment. The moderator has been asked to engage panelists in a dialogue on specific tools and strategies that government, business, individuals, and social partners can implement to effectively address these issues either through legislation, public awareness campaigns, education, or workplace policies/procedures.

Session III: Life-Long Learning and Training - Refreshing Skills Throughout the Career

Discussion during this session will focus on strategies for keeping the skills of workers updated and adequate throughout the course of their careers. The session will explore what roles government, businesses, academia, individuals, and social partners should play in promoting and creating effective education and vocational training systems that ensure workers maintain the skills necessary to stay effectively employed beyond traditional retirement years.

The following issues should be discussed during this session:

• Strategies for promoting participation in adult learning and vocational training opportunities
• Best practices from governments in creating systems for effective life-long learning and vocational training
• Strategies for re-training and re-careering older workers displaced by outsourcing, off-shoring, or changes in the global economy
• Key challenges to encouraging older workers to update their skills
• Are there differences in the ways older workers learn or can be more effectively trained? Are there any best policies for adapting learning environments or programs to effectively target older workers?
• What workforce skills are needed for economies and businesses to maintain competitiveness in the global economy?
• Are there critical gaps or shortages in talent being caused or heightened by the aging workforce?
• With waves of retirement looming, how can businesses ensure that critical knowledge is transferred from older workers to younger workers in ways that are beneficial to both groups?
• What can older workers learn from younger workers and vice versa?
• Are there best practices from employers in successfully updating skills of their older employees either through formal or informal mechanisms?

Session IV: Removing Barriers and Increasing Incentives to Continued Work - Financial Considerations and Flexible Work Options

The session will explore effective public policies and employer practices for removing barriers that discourage continued work and what incentives might encourage continued work. The focus of the session will be on flexible work options as a benefit to older workers as well as the workforce as a whole, and financial considerations to working beyond traditional retirement years.

The following issues will be discussed during this session:

• Re-designing company pension plans and social insurance schemes to avoid inadvertent disincentives to working longer, such as regulations that prohibit partial collection of a pension while continuing to work or early retirement incentives in company or state pension schemes
•  Provision of pension credits or pension bonuses for working beyond traditional retirement age through either state provided or employer provided programs
• Incentives that help employees save adequately and plan effectively for retirement
• How can work-life balance policies encourage people to remain employed beyond traditional retirement years?
• What types of flexible work options do older workers desire? Specific policies to explore should include: telecommuting, sabbaticals, compressed schedules, phased retirement, time off to care for elder parents, flexible work locations, phased retirement, part time work, job sharing, and periodic leave policies

Discussion will likely be focused on exploring the pros and cons of various strategies for reducing barriers to continued work and creating incentives to encourage continued work. It should explore the needs and desires of older workers compared to the current offerings of employers and/or government. Finally, the panel should explore both government public policies and employer policies that are necessary to remove barriers and increase incentives for continued work. 

Session V:  Work Environment - Making Workplaces More Accommodating and Promoting Health and Wellness in the Workplace

In order to effectively promote continued employment beyond traditional retirement age, many innovative employers are physically redesigning workplaces to make jobs less strenuous, governments are promoting "employability" throughout a life-time by encouraging health and wellness, and employers are increasingly encouraging their employees to stay fit, active, and eat nutritiously. In addition, new technologies may play a role in transforming work, so that those with physical limitations, which often accompany old age, can continue performing jobs that they otherwise would not be able to maintain. 

This session will explore the following topics:

• Successful government strategies for increasing "employability" of workers throughout their careers in an effort to keep people healthy and able to continue to be productively employed into older ages
• How are model employers encouraging their employees to stay fit and healthy? Areas for discussion should include: education and awareness; encouragement to stay fit; healthy food offerings; free medical checks and examinations; etc.
• Ergonomic design options to retrofit workplaces and work stations to make jobs less physically strenuous (Ex. Retrofitted hospital beds to make moving patients easier on aging nurses)
• Workplace programs that allow individuals to take-on new job responsibilities when they are no longer able to maintain physically strenuous occupations (Ex. A mechanic being re-trained for administrative responsibilities in an auto-shop or job rotation on an assembly line to prevent physical ailments that occur from repetitive motions)
• Software and technology updates that make work less physically strenuous

The session will convene a diverse panel including: a government official from Finland, which is widely recognized for effective government policy in this area; the head of a US NGO, which convenes business executives for sharing of best practices on health promotion in the workplace; the head of Microsoft's accessibility unit which has a line of technology products designed to make work more accessible to those with physical disabilities and older workers; and an architecture and universal design specialist who is working on a major project researching effective workplace design for an aging workforce.