Project title: Best Agers Lighthouses - Strategic Age Management for SME in the Baltic Sea Region
Application call: 9
Priority: 4. Attractive & competitive cities and regions
Project website: www.best-agers-lighthouses.eu
Lead Partner:
Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbHHans-Detlev-Prien-Straße 10
24106 Kiel
DE
Annette Nißen
E-mail: annette.nissen@wak-sh.de
Phone: +49 431 3016 158
Fax: +49 431 3016 140
Project Manager:
Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbHHans-Detlev-Prien-Straße 10
24106 Kiel
DE
Hartwig Wagemester
E-mail: hartwig.wagemester@wak-sh.de
Phone: +49 431 3016 138
Fax: +49 431 3016 182
Information Manager:
REM ConsultMax-Brauer-Allee 218
22769 Hamburg
DE
Lars Schieber
E-mail: schieber@rem-consult.eu
Phone: +49 40 657 903 78
Fax: +49 40 657 903 77
Summary description of the project:
The extension stage project “Best Agers Lighthouses” focuses on implementation of age management interventions in selected small and medium-sized enterprises and public organisations in different Baltic Sea Region countries. The interventions followed a jointly developed methodology which is based on the results of the “Best Agers” project, and they were monitored and evaluated scientifically in order to determine the concrete economic consequences of introducing age management in human resources management. The companies and organisations are promoted as lighthouses in order to provide employers with a concrete and practical model approach.
The main stage project “Best Agers” has shed light on the changing role of older people (55+) in Baltic Sea economies that are confronted with the consequences of demographic change. As ageing and shrinking workforces become reality, it is clear that the mindset with which we see older people must change - especially in working life.
In many EU member states there are currently heated policy debates about raising retirement age in order to safeguard the pension systems against ageing processes. These discussions have led to protests in many countries, and are unfortunately far too often based upon the outdated paradigm of a fixed age limit that separates working age population from inactive older people. The “Best Agers” project has demonstrated that older people can contribute to economic activities and innovation processes not only by reamining in employment, but also in various other roles – e.g. as mentors, senior advisors or entrepreneurs.
With regard to the role of older workers in companies, the partners’ research has shown that employing older people can be economically beneficial both on the micro and macro level. However, it is necessary to adapt working conditions to the specific employee’s physical and intellectual capabilities and needs. This process is called age management.
While research on age management has, particularly in Scandinavia, produced highly relevant results, very little of this knowledge finds its way into the management of companies and public organisations.
In the "Best Agers Lighthouses" project, Local Age Management Partnerships (LAMPs) have been formed in nine partner regions. Each LAMP consisted of a project partner, a public or private employer, an Internal Mentor and an experienced External Advisor. Together they carried out an intervention that identified threats and opportunities resulting from the company’s personnel age structure and helped to reorganise HR management in order to make better use of the competences of older workers in key positions. The partners demonstrate the benefits and success factors of applying age management to provide incentives for other employers to follow suit and to stimulate decision makers and Social Partners to give age management a more prominent role in national policy discussions.
Achievements of the project so far:
The most essential activities are the nine public and private employers - our Lighthouse Organisations - that have carried out the age management interventions and that have proven successful in doing so. It turned out during the project starting phase that small and medium sized enterprises and public institutions were in some countries much more difficult to convince than it was expected before, although great efforts were put in the acquisition of employers by the project´s Facilitating Partners. This highlights and justifies even more the need for the project. Despite some hesitations, in all Lighthouse Organisations a common methodology was developed and applied how to analyse the needs and the initial situation of nine very heterogeneous organisations. These employers have been undergoing an individually adjusted and developed age management intervention and they all benefited positively – albeit very differently – from the project.
A big achievement is that they all plan to continue the activities which have been induced by the project. This certainly raises their competitiveness and has catalyzed important discussions and strategic orientations inside these organisations to improve the working conditions. Furthermore, due to communicating and disseminating the approach, already by now among several other employers (public and private) in the partner´s regions awareness for demographic change and higher competitiveness through age management has been raised. This is one of the central project aims – that our lighthouses “shine” as good examples for others, even before the results of the evaluation and the cost-benefit analysis have been published. Also other stakeholders have been sensitized to the topic of demographic change on labour markets on regional levels via several communication activities and on a European level via contacts and public seminars and accompanying presentation and networking activities.
The final Joint Tripartite Conference which was organised together with the Baltic Sea Labour Forum in Riga was a visible sign for the attention that was raised by the project actors and their networks respectively. At this occasion, the recommendations for other employers as well as for Policy Makers and Social Partners were distributed to encourage these actors for spreading age management. Furthermore, another achievement is that the interventions were evaluated scientifically and the obtained results disseminated to this audience via scientific publications and conference appearances. A compilation of findings "Competitiveness and Employment for the Future: Good Examples of Age Management in the Baltic Sea Region" finally summarizes the rationale behind the project, describes the nine intervention case studies (Lighthouse Organisations), the evaluation results and the recommendations.
| Project Duration: | Dec 2012 - Sep 2014 |
| Approximate total project budget in EUR: | 1.650.980,00 |
| ERDF co-financing: | 1.300.340,00 |
| ENPI co-financing: | 0,00 |
| Norwegian national contribution: | 0,00 |
List of partners
| Academy of Economics Scleswig-Holstein | ||||||||
| 24106 Kiel | GERMANY Hans-Detlev-Prien-Straße 10 Region: Schleswig-Holstein |
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| Contact person: Holger Hellebrandt Phone: +49 431 3016 102 E-mail: holger.hellebrandt@wak-sh.de Web: www.wak-sh.de |
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| Work and Life Hamburg | ||||||||
| 20097 Hamburg | GERMANY Besenbinderhof 60 Region: Hamburg |
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| Contact person: Hans Thormählen Phone: +49 40 284 01 611 E-mail: office@hamburg.arbeitundleben.de Web: www.hamburg.arbeitundleben.de |
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| Education and Training Service for Hamburg Businesses (BWH) | ||||||||
| 22297 Hamburg | GERMANY Kapstadtring 10 Region: Hamburg |
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| Contact person: Silke Lorenz Phone: +49 40 6378-4530 E-mail: lorenz@bwh-hamburg.de Web: www.bwh-hamburg.de |
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| Research Association Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | ||||||||
| 18059 Rostock | GERMANY Joachim-Jungius Straße 9 Region: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern |
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| Contact person: Frank Büttner Phone: +49 381 51079 0 E-mail: bestagers@fmvev.net, f.buettner@fmvev.net Web: www.fmvev.net |
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| Aalto University School of Business, Small Business Center | ||||||||
| 50100 Mikkeli | FINLAND Lönnrotinkatu 7 Region: Itä-Suomi |
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| Contact person: Natalia Narits Phone: +358 9 47001 E-mail: natalia.narits@aalto.fi Web: www.pienyrityskeskus.aalto.fi/en |
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| Prizztech Ltd | ||||||||
| 28101 Pori | FINLAND P.O. Box 18 Region: Länsi-Suomi |
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| Contact person: Kirsi Mäkelä Phone: +358 2 620 5300 E-mail: kirsi.makela@prizz.fi Web: www.prizz.fi |
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| Gdansk University of Technology | ||||||||
| 80-233 Gdansk | POLAND Narutowicza 11/ 12 Region: Pomorskie |
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| Contact person: Dr. Anita Richert-Kazmierska Phone: +48 58 347 28 15 E-mail: Anita.Richert@zie.pg.gda.pl Web: www.pg.gda.pl |
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| Stockholm School of Economics in Riga | ||||||||
| 1010 Riga | LATVIA Strelnieku iela 4a Region: Latvija |
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| Contact person: Ieva Goba Phone: +371 67015800 E-mail: ieva.goba@sseriga.edu Web: www.sseriga.edu |
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| Siauliai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts | ||||||||
| 76285 Siauliai | LITHUANIA Vilnius Str. 88 Region: Lietuva |
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| Contact person: Edita Grigaliauskiene Phone: +37041525504 E-mail: edita.grigaliauskiene@chambers.lt Web: www.rumai.lt |
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| Siauliai Branch of the National Regional Development Agency | ||||||||
| 762875 Siauliai | LITHUANIA Vilnius Str. 88 Region: Lietuva |
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| Contact person: Beatričė Poškuvienė Phone: +37041552061 E-mail: nrda@nrda.lt Web: www.nrda.lt |
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| KTU Regional Science Park | ||||||||
| 44156 Kaunas | LITHUANIA K. Petrausko Str. 26 Region: Lietuva |
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| Contact person: Tomas Cernevicius Phone: +370 37 300808 E-mail: ctomas@ktc.lt Web: www.ktc.lt |
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| County Council of Norrbotten | ||||||||
| 97189 Luleå | SWEDEN Robertsviksgatan 7 Region: Övre Norrland |
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| Contact person: Ewa Hedkvist Petersen Phone: +46(0)920 28 46 43 E-mail: Ewa.hedkvist-petersen@nll.se Web: www.nll.se |
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