Silver Workers

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Deller

The project "Silver Workers" expands the focus of the management of an aging workforce. It deals with active retirees in the age of 60 to 85 years who are engaged either in volunteer or paid work.

An increasing number of retirees, being in excellent mental and physical shape, are active beyond the official retirement age. At the same time, there is a shortage of skilled personnel. It is the goal of the "Silver Workers" research project to identify reasons and necessary organizational conditions of (ongoing) employment during retirement. In doing so, the project identifies future challenges faced by organizations and can help find solutions for the design of working conditions fitting for active retirees.

In August 2007, a first explorative study was published, providing a glance at reasons and desired conditions for professional activities of retirees. In order to delineate strategic measures for HR management, results were discussed with a board of trustees consisting of a number of HR executives of different organizations (e.g., Daimler AG, Infineon AG, TUI AG). You can find more on the results of this qualitative and quantitative study on the homepage of the Silver Workers Institute (www.silverworkers.ch).

Co-founded in 2007 with The Geneva Association after the completion of this first explorative study, the Geneva-based Silver Workers Institute (SWI) is engaged with the challenge to design work for individuals older than 60, in order to meet the expected challenges of the demographic change. The goals of the SWI are the transmission of relevant information and the initiation and execution of consecutive research projects on Silver Workers.

Head of Project

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Deller

Project Management

Leena Maxin, Dipl.-Wirtschaftspsych. (FH)

Timeframce

Since September 1^st, 2005

Project Funding

The Geneva Association

Research Stipends

September 1^st, 2005 – September 1^st, 2008

External Partners

Silver Workers Institute, Genf