Later Life Workplace Index

Model of the Later Life Workplace Index according to Deller et al.

The Later Life Workplace Index (LLWI) is used to assess organizational, age-inclusive practices and working conditions for successfully dealing with age-diverse workforces. Successful employment of aging workforces is becoming increasingly important , especially against the background of demographic change and the ongoing shortage of skilled workers . The index includes practices and business environments that have proven useful in dealing with aging workforces. They are intended to promote the health , performance and motivation of older employees. With the help of a questionnaire with 80 items , the LLWI enables organizations to evaluate their own practices in dealing with older employees on nine dimensions. The index was developed at the chair of Professor Dr. Jürgen Deller at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg . It was created in cooperation with the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health , the Demographie Netzwerk eV and the Goinger Kreis eV

target

The aim of the LLWI is to identify operational factors for successfully dealing with older employees and to make them measurable. On the basis of research on LLWI, the understanding of the relative influence of individual organizational practices on the successful employment of older workers can be improved. The questionnaire enables organizations to easily assess the operational framework conditions for older employees and to derive options for action. In this way, the LLWI is intended to contribute to better management of demographic change at company level.

Dimensions of the LLWI

The dimensions of the index can be found on the LLWI homepage as follows:

dimension	description
Organizational climate	The organizational climate dimension comprises the prevailing collective patterns of thought and action as well as values and norms within the organization. An age-appropriate organizational culture is a central element of good organizational handling of employees shortly before or after retirement age.
guide	The leadership dimension encompasses the task of the organization’s executives to raise the potential of employees, especially those shortly before or in retirement age, and at the same time to contribute to high work motivation.
Work design	The dimension of work design includes the adaptation of work to the individual needs and performance requirements of employees with the aim of positively influencing job satisfaction and performance and reducing stress.
health Management	The health management dimension comprises all activities and measures of the organization that are specifically aimed at maintaining and promoting the health and employability of employees. Health management is a holistic approach.
Personal development	The dimension of personal development encompasses support for employees in their professional and personal development throughout their entire career. The importance of lifelong learning should be emphasized here.
Knowledge management	The knowledge management dimension encompasses the design of framework conditions and measures that serve the transfer, exchange and preservation of knowledge from different generations of employees.
Transition to retirement	The transition to the retirement phase includes the necessary planning, agreements and preparations for all employees who are about to retire or who will enter it.
Continued employment after retirement	The dimension of continued employment after retirement addresses the organizational structure as well as the offer of employment opportunities for external and internal employees for whom retirement has already taken place or who are no longer in their regular employment.
Insurance and provision	The insurance and provision dimension addresses the fact that organizations support their employees through company pension systems and insurance protection, if this is not provided by public systems.

development

The LLWI is based on many years of qualitative and quantitative research . In an initial qualitative development phase, the instrument, initially under the name Silver Work Index (SWI), was developed on the basis of expert interviews in Germany and company analyzes in the USA. The index was then made measurable in a questionnaire and checked for reliability and validity in several quantitative studies in Germany . Together with international partners, the LLWI is currently being translated into other languages. In the course of this operationalization and internationalization , the LLWI received its current name.

The LLWI can be viewed as a continuation of the Active Aging Index (AAI) . The AAI was developed by the European Commission , the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the European Center for Welfare Policy and Social Research in order to measure the strengths and weaknesses in dealing with an aging population at the national macro level and to make the potential of older people visible. The LLWI supplements this societal consideration with the evaluation of the operational level and thus expands the macro level to include the organizational meso level.

literature

MR Wilckens, AM Wöhrmann, C. Adams, J. Deller, & Finkelstein, R. (2020). Integrating the German and US perspective on organizational practices for later life work: The Later Life Work Index. In SJ Czaja, J. Sharit, & JB James (eds.): Current and emerging trends in aging and work (pp. 59-79). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
AM Wöhrmann, J. Deller, & Pundt, L. (2018). Complementing AAI at the meso level: The Silver Work Index. In A. Zaidi, S. Harper, K. Howse, G. Lamura, & J. Perek-Białas (eds.): Building evidence for active aging policies: Active Aging Index and its potential (pp. 75-94). London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Web links

Later Life Workplace Index

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Later Life Workplace Index. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
↑ Federal Employment Agency (ed.): Skilled labor bottleneck analysis . Nuremberg December 2018.
↑ ^a ^b Work in old age - study on "Later Life Work Index" started. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
^ ^A ^b Later Life Workplace Index. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
↑ Dimensions of the LLWI. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b A. M. Wöhrmann, J. Deller, & Pundt, L. (2018). Complementing AAI at the meso level: The Silver Work Index. In A. Zaidi, S. Harper, K. Howse, G. Lamura, & J. Perek-Białas (eds.): Building evidence for active aging policies: Active Aging Index and its potential (pp. 75-94). London: Palgrave MacMillan.
↑ MR Wilckens, AM Wöhrmann, C. Adams, J. Deller, & Finkelstein, R. (2020). Integrating the German and US perspective on organizational practices for later life work: The Later Life Work Index. In SJ Czaja, J. Sharit, & JB James (eds.): Current and emerging trends in aging and work (pp. 59-79). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
↑ Development of the LLWI. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .

[:0-1] Later Life Workplace Index. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .

[2] Federal Employment Agency (ed.): Skilled labor bottleneck analysis . Nuremberg December 2018.

[:1-3] Work in old age - study on "Later Life Work Index" started. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .

[:2-4] A ^b Later Life Workplace Index. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .

[5] Dimensions of the LLWI. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .

[:3-6] A. M. Wöhrmann, J. Deller, & Pundt, L. (2018). Complementing AAI at the meso level: The Silver Work Index. In A. Zaidi, S. Harper, K. Howse, G. Lamura, & J. Perek-Białas (eds.): Building evidence for active aging policies: Active Aging Index and its potential (pp. 75-94). London: Palgrave MacMillan.

[7] MR Wilckens, AM Wöhrmann, C. Adams, J. Deller, & Finkelstein, R. (2020). Integrating the German and US perspective on organizational practices for later life work: The Later Life Work Index. In SJ Czaja, J. Sharit, & JB James (eds.): Current and emerging trends in aging and work (pp. 59-79). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

[8] Development of the LLWI. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .