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- Support for Employers Concerning Employment of the Elderly
JEED
Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities
Support for Employers Concerning Employment of the Elderly
Counseling and advice on technical issues related to the employment of the elderly are provided to employers and employers' organizations in order to facilitate the implementation of efforts by employers to raise or abolish the mandatory retirement age and introduce continual employment systems. These activities also aim to improve employment management for the elderly and secure a variety of vocational opportunities for them.
1 Counseling and Assistance for Employers
JEED assigns the following services to regional business trust corporations, dispatching advisors on employment of the elderly （Advisors） and advisors on employment up to 70 （Up-to-70 Advisors）.
Counseling and Assistance by Advisors
Under the Elderly Employment Stabilization Law, the raising or abolishing of the retirement age and the continual employment system are implemented, and employers are required to gradually implement employment security measures to enable the elderly to work until the age of 65 by FY2013.
In order for corporations to make it possible to raise or abolish the retirement age as well as to implement and establish a continual employment system for all employees who wish to continue working, the establishment of various conditions related to the reexamination of the personnel management system including wage and retirement benefit systems, the development and improvement of vocational capability, the development of job categories, and improvement of the work environment is necessary. These conditions will also facilitate establishing appropriate criteria based on labor-management agreements after the stipulated period of special measures in which employment regulations can be set up for participants in the continual employment system for small and medium corporations, and create working environments in which elderly individuals can fully exercise their abilities.
In order to support approaches for establishing such conditions at companies, JEED certifies specialists with professional and practical expertise in the field of the elderly employment, including management and labor consultants, small and medium corporation management consultants, and social insurance labor consultants, as Advisors, to be stationed nationwide.
(1) Counseling and Advice
Advisors, by request, visit companies making efforts to raise or abolish the retirement age, implementing the continual employment system, or improving employment management, and give counseling and advice relating to the identification and clarification of disincentives caused by establishing necessary conditions, and concrete issues including procedures and methods for problem solving, utilizing the corporate management consulting system*.
Furthermore, advisors provide training for corporate workplace administrators and middle-aged and older employees as well as counseling to support the design of vocational life at a later stage of life.
*With the corporate management consulting system, employers simply fill out a questionnaire to find out problems for effectively utilizing elderly employees(such as work environment improvement, health management, education and training, labor costs and working conditions, and awareness of continual employment).
(2) Planning
Regarding individual and concrete issues for establishing the necessary conditions clarified through counseling and advice, Advisors create and propose concrete reform measures for the establishment of conditions, including a personnel management system and work environment improvement, based on requests from the companies. (Employers contribute 1/2 or 1/3 of the required expenses.)
Promoting the "Companies Where People Can Work until 70"
Under the current circumstances, in which the labor force is predicted to decrease due to a rapid aging of the population and a decline in the birthrate, it has become increasingly important for elderly individuals to play an active role in supporting our society. In order to create a society in which elderly employees can continue to work no matter how old they are, it is necessary to promote the concept of companies where people can work until 70, in addition to ensure the smooth implementation of employment security measures for those aged up to 65.
JEED made recommendations for Companies Where People Can Work until 70 in August 2007, and provides support for companies that make efforts to realize this concept based on these recommendations.
To become companies where people can work until 70, companies must further develop their employment environment by making improvements in their personnel management systems accommodating various working styles, health management, work environments, and employees morale. For this purpose, JEED deploys Advisors on Employment up to 70（ Up-to-70 Advisors）nationwide to provide counseling and advice to employers, and also collects employers' good practices and disseminates information on them.
Up-to-70 Advisors have been trained to gain the necessary skills to implement efforts aimed at utilizing elderly employees until the age of 70 as resources, and to provide professional and practical counseling and advice to employers.
2 Development of and Joint Research on Practical Techniques
With the objective of effective and efficient promotion of employment of the elderly, practical methods are being developed that are necessary for solving issues that occur when elderly persons are employed in companies and for improving employment management. These research achievements are widely disseminated.
(1) Development of Practical Techniques for Promoting Elderly employment
JEED develops practical methods for expanding job areas as well as improving wages and personal management systems aimed at the end result of solving problems that companies encounter when they implement employment security measures for those aged up to 65, or when they create employment for those aged up to 70. Reports are compiled for distribution, and various pamphlets made by summarizing the reports in an easy-to-understand manner are published for employers' practical use.
- Checklists for evaluating employability for realization of "Companies Where People Can Work until 70"
- Pamphlets for business enterprises related to the physical health and diseases of elderly persons for employment up to the age of 70
- Surveys on the present state of and changes in personnel systems and employment practices ~Essential points and challenges of personnel management in an aging society~
- Occupational models and hints for realization of an "age-free" society, in different regions
- Survey and research on personnel management models using employment portfolio ~Detailed procedures for strengthening enterprise power without setting age limits~
(2) Implementation of Joint Research
In order to respond to individual issues regarding the employment of the elderly that companies and industrial organizations encounter, JEED conducts joint surveys and research with companies, getting advice from experts on the issues.
- Creation of guidelines for promotion of employment of the elderly by each industry
- Research on the implementation of various employment patterns at individual companies
- Research on the establishment of personnel and educational management systems and workload reduction for the elderly at individual companies
(3) Dissemination and Utilization of Achievements
Practical methods that were developed and the results of the joint research are being utilized in educational materials used to increase the knowledge and counseling skills of advisors on employment of the elderly and advisors on employment up to 70. They are also utilized in making textbooks for training the member companies of industrial organizations, in the creation of materials for seminars on the elderly employment, in articles and commentary in newspapers, magazines, and related texts, and in other fields. In addition, these achievements are compiled into various easy-to-use formats, such as guidelines for utilizing checklists, manuals for advisors and various pamphlets for employers, as well as being used in the counseling and support activities by advisors. They are also widely distributed to personnel administration staff in companies and relevant organizations as reference materials for promoting elderly employment.
These reports and other documents are listed on the JEED website (http://www.jeed.or.jp/data/elderly/elderly01.html) and can also be downloaded from the site. (in Japanese).
