Reference no: EM133029092
Too slow, inflexible, forgetful, always off sick. Those are some attitudes about older workers that carmaker Mercedes-Benz is trying to dispel as Germany grapples with the challenges of an aging society. The luxury brand owned by Germany's Daimler AG is wag-ing a company-wide campaign to combat those mistaken impressions. "We wanted a paradigm shift in attitudes," said Sylvia Huette-Ritterbusch, a Mercedes personnel expert whose job is to decide what skills the firm will need in the future. One initiative Daimler has developed is an exhibition to challenge stereotypes about aging. It has already been visited by 80,000 people, including 2,500 of its factory managers, and has now been brought to Berlin and opened to the public. Visitors are asked to choose between the "young" or "old" door to enter the exhibition. Many retired visitors, who feel young at heart, come in through the "young" door. Once inside, you can take tests to measure memory, balance, ability to work in a team, the tightness of your grip, how high you can jump, and how easily you can relax. It turns out that this correspondent, real age 45, has a biological age of 36, but 119 years of life experience. They are realizing they can't do without some of the baby boomers and will try and hang onto them," said Andre Schleiter, a demographics expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank. Video tutorials in addition to the exhibition, Mercedes has introduced demographic audits across the company to encourage employees and management to openly discuss the age structure of their teams and address ways to promote cooperation between young and old. Initiatives that have come out of that process include the launch of a corporate video platform where older workers can post YouTube-like tutorials on complex working processes to pass on their expertise to the next generation. The company has also launched formal joint toolmaking training for teenage apprentices and employees aged over 50 and is testing ergonomic tools, such as an exoskeleton which reduces muscle strain for workers installing parts overhead. Other ideas include a system to help workers swap shifts more easily, allowing older staff to work part-time as they approach retirement, and hiring retirees for short-term projects."People don't want to be on or off," said Huette-Ritterbusch. Mercedes is not alone in seeking to address the challenge of an aging population.
What other human resource management steps do you think Mercedes should take in order to improve performance among an aging workforce?
What kind of training do you think can cultivate a higher level of competence of an aging workforce?
How will outcomes be measured for accountability of an aging workforce compared to a younger generational workforce?