Knowledge Workers Aged 65+. Employees' and Employers' Perspective

The research results described in the monograph have proven that the intellectual capital of the 65+ workers plays an important role for employers. They are perceived as competent and experienced persons. Senior workers can be employed as freelance experts, part-time workers, individually negotiated work agreements (I-deals),flexible employment schemes etc. They can be employed for such assignments as recruitment of staff, as coachers, mentors, service providers to older clientele and on advisory positions. For these reasons, the cost of lost opportunities due to discontinuation of employment are high. The research investigated the actual losses accrued due to dismissing 65+ worker which cannot be easily compensated by new hires. The benefits of HR policies focused on 65+ workers include: efficient succession planning, increased innovation opportunities due to knowledge retention, increased employee satisfaction through a better quality of life and inter-generational dialogue increased GDP through better utilisation of Human Capital, smaller money transfers to eldery people form compensation for negative effects of demographic downturn.