Immediate supervisors supporting working careers in ageing working life
Objectives
- To develop a training for supervisors in order to increase their abilities in late-career leadership and positive age attitudes towards older employees
- To improve the quality of the supervisor-employee relationship and the occupational wellbeing and motivation of supervisors and employees.
- To study the efficacy of the training using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design
- To understand who benefits the most from the training
Our experts
Mervi Ruokolainen
Projektipäällikkö, erikoistutkija
Research group
Terje Leivategija, specialist
Marjaana Pöyry, specialized researcher
Jukka Vuori, head researcher
Telma Rivinoja, senior specialist
Ritva Horppu, senior specialist
Partners
The partners for the project are ABB Oy, Elisa Oyj, City of Kouvola, Päijät-Häme Joint Authority for Health and Wellbeing, Orion Oyj, Retta, City of Riihimäki, Teknos Oy and Oy Hartwall Ab
Funding
The Finnish Work Environment Fund, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and the workplaces
Data and methods
Seniority skills in use supervisor training
The Seniority skills in use (Kokemus käyttöön työyhteisössä) training enhances supervisors’ abilities to understand the characteristics of a late-career phase, to support older employees to develop their competences, to addresses questions related to work ability and career goals, to customize organizational practices to support older workers and to enhance the cooperation of employees with different ages.
The peer group-based training consists of 3 x 3 hour group meetings, and two short independent assignments completed before and between the training sessions. During the training supervisors discuss in small groups about case examples and descriptions of day-to-day workplace activities from their own perspectives and the perspective of employees.
Study design
The efficacy of the training was assessed through the RCT study design in ten Finnish workplaces. The supervisors and employees first responded to the baseline surveys, after which the supervisors were randomized into the intervention and comparison groups. The intervention group (n = 108) took part in the training immediately after the randomization, while the comparison group (n = 108) waited for its training, which took place after the last follow-up survey.
The supervisors responded to the follow-up surveys immediately and six months after the training of the intervention group. The employees responded to their follow-up surveys two and six months after the training of the supervisors in the intervention group.
Results and impact
Seniority skills to use is an evidence-based training program that workplaces can apply in the development of age and career management.
The efficacy results of the study will be published in May 2023.
