Eurofound and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and National Institute for Social and Economic Research (NIESR) are jointly organising a conference on policies for an ageing work force in Brussels on Wednesday, 24 January 2018.
The event will provide a lively platform to discuss the changing demographic of Europe’s workforce and will examine more sustainable policies for providing better work-life balance and working conditions. It will also address the inequalities associated with the diversity among older peoples’ situations in the labour market, and their health and life expectancy. The conference touches upon several of the elements of the ‘framework agreement on active ageing and an intergenerational approach’ approved by EU employers and trade unions in 2017.
The conference will also discuss:
- Maintaining a skilled and healthy work force is arguably a core challenge in the coming years as European societies continue to age.
- Sustaining the ability to work and contribute to society until late in life
- Examine policies which can prevent such departures, by addressing work-life balance and working conditions
Background
European societies are ageing, and so are their workforces. As the share of older people in the workforce grows rapidly, people are also working until later. At the same time, many older people are exiting the labour market prematurely because they are unable to combine work with illness, disability or care commitments, or if they have become unemployed, or they are not motivated to continue working, sometimes due to poor working conditions.
Session 1: The right balance for a longer work life
A presentation will map out work-life balance issues in the EU for older workers using Eurofound data. The session will focus on the effect of longer working lives on domestic relationship in the UK based on work within the FACTAGE project. It will also look at the role of work place practices in addressing work-life balance issues.
Session 2: How to facilitate longer working lives by improving older people’s working conditions and health?
Presentations will assess working conditions for older workers and their effect on the ability to prolong working lives. The session will conclude with an assessment of policies with particular potential to address such inequalities, focusing on partial retirement schemes as a means to facilitate longer working lives, adjusting of working hours to better suit the work preferences among older workers, enabling and motivating people to work longer, sometimes beyond the statutory retirement age.
CEPS website: Event registration
