Later Life Workplace Index (LLWI)

Wi­t­hin our aging so­cie­ties la­ter life work is on the rise in most de­ve­l­o­ped coun­tries and or­ga­niza­t­io­nal prac­tices are im­portant for its suc­cess­ful im­ple­men­ta­ti­on. The Eu­ro­pean Com­mis­si­on (2015) pro­jects a 30% in­crea­se among Eu­ro­pean em­ployees aged 55 to 64 bet­ween 2013 and 2030. The in­crea­se in main­ly dri­ven by demographic change, but also by in­crea­sed la­bor mar­ket par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on ra­tes of ol­der em­ployees - in­clu­ding workers in re­ti­re­ment age. This ef­fect is fur­ther ac­ce­le­ra­ted by in­cre­a­sing stan­dard re­ti­re­ment ages in many Eu­ro­pean coun­tries. In par­al­lel, skilled labor force shortages af­fect key in­dus­tries, chal­len­ging or­ga­niza­t­i­ons in terms of re­cruit­ment, suc­ces­si­on plan­ning and know­ledge re­ten­ti­on. Mo­re­o­ver, la­ter life work has been found to sup­port health and well-being on the in­di­vi­du­al le­vel (e.g., Behncke, 2012; Din­gem­ans & Hen­kens, 2015) as well as re­li­e­ve so­ci­al sys­tems on the so­cie­tal le­vel. It is hence in the in­te­rest of both, eco­no­my and so­cie­ty, to re­tain the job performance, motivation, and health of ol­der em­ployees.

Organizational HR and management practices have been shown to po­si­tive­ly af­fect suc­cess­ful em­ploy­ment of ol­der em­ployees in many do­mains (e.g., Kun­ze, Boehm, & Bruch, 2011). Whi­le much re­se­arch has been car­ri­ed out on the in­di­vi­du­al an­te­ce­dents and pre­fe­ren­ces for ol­der em­ployees and post-re­ti­re­ment work in re­cent ye­ars (e.g., Fas­ben­der, Del­ler, Wang, & Wier­nik, 2014; Temp­ler, Arm­strong-Stas­sen, & Cat­ta­neo, 2010), it is not yet un­ders­tood, how suc­cess­ful em­ploy­ment of ol­der em­ployees can be enab­led from an or­ga­niza­t­io­nal per­spec­tive per­spec­tive (Boehm, Kun­ze, & Bruch, 2014). Re­se­arch has re­vea­led many in­di­vi­du­al le­vers, e.g. an or­ga­niza­t­io­nal cli­ma­te and lea­dership style sup­porting ol­der em­ployees, fle­xi­ble work ar­ran­ge­ments, oc­cupa­tio­nal health­ca­re or a pur­po­se­ful know­ledge trans­fer (e.g., Kooij, Jan­sen, Dik­kers, & de Lan­ge, 2014). Howe­ver, organizations still lack a well-foun­ded self-as­sess­ment tool to as­sess their rea­di­ness for an aging work­force and to de­ri­ve pos­si­ble cour­ses of ac­tion (Hen­kens et al., 2018; Tru­xil­lo, Ca­diz, & Ham­mer, 2015). Mo­re­o­ver, it is not yet in­ves­ti­ga­ted and un­ders­tood, which or­ga­niza­t­io­nal prac­tices dri­ve ol­der em­ployees’ per­for­mance, mo­ti­va­ti­on, and health most.

Wöhrmann, Deller and Pundt (2018) hence propose the Later Life Workplace Index (LLWI) to sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly de­scri­be suc­cess­ful working con­di­ti­ons for ol­der em­ployees and to com­pa­re or­ga­niza­t­i­ons re­gar­ding their prac­tices for an aging workforce. The index aims to serve as a free tool for self-assessment within organizations and benchmarking among peers on industry and regional level.

The Go­in­ger Kreis is a Ger­man fo­rum und think tank of lea­ding busi­ness ma­na­gers and sci­en­tists for the fu­ture of hu­man re­sour­ce ma­nage­ment and em­ploy­ment. Wi­t­hin its in­te­rest group for "em­ploy­ment po­ten­ti­als of ol­der workers" the Go­in­ger Kreis sup­ports the de­ve­lop­ment of an in­dex for suc­cess­ful and sustainable la­ter life work sin­ce many ye­ars. Fur­ther in­for­ma­ti­on is avail­able at www.go­in­ger-kreis.de.

The Demographie Netzwerk (ddn) is net­wor­king as­so­cia­ti­on of ~400 com­pa­nies and in­sti­tu­ti­ons that aims to ac­tive­ly shape the de­mo­gra­phic chan­ge wi­t­hin the work­force. The ddn sup­ports the de­ve­lop­ment of the La­ter Life Workplace In­dex as a prac­tice-ori­en­ted tool al­lo­wing com­pa­nies and or­ga­niza­t­i­ons to self-as­sess them­sel­ves re­gar­ding their ca­pa­bi­li­ties re­gar­ding an aging and in­cre­a­sin­gly age-di­ver­se work­force.

The BAuA is a fe­deral in­sti­tu­te from the Ger­man Mi­nis­try of La­bour and So­ci­al Af­fairs (BMAS) and con­ducts sci­en­ti­fic re­se­arch in four di­vi­si­ons: Is­su­es and Pro­gram­mes, Pro­ducts and Work Sys­tems, Work and Health, as well as Ha­zar­dous Sub­stan­ces and Bio­lo­gi­cal Agents. The BAuA sup­ports the de­ve­lop­ment of the Later Life Workplace Index sci­en­ti­fi­cal­ly and me­tho­do­lo­gi­cal­ly.

The ias Group provides integrated solutions regarding health and performance management in Germany. Over the last 40 years the ias Group has pioneeringly accompanied all changes in the world of work. As one of the leading providers in its industry, it develops prevention-oriented solutions that help to keep managers, employees and whole organizations healthy, productive and successful. The ias Group supports the Leuphana University of Lüneburg in embedding the Later Life Workplace Index and its findings and insights in practice.

The Age Smart Employer Award is a culture-change strategy to honor New York City businesses whose practices engage and retain workers of all ages, with a specific focus on older workers. The award was initiated by the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center and The New York Academy of Medicine in 2012 as an extension of the Age Friendly NYC initiative, a public-private partnership to make New York City a better place to grow old. It honors New York City employers whose policies and practices promote generational diversity in the workforces and highlights the positive contributions of older workers.