Transnational Meeting

1. Toward Companies for All Ages : State of Implementation Transnational Meeting ARETE – ARACT (IDF) - CGPME

2. Introduction • Leading research in various companies • Large companies (Arete) • Engaged in 5 research studies of large companies • Entry of a new member to our team • Small companies (Aract-Cgpme) • Sample of small and medium-sized companies • Adjustment of methodology • Research already engaged • First observation in small companies

3. Research Leads in Large Companies (1/6) • Insurance sector : observation 1 (x) • Dominant theme : motivation • Context : • Mergers with other insurance companies • Information systems always changing • Company strategies : developing the front office • No management of career and motivation problems • Employees should progress from technicians to salesmen • Salesmen require specific skills and qualifications • Too few opportunities for building career bridges • Reflections : • For employees, early retirement remains the central issue of their individual career plan • Only possible action : adopt a training plan for conversion • In case of conversion, experience of technician is completely lost • Opportunity for action is limited by the very nature of activity

4. Research Leads in Large Companies (2/6) • Insurance sector : observation 2 (xx) • Dominant theme : exchange of skills between younger and older employees • Context : • Insurance company directly approaches the customers and created a call center with internal resources • The company has converted technicians (middle-aged) to client relationship positions. The task requires both technician and client relationship know-how. • The elderly converted became technical references; the younger employees teach computer skills • Reflections : • Young and elderly workers are in a win-win situation • Problem of classification for elderly people : after significant training, their skills improve but their classification does not. • The activity level of their work is not very high

5. Research Leads in Large Companies (3/6) • Banking sector : observation 3 (xxx) • Dominant theme : nature of contributions from elderly workers • Context : • Bank decided to create a call center dedicated to clients who call local bank offices • Most workers are young or come from the back office • Processes of the call center do not require high technical expertise • Conversion process required significant effort • Reflections : • Paradox: quality/quantity between young and elderly workers • Some of the experience of elderly workers is not useful any more • Individual results are delivered each day. Individual results are correlated to variable pay; workers can compare results. • The elderly workers are the ones who know the clients demands and the needs of each agency.

6. Research Leads in Large Companies (4/6) • Banking sector : observation 4 (xxxx) • Dominant thematic : training and self-observation of employees • Context : • Merger of information systems ; Updating of tools • Centralisation of back office which causes reconversions • Strong need of «intermediary» between clients and hardware • Action : personal training for technicians to convert them to client relationship positions (3 months of training) • Reflections : • The main purpose of the training is to build self-confidence in people and make them feel useful in the new structure • It appears useful to introduce workers to a lifelong learning process in order to help them see themselves as mobile and able to learn new skills • Not utilizing a skill can be very difficult for workers ; personal training facilitates transitions.

7. Research Leads in Large Companies (5/6) • Distribution sector : observation 5 (xxxxx) • Dominant theme : motivation and salary • Context : • A large store in central Paris • Except for physical work, age does not seem to be related to skills obsolescence for employees • No recent information technology in the store • Client seems to prefer older and more experienced salesmen • The store has recently changed their variable pay system • Reflections : • Workers always compare their own pay before and after it changes : reductions in variable pay clearly decrease their motivation

8. Research Leads in Large Companies (6/6) • Opportunity : • Observation of large-scale reconversions at France Telecom • General Reflections : • Until recently, many courses of action were blocked (in anticipation of government regulation) • Concerning age measures or best practices, we have mostly observed reconversions of employees • Managers have become preoccupied with the new obligations they now have to keep elderly workers employed

9. New integration in our team (1/2) • Addition of a searcher to the work team • R. Monti (CNAM) has worked extensively with insurance companies and the Army for 3 years • She has used a specific type of analysis : science of management • She has used a pragmatic methodology to work on this subject • She delivered key results and modified the skill assessment of these companies

10. New integration in our team (2/2) • 2 Working Assumptions : • Age is subordinated to other decisions concerning management, training, motivation, professional growth • A real politic for age must be coordinated and integrated to the company objectives • 2 Goals of the Study Group • First goal : observe the state of the art concerning age in the company • Second goal : build a prospective model for the best integration of these employees

11. Panel of SMES (1/1) • Preliminary contacts • On a total of 12 SMES : • 3 companies don’t fit because they don’t have enough workers, • 2 because their population does not correspond to the criteria 2 companies are not ready yet • We met 5 companies • Criteria • Different age groups among the work force • Formal and unformal practices in the management of ages • An interest for the subject, a wish to share experiences with other companies in the same territory

12. Methodology for SMES (1/2) • Adjustment of the methodology We decide to carry out a pre-survey because of the small size of the panel and the fact that it is a very mixed group. The aims of this pre-survey are : • To study more precisely the hypothesis according to the characteristics of the SMES visited • To identify and to specify the distinctive investigation areas of the SMES

13. Methodology for SMES (2/2) • Data collection • Individual and collective interviews • Top manager and workers/employees representatives • Middle management and workers/employees • Company doctor • Criteria to choose interviewees • Age and experience • Activity / functions • Changes in the company and curriculum

14. Engaged actions in SMES (1/1) • A golf • A communication agency • An export consulting firm • An electronics company • An industrial risks consulting firm

15. First observations in SMES (1/2) • Practices to explore • Age in the recruitment policy • Age in the choice of the managers • Age in setting up and managing the teams • Age in professionnal relations • Questions • How are the parameters ? • age/experience/expertise/new competences combined ? • What is their impact on the teams composition? • How are the competences of the workers built along their occupationnal life ? • The health factor and the impact of the working conditions

16. First observations (SMES) (2/2) • Remarks • To each prejudice corresponds a counter-prejudice, practices deny representations • Relativism of the age notion • Experience and age : a useful confusion • Age : the last criterion to use • A management according to the situation wich makes modelling good practices difficult

17. Conclusion • A research at the first step of observation • Reflections : • «Ideal best practices» do not really exist ; various solutions seem to be adapted for each firm (large or SMES) • Two main conditions are needed in order to implement an «age» solution : • The firm must have a course of action and must invest in training ; • The firm must have a long-term prospective to make change possible