Für immer jung?

VDMA 2004
190 pages

Member price visible after registration
ISBN 978-3-8163-0470-8

Authors:
Josef Reindl, Carola Feller,
Martina Morschhäuser,
Achim Huber

Contents:
1 Preliminary remarks and instructions for use
2 Demographic change: challenge and opportunity for mechanical engineering companies
2.1 Facts about demographic change - a brief overview
2.2 Demographic change: From the cult of youth to flourishing ageing
2.3 The older worker: Images from science and practice
2.4 The mistakes of the past
2.5 What to do?
3 Field of action: Career entry
3.1.1 Fahrion Engineering GmbH ltere Fach- und Führungskräfte
3.1.2 StarragHeckert GmbH: The return of women to the world of technology
3.1.3 FKT Formenbau und Kunststofftechnik, DIESSEL GmbH rme GmbH and Ilmvac GmbH: In-house training - an insurance policy against the demographic trap
3.2 Conclusion
3.3 FOKUS
3.4 Spectrum of activities in the field of action Career entry
4 Field of action Employment/ personnel development
4.1.1 SCHWABEN PRäZISION Fritz Hopf GmbH (SPN): The birth of personnel policy
4.1.2 Lenze AG and Hatlapa GmbH Co.: Personnel development for large and small
4.1.3 Peter Wolters Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH: Increasing the performance of older employees - a personnel policy provocation?
4.1.4 Vetter Fördertechnik GmbH: older employees on new machines
4.2 Conclusion
4.3 Focus
4.4 Range of activities in the field of action: employment/staff development
5 Field of action: employment/health
5.1 SEHO Seitz r healthy ageing
5.2 SBS Bühnentechnik GmbH, Deguma Schütz GmbH and Artmetall AG Kölleda: a feel-good atmosphere to combat the risk of illness
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Focus
5.4 Range of activities in the field of action: Employment/health
6 Field of action: Leaving the profession
6.1.1 Polysius AG and enviplan Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH: Odyssey in the corporate knowledge universe
6.1.2 Aloys F. Dornbracht GmbH chsigen zum organisierten Wissenstransfer
6.2 Conclusion
6.3 Focus
6.4 Range of activities in the field of action: career end
7 Integrated approaches to action
7.1.1 Hans Lingl Anlagenbau und Verfahrenstechnik GmbH ller lscher KG: A cross-generational HR policy to combat early retirement
7.1.3 Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Vogtland GmbH: Everyday demographics
7.1.4 Sick AG Demographics: totally normal
7.2 Conclusion
7.3 Focus
8 Internal awareness-raising
8.1 Elements of an internal awareness-raising strategy
8.1.2 Raising awareness among the workforce
8.2 Range of activities: Raising awareness among management and workforce Most important

Result:
The participating companies take the topic into account in upcoming labour and personnel policy decisions. The demographic perspective has thus found its way into the day-to-day business of HR work - in our view, this is the best possible prevention. Companies have self-healing powers that do not generally and consistently require the care of external professionals.

Age structure analyses:
Age structure analyses have proven to be an excellent basis for designing measures in most companies. Some companies have been very original in their approach: Combination of age and length of service, age analyses comparing white-collar and blue-collar workers, men and women, department-related analyses, projections into the future, etc. They have implicitly taken into account that age is a very complex issue: calendar age, biological age, social age, including length of service. If you take these different perspectives on age into account, it becomes clear that you can hardly draw conclusions about the innovativeness of a workforce based on their calendar age. You can be old in terms of your calendar, biologically younger and socially still very young at the same time. You can be young in terms of your calendar and biology and socially very old at the same time. Age structure analyses enable SMEs to take a second look at their workforce, which often leads to surprising insights and new findings.

Recruitment:
In the field of recruitment, which is closely linked to the problem of skills shortages, the self-recruitment option dominates. Where in-house recruitment is unable to meet demand, some companies are beginning to question their previous recruitment criteria. They are inviting older employees, recruiting women or tapping into new groups such as young people with learning difficulties but practical skills. Some are also looking at their retirees and concluding consultancy contracts with them or employing them as so-called mini-jobbers during peak periods.

Qualification and personnel development:
In the field of action of qualification and personnel development, the most fundamental changes to their previous practices were observed in several companies. Companies have begun to view their staff as a dynamic rather than a static variable. For these companies, the workforce is a potential that needs to be systematically identified and developed. This includes the following steps: As-is assessment of the qualification and competence structure of the workforce, requirements profile analysis for the future, institutionalized employee interviews in which a comparison is made between the expectations of the company and the ideas of the employees, agreements between the company and employees on the further career and the necessary upgrading or adaptation qualifications (individual personnel development concept), initiation of company training activities.

Health:
Compared to the other action areas, the field of health is less well represented. In our opinion, there are two hypotheses for the less pronounced representation of the topic: Firstly, the health issue is very closely linked to the performance issue, and performance is a non-negotiable taboo subject in many companies. Secondly, many companies are dominated by the idea that each individual must take care of their own health as a prerequisite for employment.

Knowledge transfer:
The field of knowledge transfer is the main focus of the demographic initiative. The difficulties of technically managing knowledge are rehabilitating the traditional transfer of knowledge and experience. In the short term, the age distribution is not a cause for concern almost everywhere, thanks to the enormous training efforts in mechanical engineering. In the medium term, however, it is foreseeable that the compressed age pyramid that exists almost everywhere will shift from the middle-aged to the older age groups. In the West, reorganization processes in the broadest sense are often the reason for action.

Sensitization:
The sensitization of management and staff, which is considerably more difficult in large companies than in smaller ones. Characteristics of the industry: The mechanical engineering sector is comparatively well equipped to meet the challenges of demographic change. It would be wrong to sound the alarm unnecessarily. The industry benefits from the fact that it embodies a social model in which varied work, high qualifications, manageable size, employee loyalty, the importance of experience, appreciative treatment of employees and a lasting global reputation form a happy symbiosis.

Authors:
Josef Reindl, Carola Feller, Martina Morschhäuser, Achim Huber