14.11.2022

OLDER WORKERS INCREASINGLY NEEDED IN THE LABOR MARKET

The share of workers over the age of 55 is increasing every year. The demographic replacement rate in Bulgaria is 69 for 2021, which means that for every 100 people who retire, there are 69 who enter working age.

As a result of these processes, it appears that the ability of employers to retain older workers is a key measure to temporarily solve the labor shortage problem. This was said by Svetlana Doncheva - head of the "Center for Project Management" at the Bulgarian Industrial Association, during the final conference of the eDigiStars project in Budapest, BIA reported.

The project is implemented by 19 partners from 8 Danube countries - Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Ukraine. The main goal is to develop sustainable ecosystems that successfully transform older workers into self-employed entrepreneurs who offer digital services.

Svetlana Doncheva was invited by the organizers to the discussion panel "A new path for the elderly or employees over 50, self-employed or looking for work and their opportunities on the labor market" to present part of the results of the project "Inspired by experience: More long together - a path to success", which BIA implemented in the period 2019 - 2021.

She told the conference delegates that generational issues are even more relevant and significant in the current situation on the labor market. Project work has seen four, even five generations working together for the first time, and this, in turn, is proving to be a huge challenge for employers who are struggling to successfully manage generational differences in the workplace. The results of a qualitative study carried out by BIA among 809 respondents, representatives of the four main generations in the labor market, have confirmed the hypothesis that there are significant differences between them in terms of needs, values, motivation, expectations, attitudes, behavioral patterns and attitudes towards labor.

At the same time, the analyzes also confirm another hypothesis of the researchers, namely that employers do not have experience in implementing successful management practices related to the intergenerational approach and the management of generational differences. At the heart of this approach is the understanding that the specifics of different generations must be studied, identified and used to create a working environment that highlights the strengths of each generation, promotes mutual understanding and solidarity between different generations in the interest of the common business aims.

The project "Inspired by experience: Longer together - a path to success" has also taken into account very precisely the needs and characteristics of people over 50 years of age, who are the core group of the eDigiStars project. HR experts at BIA call this Generation T (Traditionalists). In Bulgaria, this generation grew up during the period of consolidation of the socialist regime and the state planned economy. These are people who value the work ethic of the previous time, are not inclined to change their jobs often, they are rather workaholics, supporters of a stricter hierarchy. Education is a high value for traditionalists and it is not true that the elderly do not want to be educated and learn.

The experts who worked on the project recommend that employers emphasize on-the-job training, exchange of experience and cooperation with colleagues, and report that people over 50 years of age have a harder time understanding the dynamics of the workplace. Changing processes and procedures confuses and stresses them.

"More time is needed to adapt and learn the new. That is why employers must be patient, tolerant and give them enough time to adapt to the new conditions. Naturally, with advancing age, suitable working conditions and the absence of excessive tension in work is becoming more and more important. In this sense, employers should think about more flexible forms of working hours, introduction of more ergonomic working conditions for people at an older age", added Svetlana Doncheva and emphasized that the activities on the eDigiStars project were a natural extension of the results of the "Inspired by Experience" project. The work of the eDigiStars project team, based on the in-depth previous analyses, has helped to create the three tools that play a key role in the learning process of people 50+.