Who needs The Workplace Age-Friendliness Measure?
Any organization with a multigenerational workforce that includes older workers.
Why do we need it?
The workforce is aging and becoming more age diverse then ever, including older workers at increasing proportions. Organizations need to utilize and leverage the accumulated talent and knowhow of its older workforce in favor of the overall benefit of them and their members.
What is it about?
The workplace age-friendliness measure is a four-dimensional construct of organizational culture and climate that attests the degree of workplace friendliness to work in older age and towards older workers. This measure was developed based on multiphase research involving 15 human resource experts, 17 judges in the field of human resource management, and 122 human resource manages, as well as close to 2,000 employees who evaluated 32 organizations in Israel from seven economic sectors: Secondary industry, health and nursing services, local authorities, the hotel industry, media and publishing, higher education, and banking and finance.
Further detailed about research on this concept can be found in the following references:
Eppler-Hattab, R., Meshoulam, I., & Doron, I. (2020). Conceptualizing age-friendliness in workplaces: Proposing a new multidimensional model. The Gerontologist, 60(1), 12-21.
https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny184.
Eppler-Hattab, R., Doron, I., & Meshoulam, I. (2020). Development and validation of a workplace age-friendliness measure. Innovation in Aging, 4(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa024.
Tell me more about it.
The workplace age-friendliness measure consists of four distinctive dimensions: age-friendly values, employee development, employee wellness, and occupational flexibility – as follows:
How to become an age-friendly employer in 4 to 5 steps?
An age-friendly employer adapts itself to the development of the need to work in older age, addresses the needs of the older worker, and optimizes the full range of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience of its older workers. Such an employer values its workers based on their qualifications and contribution, maintains an organizational culture and climate that support the employability of older workers, and commits to their meaningful employment and development. You may be 4 or 5 steps away from becoming an age-friendly employer.
Step 1: Process review talk
An interested employer representative, certified by the CEO or the head of the organization, contacts Dr. Raphael Eppler-Hattab or a staff member of Eppler Consulting (using the contact form at the bottom of this page) for advice on explaining the organizational process for becoming an age-friendly employer. Preliminary organizational information such as the organizational size and the proportion of older workers is provided to us.
Step 2: Adjustment and operation of assessment questionnaires
The evaluation process consists of two parts:
Part 1. A confidential questionnaire is submitted by employers’ representative regarding general recruitment and employment policies, practices and programs. This questionnaire covers workforce data such as the mobility of older workers into and out of the organization, and best practices related to age-friendly employers.
Part 2. The workplace age-friendliness questionnaire is handed out to employees. The data is collected using secure software for managing organizational surveys.
Step 3: Data analysis, presentation and discussion
The data collected is analyzed by us. The results of this organizational study are presented to the organization’s management including a detailed rating compared to relevant benchmark. At this stage, decisions are made related to a better understanding of organizational strengths and weaknesses associated with the beneficial employment of an aging and older workforce.
Step 4: Certification and recognition
Organizations with an overall positive score receive an “Age Friendly Employer Certificate” from us, jointly with Israel’s Ministry for Social Equality (forthcoming). The ranking is published with the approval of the employers once a year.
Step 5: Recertification and renewal
Organizations that do not receive certification in particular year are invited to apply again in the following year. Recertification is required every 24 months. Employers seeking to maintain the currency of their certification are asked to undergo a re-examination of the evaluation process. This process assures the improvement and maintenance of workplace age-friendliness over time.
Note: This organizational process involves a cost that is provided to the participating organization after step 1.
