Health promotion for ageing employees in the workplace

Overview

Background.
Due to demographic changes in some of the EU member countries, certain social and health procedures have been introduced recently with the aim of keeping ageing employees in the working process. This problem is particularly acute in the Czech Republic due to the continued increase in the retirement age. Relatively simple changes in the work-plan can contribute to a reduction in the physical and psychological burden for ageing employees and the promotion of a healthy way of life can influence the health of employees in the long-term.

Methods and results.
The Healthy Work in an Ageing Europe report from the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP) enabled a comparison to be made between the national approach towards the support of health in elder employees applied in the Czech Republic with those in countries that are more experienced in this field. Some EU countries have already implemented measures recommended by the supranational programmes. This has been made possible through changes in legislation together with financial incentive mechanisms. These incentives are still absent in the Czech Republic so therefore neither the employers nor the employees are motivated enough to take any required measures. It can be stated that, with a few exceptions (e.g. Skoda Auto, a.s., Mlada Boleslav), companies do not pay much attention to health promotion for the elderly economically active population.

Conclusions.
On the strength of an analysis of the available data and sources connected with ageing population as well as from the experience of some select EU countries, initiatives and measures promoting health of the ageing employees on a microstructural (company) level in the Czech Republic are proposed.

Key words:
workplace health promotion, ageing, prolonging of working life, occupational health services.