– There is no debate about the labor market for mature people, on which the subject of the protective age would not come out – emphasizes Agnieszka Operhalska from the Heart & Mind Foundation. Wisdom of generations, which supports people 50+ in returning to the labor market. – This is the voice not only of employers, but also the employees themselves. In practice, the current system is not conducive to one or the other.
According to experts, this paradoxical statement hit the heart of the problem. – Current regulations are based on completely stiff legal foundations – comments Tomasz Golis, president of the board of the Silesian Chamber of Employers. – As an environment of employers, we urge you to introduce greater flexibility. These recipes act like a brake. On the one hand, companies are afraid to employ, and on the other – crowds of experienced specialists cannot find a job.
What are companies afraid of? First of all, risk. As explained by Ewa Wojtyś, the main legal councilor of Marsh and Mercer Polska, each company manages the risk, including the financial. – Employment of an employee who cannot be dismissed for four years, even if he does not meet expectations, for the employer a huge risk and potential burden. Therefore, some of the organization uses the strategy of “escaping forward” and parting with employees just before entering the protection – he explains.
Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska, an expert on labor relations, social dialogue and labor market of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, adds that a long, four-year protective period does not match today's continuous reorganization. – This limits the freedom of personnel management, and the mature candidate just against protection – even a great prognosis – loses to a younger competitor.
However, there is the other side of the coin. – Ethical dimension also has a problem. It happens that employees protected, feeling safe, reduce their commitment. This puts the employer in a difficult situation when he has to dismiss a more perspective person, because another employee is protected by law.
As a result, some get “impossible to reject” – switching to self -employment or on mandate contractwhich formally maintains cooperation, but deprives the stability of full -time stability, while others receive a notice just before reaching the “problematic age”.
Experienced specialists return to the labor market when they are Practically non -employed. – If the employee stays unemployed for more than half a year, he enters the excluded group. Its attractiveness on the market decreases and the motivation to fight goes out – adds Agnieszka Operalska.
Risk management. Companies under the wall
This problem is well illustrated by an example of a small company struggling with a crisis. The owner, being against the wall, found other jobs to employees and organized a transfer. Only a protective employee refused. Not only did he not agree to this change, but consistently negated the next proposals to solve the problem. – The owner had to be for the next two years pay a fictitious position. For a large corporation, this is just a problem for a small company – a barrier to development, and sometimes the question of being or not to be – reports the co -founder of the Heart & Mind Foundation. Wisdom of generations.
Suggestions of changes? New type of contract
– Current regulations require modification. You need a system that on the one hand will provide a safety guarantee for the employee, and on the other, it will encourage employers to employ, giving them something in return-emphasizes Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska. – The debate is polarized, but you need to develop an intermediate model. The current recipe, which is to protect, actually reflects against the employees.
As Ewa Wojtyś points out, a revolution is not needed, but evolution. Her proposal is the introduction of an optional “pre -retirement agreement” that would not guarantee protection against termination, but introduced other benefits for the employee, tailored to the needs of this age group.
Current employees could stay on the current employment contract or go to a new form, and newly employed in the pre -retirement age would immediately be covered by a new form of contract. Such a contract would not block the employer, but would give the employee specific privileges such as:
- shorter work week (e.g. 36 hours) or flexible hours,
- possibility of gradual exposure of professional activity and play the role of a mentor,
- Simplified procedures in short -term absences.
Employers, in turn, could count on funding and tax breaks (modeled on the solutions used for other groups covered by support) and clear principles of termination of the contract with objective business premises.
The devil is in the details
The introduction of any financial incentives, however, requires prudence. – You need to carefully analyze the employment structure so that the privilege of one group does not work against the others -warns Grażyna Spytek-Bandurska, adding that if employers are guided only by the financial benefit, it can be harmful, e.g. for people aged 45+. – The incentive project must be balanced. The financial benefit cannot be the only recruitment criterion – emphasizes the expert.
The future of work is flexibility
Employers' communities postulate to match some of the rules at the industry level, In the form of systems or agreements, instead of maintaining rigid, universal rules for everyone.
A wide debate is needed with the participation of all parties. – The world is changing. We used to work six days a week, today five, and we are already talking about a four -day work week. Sticking on the rules from half a century ago is a luxury that we cannot afford – sums up Ewa Wojtyś. – It is about regulations that will provide older employees with a sense of security, and companies will allow you to act flexibly in a dynamic environment. A protective age without such a correction will remain a shield, which too often turns into a wall.
– Street aging is a challenge but also a chance. If we create flexible recipes, we will be able to use the potential of people 50+, instead of letting them disappear from the labor market – sums up Agnieszka Operalska.
