Thank you.
Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, the presentation that I'm making today results from my work that was done at the Commission nationale sur la participation au marché du travail des travailleuses et travailleurs expérimentés de 55 ans et plus.
This commission has done its work at the end of 2010 and 2011. We'll move to the workplace now and I'll describe what has come out as a synthesis of the analysis that I submitted to this commission.
First, I would like to mention the overall title, which is “Diversité des pratiques, souplesse d'application et importance d'une perspective pragmatique”.
Practices in labour organization that are designed to keep employees at work or to bring retirees back to work represent new approaches for businesses, after the wave of early retirements from 1980 to 1990. At the time, that was called “Freedom 55”.
Economic cycles, demographics and labour shortages have contributed to the fact that extending working lives is more and more necessary. But that is not achieved under any conditions. Workers will delay their retirement only when it suits them, meaning when the conditions keep the work interesting when compared to total retirement. A number of studies have highlighted the need for flexible work hours and for working conditions to be reorganized with a view to accommodating an active lifestyle in the workplace.
With its foundation in those known observations, this presentation tries to answer the following questions. What are the results of those accommodations? Are there lessons to be learned? In various kinds of businesses, private or public, large or small, what are the main conditions that hinder or encourage employees to stay at work or retirees to return to work?
From the analysis of significant practices found in the literature, and from discussions with players from a number of different workplaces in Quebec, observations, both general and specific, become clear. We identify four general ones.
First, there is a need for a variety of approaches and practices. One-size-fits-all programs do not hurt, but they cannot achieve the same scope, or the same buy-in, that is the result of a multi-pronged approach that operates in parallel in various ways. Examples might be flexible work hours, physical and ergonomic considerations, training plans for experienced workers, training trainers, planning for the next generation, and promoting awareness about the expertise that experienced workers have. A flexible schedule seems to be of critical importance in encouraging people to stay at work.
The second general observation is that communication and collaboration between everyone in the organization is a vital condition for driving the desired changed. The challenge in this aspect is that the emphasis must be on “everyone”.
The third observation is that the processes we are studying take place in a wider context that shapes the results of the approaches. It is therefore necessary to consider the backgrounds in which the genesis and operation of workplace practices are set. This particularly means the legislation and regulations already in place that encourage, or perhaps limit, the workplace participation of workers 55 and older.
The fourth and last general observation is that business practices designed to keep employees at work or to bring retirees back to work seem to be more widespread in Europe. In Sweden specifically, we see a much more pragmatic approach, and one that is shared by all. That encourages the establishment of effective programming.
I would now like to present the more specific observations. They are six in number.
First, the variety of dimensions, which I mentioned in the general observations, is manifested in different ways depending on the context, the business and the nature of the workforce.
Second, it may be useful, particularly for SMEs, to engage an external agent in order to implement change. The changes will have enhanced credibility, and, as a result, the acceptance by those involved that the changes are legitimate will also be enhanced. This is key to workplace buy-in.
Third, in the case of SMEs, an external agent may be able to partially make up for the lack of a human resources or staffing department with this objective as its role.
I see that time waits for no man and that I will not be able to cover everything. I had some statistics about the significance of SMEs to the Canadian economy.
This particular observation takes on even more importance when we consider that SMEs with fewer than 50 or 100 employees often have no human resources department. So the person running the SME is the one who, among all the other functions, manages retirements or creates the initiatives that will keep, or not keep, employees on the payroll.
Additionally, experienced workers are often recognized for their loyalty, their commitment to the success of the business and their trustworthiness. An example is in customer service. Those characteristics make them all the more attractive to employers because they are those for which young workers, especially those in generation Y, are often criticized. I do not want to generalize or point fingers in the slightest; the comment is not mine, but it is often heard. This combination of circumstances could help to reduce the discrimination that experienced workers often suffer and that, paradoxically, they often perpetuate, especially after the loss of a job.
The final specific observation is that, at the intersection of professional life and family life, a concept mentioned in other presentations, major changes are taking place because of the increasingly healthy life expectancy and the role of older family members. Both public authorities, through their legislation and their control mechanisms, and employers and employee representatives desirous of making it easier to stay at work, must be aware of these aspects and prepare for accommodations as a result.
Finally, beyond the observations, both general and specific, we must deal with the realities of the business context and any possibilities of keeping employees at work or bringing retirees back to work that are provided in forms that are sufficiently interesting to achieve buy-in from experienced workers. They vary greatly depending on the size of the business and its nature; for example, if it is engaged in manufacturing or in services, or whether it is in the public or private sector. In that context, I am thinking about retirement programs that must be considered in terms of intergenerational fairness. We must consider what awaits the younger generations and ask ourselves if it is appropriate to allow the accumulation of several retirement schemes.
One of the main challenges in encouraging participation in the workforce will be to account for both those specific factors and the needs of employers, employees and their representatives when the tools are being designed and put to work.
Thank you.