Dens Newsletter 2

NEWSLETTER 2

→ DENS will raise efficiency!

→ DENS will raise awareness on European

employment strategy!

→ DENS will strengthen the capacities of social partners!

January 2011

DENS Newsletter 2 |January 2011|PAGE2

Dear readers,

Welcome in the 2nd edition of project DENS Newsletter. Our project is approaching to its final phase and in the following pages we would like to present to you results achieved so far and upcoming events.

In the past months we continued to exchange experiences, practices and knowledge related to flexicurity and active ageing among Denmark, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Croatia in transnational forum in Prague. In e-forum, that we opened in DENS web page also representatives of other EU countries joined us.

In this newsletter we are presenting discussions and conclusions from Transnational Forum that took place between 18th and 19th November 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic, some good practices recognised and discussed and lessons learned. We are also presenting e-forum that we opened at the project DENS web page (http://www.dens-progress.eu/forum).

Do not miss upcoming event that is presented at the end of this Newsletter as you are kindly invited to join us at the two days transnational conference FLEXICURITY AND ACTIVE AGEING – HOW TO

MANAGE CHALLENGE that will take place on 15th and 16th February 2011, Hotel Habakuk in Maribor, Slovenia. Please join us in our discussions and mutual learning and help us find new solutions to support successful implementation of flexicurity and active ageing policies in the future. Enjoy your reading,

Dušanka Lužar Šajt, Manager, reim, Human Resource Development Centre, Slovenia

IN THIS ISSUE:

→ EDITORIAL

→ TRANSNATIONAL FORUM

→ GOOD PRACTICES

→ LESSONS LEARNED

→ E-FORUM

→ TRANSNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Publisher: eim, HRDC

Editor: Sonja Gavez

Graphic design: Bigpackmedia, GRECO d.o.o.

DENS

www: dens-progress.eu

January 2011

Dušanka Lužar Šajt


Transnational forum in Prague, Czech

Republic The 2

nd Transnational forum DENS, where experts and stakeholders from

four countries (Slovenia, Denmark, Czech Republic and Croatia)

were involved, took place between 18th

and 19th

November 2010 in

Prague, Czech Republic.

The objectives of the forum were: (1) To maintain discussions from

Aalborg forum on new ideas, practices and policies concerning flexicurity

and active aging with a special focus on job-rotation as flexibility tool that

could be innovatively up-graded to and combined with active ageing

strategies; (2) To enable mutual learning by exchanging experiences,

good practices and knowledge between the policy makers and other key

stakeholders; (3) To enable further networking of key stakeholders in

partner countries.

The participants presented a scale of inputs reaching from lectures and

interactive seminars to practical study visit of a best practice. The initial

lectures familiarized the participants with the background of the social

security system and the labor market in the Czech Republic and their

particularities. Defining the strengths and weaknesses of a system is the

first and crucial step on the way to its improvement. The following

presentations shed light on the situation of elder employees on the Czech

labor market, how it developed over time and what are the biggest

obstacles for the disadvantaged groups. It became clear that in terms of

active ageing strategies the Czech Republic has a lot to learn especially

from Danish neighbors. However, the last of the three Czech

presentations underscored another very important trend - flexicurity

does not concern only elder employees, but can involve other groups

such as graduates or parents on after maternity leave. A possible solution

to problems of disadvantaged groups on the labor market was showed -

volunteering and job sharing. During the interactive and more practical

part of the forum the participants were introduced to ways how to

estimate different types of flexicurity based on four key factors and even

visualize these in a graph. Then it was easier to reflect on the situation

that exists in the participants' home countries in terms of the key factors

and flexicurity. Brainstorming proved to be an important method of

tackling such issues and the participants had to put in words their

opinions and concerns about the state of flexicurity in their country. After

identifying the system and its properties it is necessary to think about

how flexicurity fits and could fit into this system or its reformed version.

It was crucial to realize that flexicurity policies are possible to copy paste;

however, in order for them to succeed it is necessary to adjust such

policies to the existing conditions.

DENS Project team, European Development Agency, Prague

The Transnational Forum in Prague gave all the participants an opportunity to discover and discuss yet other aspects of flexicurity. Now the mosaic is complete and we are ready to start summing up and preparing for the concluding forum.

Slovenian National radio and TV station, TV Maribor that recorded transnational forum and visiting good practice on active ageing and flexicurity in Prague and broadcasted reportage in European Magazine at Slovenian national TV. The reportage is available at the project web page: http://dens-progress.eu/news-and-events/video-a-photo-gallery/reportages.

TRANSNATIONAL FORUM


Visiting Good Practice in Prague

On the 19th November 2010 the participants of Transnational Forum had an opportunity to visit the Metropolitan University Prague where they met people responsible for the project activities, as well as some members of its target group. The aim of the project realized by Metropolitan University Prague is to help young disabled people with the integration into the labour market. There are 50 young people currently involved in this project which is supported by European Social Fund.

Visiting good practice in Prague

During the study visit to the MetropolitanUniversity the above mentioned

observation was confirmed – flexicurity can serve as a tool for other

disadvantaged groups on the labor market. In this particular case the

participants had the chance to see how a university run programme

funded by the European Social Fund facilitates internships and training

for handicapped young graduates that eventually improves their chances

at employment.

This program therefore does not offer permanent jobs, but it creates a

jobs training room. The handicapped have the chance during 14 months

to check how it will look like during the real working process. And they

can better identify the real opportunities to engage into a real labour

market.

For this reason there is a consultative guidance department which

presents the project results towards the employers. The aim is also to

contact appropriate institutions which could employ handicapped people.

The professionals of the MUP working for the project try to help young

handicapped with entering into the labour market using these measures:

initial diagnosis, individual counselling and career preparation of

individual plans, courses of general education, preparation and

implementation of workshops for potential employers, training of

working skills of the participants, preparation and implementation of a

mini job fair designed to meet prospective employers with the project

participants.

Flexicurity in the labour market in this case can be seen in the measures

how MUP tries to help disabled people and also how they promote the

concept into a wide public and employers. There can be seen various

opportunities for handicapped in the labour market. But it is linked to

many inconveniences the employee and also the employer have to go

through. One of them is transportation from home to the work place.

Once these challenges are surpassed it brings a great benefit to the

society.

There are also other needs in a current society concerning the

unprivileged ones (seniors, handicapped, graduates, parents on a

maternity leave).

Continuing with this idea it would be interesting to have the opportunity

to discuss flexicurity on the labour market from the perspective of

parents with small children who would like to have part time jobs. Being

involved into a working process helps them to maintain their position on

the labour market. Once they have a part time job there should be an

institution taking care of their children. It would be beneficial to discuss

the pros and minus of supporting kinder garden institutions as a part not

only of a state corporations but also the private ones and also the state

measures of supporting the part time jobs.


I am employed at Metropolian University since March 2010. I am informing the students and university visitors. I am satisfied with my employment.

I studied at Metropolitan University last year andgot acquainted with the university director. It was coincidence regarding my work as I was searching for the job in health care. The circumstances are better as before 1989, but it still quite difficult to find the job.

Petra Filerova

GOOD PRACTICES


Flexicurity

In the Programme for the Economic Recovery introduced in April 2010, the Government of Croatia refers to the concept of flexicurity where it sets the goal “Ensuring the flexibility of the work force and the safety of employment (flexicurity), as a joint (win-win) effort of the social partners”.

Active agening

The National Employment Promotion Plan (NEPP) follows the employment policy priorities set by the revised Lisbon Growth and Jobs Agenda, and pays particular attention to the following: increasing labour supply, attracting and retaining more people in employment, modernising the social protection system, improving adaptability of workers and enterprises, increasing investment in human capital through better education and skills, good governance, administrative-capacity building.

Good practices in Croatia related to concept of

flexicurity and active aging policy measures

Active labour market meausres

The active policy measures falling under the responsibility of the Croatian

Employment Service include: co-financing of employment of unemployed

persons, co-financing of personal advancement for the purpose of

keeping current employment, financing of labour market-oriented

education for unemployed persons, and co-financing and financing of

employment in public work programmes. The intention is given to

increasing the employability of employed and unemployed persons

through further education. On one hand, additional education increases

employability and provides opportunities for acquisition of new skills and,

on the other, it reduces the imbalance between the supply and demand

for particular skills and occupations in the labour market. Some of the

mentioned measures are targeted at older workers or at unemployed

persons over 50 and employed persons over 50 years of age at risk of

becoming unemployed due to their age, educational level, lack of

professional knowledge and skills.

The measure Co-financing training of employed persons targets workers

over 50 who are facing the introduction of new technologies, higher

standards and changes in the production programs of their employers.

The aim of this measure is to support the maintenance of employees over

50 through training and retraining and to help the employer to remain

productive and competitive.

The subsidy is given to the employers who are introducing new

technologies, higher standards and changes in their production programs

in maximum intensity of 70% cost of training for workers on permanent

work contracts, employed for at least 12 months. The employer is obliged

to organizes workplace training. Measure Co-financing the employment

of people over 50 aims at subsidising the employment of older persons

from the unemployment register or those who are serving redundancy

notice period. Training of the unemployed and Public works are measures

aimed at increasing the employability and motivation of the long term

unemployed and other persons who are in an unfavourable position in

the labour market.

Mobile Teams

For the purpose of ensuring support to workers covered by redeployment

programmes, regardless of whether their employment was terminated

for restructuring, organisational or economic reasons, mobile teams were

formed within the Croatian Employment Service. They are composed of

professionals from the field of career development: employment

counsellors, psychologists, lawyers, and other professionals, if necessary.

The purpose of mobile teams is to prepare the redundant workers for the

labour market and act on their behalf while they are still employed in

their respective companies in order to reduce the number of persons

entering the register of unemployed persons. Mobile teams are

established within companies with surplus employees, and their activities

are carried out as long as there is a need for team work.

For the purpose of making the declared surplus employees aware of the

new possibilities and conditions in the labour market, mobile teams

provide various services: information about the labour market and the

GOOD PRACTICES


manner in which various rights can be claimed, i.e. assistance in defining

their work potential, organisation of workshops through which the workers

acquire job-search skills, education in acquiring professional skills,

assistance in self-employment and business start-ups, organisation of an

internal labour exchange within the company where job vacancies can be

posted, placement services within the open labour market, and co-financing

of employment with other employers for workers over 50 years of age.

Future steps

Ministry of the Family, Veterans’ Affairs and Intergenerational Solidarity

adopted Strategic Plan 2011-2013 in May 2010. The special goal 3.1.

Expanding the Network of External Institutional Services for the Elderly aims

at improving the quality of living of elderly persons, primarily in isolated

regions and communities with a high percentage of older population by

providing various social services such as home care assistance and day care.

National Employment Promotion Plan 2011-2012

The reduction in working hours would be a good tool to support the

maintenance of elder employees. Flexible forms of work organization such

as work sharing, job sharing and job rotation would be ideal tools for

achieving this, because they would provide the employees with the

opportunity to use the time off work to acquire training and retraining

necessary for them to learn how to work in the changing environment and

retain their employment.

DENS Project team, Croatian Emplyoment Service, Zagreb

Measures to reduce impact of crisis in Slovenia

The Partial subsidy of full-working time Act

The Government approved the Act on Partial Subsidising of Full-Time Jobs

in the beginning of 2009. The Act aims to ease the effects of the coming

financial crisis by providing assistance to employers should they decide to

shorten working time. The draft Act is based on the principle that economic

measures taken during the financial crisis should seek to ensure

employment and maintain jobs, including with incentives to shorten

working time. The Act introduces the possibility of partial subsidizing full-

time work.

The Act introduces the measure of subsidising full-time work, a new instrument

in active employment policy, which will ensure full years of service, while

decreasing employers’ costs with regard to salaries and protecting the social

security fund.

In accordance with the Employment Relationship Act, the primary duty of

an employer is to provide work for the employee as agreed in the

employment contract. Full-time employees must be ensured full-time work.

Should an employer fail to do this due to the market situation, and ensure

only shorter working hours (32 hours per week), the employer must still pay

a full-time salary in accordance with the law, which is also the basis for

calculating the benefits paid. The legal status of employees remains

unchanged and they retain all the rights granted to full-time workers.

Work sharing, job sharing and job rotation introduction is proposed in the National Employment Promotion Plan 2011-2012 which is currently being developed and will be adopted by the end of 2010.

Croatian DENS team

GOOD PRACTICES

The Partial subsidy of full-working time Act defines the conditions under which an employer can apply for a subsidy, which include a commitment not to lay off employees and not to pay bonuses and rewards to management and supervisory boards. Should an employer breach the terms or fail to pay the social security benefits which are being subsidised, it will have to return the funds provided in full or in the appropriate amount. On the basis of this act, an employer who shortens the working week to 36 hours to retain employees can be granted a subsidy of 60 EUR per employee per month.


Partial Reimbursement of Compensation Pay Act

In April 2009 a second measure supported employment and retaining of

workers – Act on partially reimbursement of Compensation Pay Act came

into force (85 % of average wage).

The main purpose of the Act was to mitigate negative crisis consequences.

The Act provides co-financing of unemployment benefit (during temporary

unemployment) as well as subsidising of training or up-skilling in the period

of temporary unemployment (at least 20% of “working” time should be

devoted to training). Act is eligible for employers who prepare special

program, focused on job retaining and rise in working place quality and who

are for the time being not able to provide work due to business reasons.

The crisis measure expires in 2010.

Magda Zupančič, Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs,

Republic of Slovenia

Recognizing the older workers capacities in company

Mariborska Livarna Maribor, Slovenia

In our company older workers play an important role. We are aware of

dangerous consequences that potential deficiency of younger workforce

and quick leaving of older workers can bring to our production and

development. In this way we can lose some of the topmost knowledge. This

is the reason why we want to recognize the older workers capacities, keep

them at workplace and make good use of their knowledge and experiences

that they can transfer as workers or mentors to younger generations.

Qualification of older workers

When we are planning the education and qualification we take into

consideration what kind of knowledge individual needs to carry on his work,

and not his age.

Especially for older workers we have prepared the computer education

programme and workshop connected to the themes regarding healthy ways

of life like promotion of health healthy life style and stress management at

workplace.

Project Promotion of health at workplace

We are aslo implementing the project Lowering of absenteeism –

promotion of health at workplace, financially supported by Health

Insurance Institute of Slovenia. In the framework of the project we are

carrying on: (1) Qualification of the employees with main stress on

identifying the ways of own health protection, recognizing the health risk

factors and handling of the individual to prevent injuries at workplace; (2)

Qualification of the management with main stress on ergonomic solutions

at settling working environment of the individual, and (3) Correcting the

ergonomic irregularities at workplace by cooperating with authorised

doctor and expert from Health Care Centre.

Milena Bratušek, MLM, Slovenia

GOOD PRACTICES

Should an employer opt for a 36-hour week for a full-time position, and then agree with the authorised unions to ensure work for only 32 hours a week, they are entitled to an additional subsidy of 60 EUR per month per employee under certain conditions. The crisis measure expires in 2010.

Older workers – mentors

Older, experienced workers, that had been assessed as able to transfer their knowledge to younger generations, have been additionally qualified as mentors. Some of the mentors are also workers, that could not carry on with their work due to health problems, but they have become good mentors and advisers. Mentors introduce new workers into their job and offer other help to younger co-workers. They play an important role at education and upbringing their staff.


Active ageing good practices in Slovenian Army

Pre-retirement seminars

Slovene military staff should retire according to the Defence Act, which

declares cessation of work on the field of defence by the end of the

calendar year, in which retirement conditions are fulfilled, the latest. The

Service in the Slovenian Armed Forces Act declares retirement preparation

procedures. Thus, active preparation for transition is organized for Slovene

military staff. The purpose of this preparation is retirement crisis mitigation,

as researches have shown, that the most difficulties accepting the changes

have those, who have been employed in large systems as Army is.

People respond differently to retirement due to personal characteristics,

former way of life and external factors. It is very important that individual is

prepared for retirement to be able to experience coming period as a new

challenge in life. Preparation for retirement is not about prescribed forms of

behaviour how to spend time, but exchange of experiences, ideas and

proposals regarding all important fields of life. In such way the participants

are motivated for active, creative and full spending of so-called third period

of life.

Mojca Vučko, Ministry of Defence, Republic Slovenia

Self-help between former military and Ministry of Defence

staff

In the years 2009 and 2010 the network of inter-generational groups for

quality ageing was created in the framework of the projects taking care of

former military and MoD staff, i.e. retired soldiers, NCOs and officers.

Leaders training, teams creating and organizing the network, mainly in own

resources activation, was technically assisted by Anton Trstenjak Institute.

Leaders, eight women and eight men, come out of military and MoD staff.

Half of them are still employed, half of them are retired, but still young and

vital enough to share their social capital with peer colleagues. It is exactly

peer affiliation, which is the main characteristic of self-help between former

military and MoD staff performing.

At setting up the groups numbered from five to fifteen members, 58

members were included, the youngest among them was 44 and the oldest

88 years old. 25 men and 33 women regularly attend the meetings. 26

members come from MoD administration and 19 members from Slovenian

Army. The groups are very opened i.e. also 13 partners of former staff are

included that strengthen their partnership in such way. Data show that up

to 70% of the group members still live in partnership relation, which means

that they are not entirely excluded and isolated, their membership can also

be understood as preparation for old age despite of the fact that they could

already be considered as old, according to their age.

Most of the members are still active and three of the groups are defined as

motive, two of them as cultural and two as dialog groups. Members still

attend the meetings alone, only one is taken care of by his relative and one

is brought to the meeting by the leader of the group.

Peter Košak, Organizer of the MoD inter-generational groups network, Ministry of Defence, Republic Slovenia

GOOD PRACTICES

Inter-generational groups for quality ageing are active in Kranj, Škofja Loka, Maribor, two of them in Ljubljana, Vipava and Novo mesto. Referring to the number of former military and MoD staff, living out of the covered area, experiences show a need for new leadership couples training, which is planned in autumn 2011.

Transition from regular work with structured time, defined business activities, every day communication and inter-relations, awakes affiliation feeling, which changes by retirement.

Despite of the fact, that seven groups momentarily included in the network, were set up on the basis of the same professional background, they differ a lot due to the environment in which they arised, the number of former staff in the environment and especially due to the leadership couples, who were setting up and leading the groups.


Flexible Danish Labour Market

At the Transnational forum in Aalborg, partners presented key findings

and conclusions from national workshops, implemented in each partner

country. The small Workshop followed based upon selected questions

concerning flexicurity, active ageing, best practices and mutual learning.

Partners from Slovenia pointed out that the biggest problem in Slovenia is

almost no competent social dialogue. Croatian partners stated almost the

same situation in Croatia and the Czech partners stated that they got new

government this summer and nothing has changed since then on the area

of flexibility. After that project partners visited Trade Union FOA where

social dialogue, role of trade unions in the Danish labour market and

examples of specific agreements and legislation related to job rotation

were presented. Partners from other countries have learned about the

different situation on the Danish labour market, where they have very

powerful trade unions playing completely different role than in other

partner countries, this is why social dialogue is possible.

Project partners concluded that Danish labour market is much more

flexible than other partner countries labour markets. LM measures in

Denmark are quickly adapting to current labour market situation.

Partners found out differences, especially in effective social system and in

higher awareness regarding ageing workforce. Danish social dialogue is

very efficient with long tradition, strong partnership approach, supported

by trade unions and other social partners.

DENS Project team, AOF, Aalborg

Flexicurity and its application is by no means uniform

In general the transnational forum in Prague has been evaluated as

inspiring, providing many impulses for further work. The participants

underscored the importance of benchmarking and the need to adjust

flexicurity policies to the conditions in the individual countries. They also

appreciated examples of flexicurity practices provided by the Czech

experts and best practice at the Metropolitan University, Prague. The

most appreciated were: volunteering as a tool of flexicurity for young

graduates or parents after maternity leave, job sharing and the system of

internships and trainings for handicapped people. At the same time all

participants see the crucial importance of job-rotation as a tool of active-

ageing strategies, however, many participants pointed out that their

country is not taking advantage of such a tool yet. Another aspect of the

forum that has been evaluated as positive was the diversity of

presentations and topics covered.

Many participants emphasized that more actors should be included into

such a debate about flexicurity and active ageing, in particular actors who

have influence on decision making. The aim of the concluding

transnational forum thus should be to invite such actors or come up with

a strategy how to get them involved in the future. Also the importance of

good practices was mentioned often, a suggestion for the last forum

would thus be to encourage the participants to introduce more examples

of successful flexicurity and active ageing practices in their countries.


Job rotation system, which is very successful in Denmark, can be an effective measure for increasing flexibility at the labour market and at the same time could be used for dealing with ageing workforce and senior policies. Job rotation can support active ageing and it can bring win-win situation for all. Partners decided to further on discuss and develop the scheme of JR as tool for supporting active ageing and flexicurity policies in individual partner countries as well as wider in EU.

One of the crucial lessons learned is that flexicurity and its application is by no means uniform. On the one hand in countries like Denmark job-rotation is a tool to support human resource development and active ageing strategies in the companies; on the other hand in countries like the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia given, that the problems and needs of the labor market are different in those countries, job rotation serves rather to battle unemployment. In conclusion, transnational forum was an ideal opportunity to discuss the implications of this diversity of roles that flexicurity and active ageing plays.

LESSONS LEARNED


Excellent opportunities to learn from the project partners

and their experiences

One of the main objectives of the DENS project is exchange of good

practices and ideas on successful and efficient policy implementation in

the context of active ageing and promoting flexicurity. This objective is

very important for us, Croatian partners, since our country is currently

putting great efforts into becoming a member of EU. Croatia has

recognized key flexicurity components, such as lifelong learning,

enhancement of social dialogue, implementation of active labour market

policies etc., but despite the efforts, still lags behind EU Member States in

the design and implementation of both the flexicurity concept and active

ageing policies.

Both Transnational Forums presented excellent opportunities to learn

from the project partners and their experiences as old (Denmark) and

new (Slovenia and Czech Republic) EU member states. The main focus of

the Aalborg Transnational Forum was the job rotation scheme. The

participants of the Forum had a chance to see an example of "job rotation

scheme” in a public institution for the care of elderly and infirm persons,

named "Smedergaarden", where the unemployed are trained to work in

order to replace regular employees at a time when they attend additional

trainings. Visits to the trade union representatives FOA and the private

company "Aalborg Industries” were also inspiring. We had a chance to

see an excellent example of successful social dialogue on the local level.

“Job rotation scheme” was a mutual initiative of FOA, training institution

AOF Nord and local government. Croatia, on the other hand, despite

established institutional mechanisms and some positive examples of

active participation of social partners in the formulation and

implementation of policies can still learn a lot from Danish experiences.

During the Transnational Forum in the Czech Republic, the participants

were introduced with an overview of social policies in the Czech Republic

and the position of the elderly on the labour market. The visit to

University Metropolitan, which implements projects financed through ESF

concerning inclusion of persons with disabilities on the labour market,

was useful as a way of seeing how the Czech Republic, as a new member

state, puts the ESF funds to use in practice.

The interactive workshop held during the Transnational Forum in Prague,

where participants debated on ways to combine existing measures of

active labour market policies with the “job rotation” measure in each of

the partner countries, helped us to “test” the “job rotation measure”

planned within the National Employment Promotion Plan (NEPP) for 2011

and 2012 and to receive feedback on it from the project partners and

their stakeholders. The DENS experience has, therefore, been really

valuable for us.

DENS Project team, Croatian Emplyoment Service, Zagreb

LESSONS LEARNED

The national workshop and Transnational Forums within the DENS project were an excellent tool and opportunity for different stakeholders to talk and exchange standpoints, first on the national, and then on the international level. Through discussions on the national level, key Croatian stakeholders were informed about flexicurity and active ageing concepts in Croatia, and identified main obstacles and challenges related to employment policy development.

All project partners agreed that “job rotation scheme” can be an effective measure for increasing flexibility on the labour market and at the same time could be used for dealing with ageing workforce which can result in a win-win situation for all.

DENS Newsletter 2 |January 2011|PAGE11 LESSONS LEARNED

Flexicurity - Under gender perspective

Despite the fact that more flexibility through part-time work are

welcomed by the majority of women and men to ensure a better work-

life balance, women are often at a disadvantage in the labour market in

terms of flexibility and security. Women’s participation in the labour

market is still largely typified by a high and increasing share of part-time

work. In 2009, almost 19% of those in employment in the EU were

working part time. Women commonly work part-time in a number of

Member States. In 2008, the share of women employees working part-

time was 31.1% in the EU-27 while the corresponding figure for men was

7.9%. In Netherlands, more than 75% of female workers did so in 2009,

while 40% or more did so in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and the

United Kingdom. Conversely, the share of part-timers among female

workers was very low in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, the Czech

Republic and Lithuania.

Within different flexicurity policies and actions is gender dimension still

lagging behind and gender and sensitive and innovative approaches need

to be developed. The main issues to be addressed are low activity and

employment rates, gender segregation – especially contractual

segregation (women are more likely to be found in less protected jobs)

and gender pay gap.

At the web page: www.flexicurity-gender.eu/project you can find an

interesting reading - project “Flexicurity - Under a gender perspective”.

Project partners from Bulgaria, Italy and Czech Republic want to raise the

awareness about the common principle on flexicurity in the framework of

national programmes and aim to identify possible political guidelines and

suggestions - best practices to implement flexicurity policies under a

gender perspective in the countries.

Vanja Hazl, External expert, Slovenia

Consideration of gender is of importance when discussing flexicurity, because women form a majority of the workers found in flexible work form and women are to some extend more vulnerable than men as far as the security aspect of flexicurity is concerned.


DENS e- Forum

In December 2010 the transnational e-Forum was established on the DENS

web page (http://www.dens-progress.eu/forum), with the purpose to

enable wider national and transnational discussions and benchmarking on

agreed topics of labour supply in the context of active aging and promoting

flexicurity having in mind guidelines and principles that characterize the

design and implementation of successful labour market approaches for dealing

with current crisis and the effects beyond the crisis. This “virtual transnational

forum enables involvement of greater number of stakeholders and target

groups from partner countries and wider, from EU member states and

accession counties.

e-Forumisan opportunity for maintaining debate of new forms, new ideas,

practices and policies for finding solutions for the most vulnerable target

groups on the labour market in the current global economic crisis and

beyond the crisis. It also promotes transnational exchanges between the policy

makers and other key stakeholders and is a good ground for transnational co-

operation and exchange that will possibly follow after the project ends.

Conclusions from these forum discussions will be presented at the

transnational conference “Different experiences-new solutions” that will

be organised in Slovenian city of Maribor on 15th

and 16th

February 2011.

Best practices identified in this forum will be also presented at the

conference and best practices holders will be invited to present them

personally or via video-conference.

Why discussing flexicurity and active ageing?

The European Union has set five ambitious objectives - on employment,

innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy - to be reached

by 2020. The EU has agreed on an employment rate target for women and

men of 75% for the 20-64 years age group by 2020: an ambitious

commitment to the sustainability of Europe’s social model, welfare

systems, economic growth and public finances. Bridging the gap to the

target will be no easy task. The crisis has brought the employment rate

down to 69%, and the unemployment rate up to 10%; assuming the labour

market stabilises in 2010-2011, achieving an employment rate of 75% by

2020 willrequire an average employment growth slightly above 1% per

annum. With declining fertility rates, the EU working age population (15-

64) will start shrinking as early as 2012; A skilled workforce is an essential

asset to develop a competitive, sustainable and innovative economy in line

with Europe 2020 goals. Older workers constitute aworkforce which is

crucial not only to raise labour utilisation but also to directly contribute to

higher growth and the sustainability of pension systems. In that context,

theemployability, productivity as well as health and wellbeing issues of

older people are important.

Active ageing strategies are highly consistent with flexicurity strategies,

since they both aim to ensure that all citizens can easily adapt to

demographic and technological changes and find a good job at every stage

of their active life. The success of the Europe 2020 strategy objectives

crucially depends on the ability of EU member States to play their part in

implementing the necessary reforms.

DENS Project team, HRDC, Slovenia

e-Forum serves as a framework

for identifying and

disseminating good practice,

exchange experiences and

opinions with and among

experts, companies,

practitioners as well as

stakeholders and decision

makers.Nevertheless, forum serves for encouraging policymakers and stakeholders at all EU levels and wider, especially in accession countries to promote flexicurity and active ageing.

The EU employment rate target for women and men of 75 % by 2020 will only be achieved by pooling all efforts and instruments. Flexicurity as well as active ageing are among key Agenda for new skills and jobs’ priorities. (Agenda and Europe 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm).

E- FORUM


DENS TRANSNATIONAL CONFERENCE

FLEXICURITY AND ACTIVE AGEING – HOW TO MANAGE CHALLENGE?

DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES – NEW SOLUTIONS

15th and 16th February 2011, Hotel Habakuk in Maribor, Slovenia

The purpose of the Conference is to share solutions, initiatives and

approaches that have been recognised as good practices and debate

possible new solutions for the implementation of flexicurity and active

ageing policies and practices in the future. Those topics are strongly linked

to Europe 2020 growth Strategy and An Agenda for New skills and Jobs: A

European contribution towards full employment (Brusseles, COM (2010)

682/3 as well as with European Commission proposal on “European year

for active Ageing” in 2012.

Slovenia is currently facing numerous changes on the area of flexicurity

and social cohesion. New Labour Market Regulation Act have just entered

into force, National Assembly adopted Law on Small Work in November

2010 and Pension and Disability Insurance Act in December 2010. In

autumn the Active Ageing Measures, aiming the increase of average

employment rate of elder from 55 to 64 years, were adopted. The Bill

amending the Employment Relationships Act was prepared in March

2010.

Experiences and good practices examples on the area of flexicurity and

active ageing from EU member states and accession countries (Denmark,

Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, CzechRepublic, Slovenia, and Croatia etc.)

will be presented at the Conference. Respected guests, social partners,

experts and representatives of companies, non-governmental and public

sector, from Slovenia as well as from abroad, will join us.

Maribor, Slovenia

Conference is, especially in this time of changes, the opportunity to exchange the experiences, good practices, initiatives and approaches on the area of flexicurity and active ageing and find new possibilities and common solutions for the future.

Transnational conference will be in Hotel Habakuk, Maribor, Slovenia

We are kindly inviting you to join us at the Conference and contribute to the exchange of experiences and good practices on the area of flexicurity and active ageing and together with us try to find new solutions for the future.

Participation at the conference is free of charge.

Please, see Conference programme in the next pages.

DENS Project team

TRANSNATIONAL CONFERENCE


TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH

2011

9.00 – 9.30 Registration of participants

9.30 – 10.15 Wellcome and opening speeches

Franc Kangler, mayor, Municipality of Maribor Ivan Svetlik, Ph.D., Minister, Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Labour, Family and Social affairs Samo Hribar Milič, MSc General Director, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia Dušan Semolič, MSc, president, Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia

10.15 – 10.30 About DENS project and its results; Dušanka Lužar Šajt, eim, Human Resource Development Centre

FLEXICURITY AND ACTIVE AGEING in EU and Member states - TOWARDS NEW CHALLENGES

10.30 – 10.50 Flexicurity – a Danish model for Europe? and benchmark report – Flexicurity and Active Ageing; Jens Kruhøffer, Denmark

10.50 – 11.10

Flexicurity and Ageing Labour Market in Slovenia – challenges and (possible) solutions; Zoran Kotolenko, deputy of the director general, Ministry of Labour Family and Social Affairs

11.10 – 11.40 Coffee break

11.40 – 12.00 Lifelong Learning for successful implementation of Flexicurity model and Active Ageing - how do we manage in Slovenia?

Vinko Logaj, MSc, Ministry of Education and Sport, Secondary, Higher Vocational and Adult Education Directorate

12.00 – 12.15 Flexicurity and Ageing Labour Market in Czech Republic - challenges and (possible) solutions;

Ms. Bohumila Čabanova, Faculty of Social Science, Charls University Prague, Czech Republic

12.15 – 12.30 Flexicurity and Ageing Labour Market in Croatia - challenges and (possible) solutions

Ivanka Zlatec, Head of EURES and International Placement Division, Employment Service of Croatia, Croatia

12.30 – 13.00 Panel discussion

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch break

WORKSHOPS: PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES

14.00 – 15.30 WORKSHOP 1: FLEXICURITY IN PRACTICE (moderated by Dušanka Lužar Šajt)

14.00 – 14.15 Job rotation in Danish practice – how is it connected to flexicurity pathway and active ageing policies?

Jette Nissen, Aalborg Municipality, Denmark

14.15 – 14.30

Belgium career break (time credit) scheme - How it works in real sector?

Stephanie Devisscher, Manager in labour market and socio-economic policy, Belgium

14.30 – 14.45 Anti crisis acts in Slovenia (Partial subsidising full-working time & Partial reimbursement of wage compensation) – practical experiences and

challenges?; Sabina Špehar, Employment Service of Slovenia

14.45 – 15.00 What flexicurity means for the company and how we managed this challenge in the company during the crisis with help of “anti crisis

measures” in Slovenia; Urša Lapajne, Mariborska Livarna Maribor

15.00 – 15.30 Discussion

14.00 – 15.30 WORKSHOP 2: A FLEXIBLE AND SECURE LABOUR MARKET NEEDS STRONG SOCIAL PARTNERS (moderated by Jens Kruhøffer)

14.00 – 14.20 A flexible and secure labour market needs strong social partners; Jens Kruhøffer in the name of Kresten Gaardssoe, president of FOA (Trade Union,) Denmark

14.20 – 14.35 What challenges do flexicurity and workforce ageing bring to employers in Slovenia and how employers cooperate in social dialog?; Metka Penko Natlačen, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Slovenia

14.35 – 14.50 How flexicurity affects elder workers and how trade unions participate in social dialog related to those issues in Slovenia?; Goran Lukič, Association of Slovenian Free Trade Unions

14.50 – 15.05 Age management strategies, Jože Glazer, Member of the Chairmanship, association for Personnel Management of Slovenia



15.45 – 17.15 Repetition of the workshops:

WORKSHOP 1: FLEXICURITY IN PRACTICE

WORKSHOP 2: A FLEXIBLE AND SECURE LABOUR MARKET NEEDS STRONG SOCIAL PARTNERS

TRANSNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROGRAMME


WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH

2011

8.30 – 9.00 Registration of the participants

9.00 – 9.10 Welcome and scope of the 2nd

day of the conference

9.10 – 9.30 Conclusions from workshop 1 & 2

9.30 – 9.45

An agenda for new skills and Jobs – Towards new momentum for flexicurity and active ageing - EU Year of active ageing 2012;

Mr. Santiago Loranca Garcia, Head of EMPL C1, EC, DG Employment, social affairs and Inclusion

9.45 – 10.00 Panel discussion

AGE MANAGEMENT AT WORKPLACE AND SUPPORTING ELDERLY TO ENTER LABOUR MARKET

10.00 – 10.15 Measures to promote active ageing in Slovenia; Magda Zupančič, MSc, Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs

10.15 – 10.30 Career orientation – important competence of employed and unemployed; Darija Jamnik, Employment Service of Slovenia

10.30 – 10.45 Inclusion of elder people in learning/education is reality in Denmark; Lene Cato, AOF Nord, Aalborg, Denmark


ELDERY FRENDLY EMPLOYERS – WORKSHOP AND GOOD PRACTICES

11.15 – 11.30 Investors in people Standard: Health and wellbeing at work model and good practice; Carole Ramsha, IIP International, UK,

11.30 – 11.45 Age management good practice; Milena Bratušek, Mariborska Livarna, Slovenia

11.45 – 11.55

Aalborg Industries – Danish age management good practice (Video post)

11.55 – 12.10 Slovenian good practice public sector – Age management policy in Slovenian Army;

Mojca Vučko, Ministry of Defence, Slovenian Army

12.10 – 12.25 Skills Mismatch Among Ageing Workers & the right skills for silver workers”

Wolfgang Müller, director German Federal Employment Agency, EU Representation in Bruxelles &"Chair of the Working Group on New Skills for New Jobs of the European Public Employment Services"


12.45 - 13.10 Coffee break

GET ELDER PEOPLE INTO EMPLOYMENT

13.10 – 13.25 Career orientation and employment programme for unemployed - Active after 50 – experiences from social - experiment pilot

programme; Natalija Žunko, eim, Human Resource Development Centre

13.25 – 13.40 Supporting self-unemployment for unemployed over 50; Miroslav Suchanec, RILSA, Prague, Czech Republic

13.40 – 13.50

New skills for elder workers in France (ESF video)

13.50 – 14.10 Unlocking the potential for people over 50 and why is important to maximise participation and wellbeing of people after 50 (UK good

practice)

Prof. Paul Kingston, Director, Centre for Ageing and Mental Health, Strafordshire University, UK& John White, Director, PISCES (Partnerships in Social and Community Enterprise in Schools Skills for Life Social Care and Sustainability),Wolverhampton, UK

14.10 – 14. 30 Discussion and conclusions of the conference

14.30 Lunch

Organizer reserves the right for eventual changes in the conference programme.


DENS KEY MESSAGES

DENS WILL RAISE EFFICIENCY!

By sharing experience and exchanging best practices on

successful and efficient genuine locally generated

employment strategies with successful old EU Member

States the project will contribute to more consistent and

homogenous generation and implementation of employment

strategies at national, regional and local level that are in line

with EES.

DENS WILL RAISE AWARENESS ON EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT

STRATEGY!

The awareness about employment strategies in Europe will

be raised. By disseminating DENS project' results through

different events and by active involvement of key local

stakeholders to DENS forums and conference the

recommendations on improvement of active ageing and

flexicurity will be mainstream to local / regional / national

and EU labour market policies.

DENS WILL STRENGTHEN THE CAPACITIES OF SOCIAL

PARTNERS!

By designing in stakeholder’s action groups stakeholders will

be involved in preparation of employment strategies

development of projects to be financed by ESF and will

support the context of EES. Trough process of mutual

learning stakeholders will strengthen their capacity.

The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the DENS partnership and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission. The Commission is not responsible for any use that might be made of information contained herein.

DENS WILL RAISE EFFICIENCY!

DENS WILL RAISE AWARENESS ON

EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY!

DENS WILL STRENGTHEN THE

CAPACITIES OF SOCIAL PARTNERS!

Dens Newsletter 2

Self Improvement

Transcript of Dens Newsletter 2