Learning to think and act differently towards working longer in Belgium: an organanizational change process

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the Belgian government has encouraged people to opt for early retirement. Today, the baby boomers are becoming older and too few young people are entering the labour market. We will all have to work longer and differently if we want to prevent labour shortages and ensure the economic viability of social security and pension systems. Within the framework of a European Social Fund project we encourage companies to develop age-conscious HR management policies. Our method consists of looking at organisational development from a ‘process consultation’ point of view. Using practical examples, we investigate whether the process approach is useful in allowing organisations to undertake their own measures in the context of age-conscious HR policies.