Healthy aging: retirement and early retirement - organizations and human resource management

Abstract

Healthy aging is a global challenge that concerns everyone in particular. Demographic changes and the decrease of working population have motivated – in decision makers, managers, and society in general – the need to promote health strategies to improve the quality of life, increase the participation of workers, prevent occupational diseases and accidents, promote healthy lifestyles and maintain the balance between different aspects of life: personal, professional and social. Retirement is now a late choice: people have more years of active life and it is important that human resource management reflects that reality. Good practice around the world has given us evidence that modelling work according to the characteristics of the population benefits both employers and employees. The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and The World Health Organization, among other institutions, analyse and regularly publish evidence about aging management models based on: non-discriminatory recruiting; career progression and incentives; phased retirement in line with health and well-being; education, training and development opportunities; leadership; and no communication barriers, as the best answer for employers and workforce. These tools have significant benefits for socio-economic evolution: they do not just increase productivity but also improve physical and mental work capacity, decrease absence due to sickness, and promote the needed stability between all factors of life of those involved.