In 2023 Slovenia might encounter a lack of working age population, due to factors such as increased life expectancy, early retirement age, low levels of education of older employees, low levels of participation of older employees in lifelong learning and a general decline in birth rates. To add to this, older employees in Slovenia are faced with negative attitudes of employers, an inflexible labour market and are also reluctant to work at an older age. Based on the above stated factors the project Comprehensive Support to Companies for Active Ageing of Employees (ASI) was proposed by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of Slovenia.

The purpose of the project is to respond to these challenges, in a way that promotes prolonging the work period, strengthening the competencies of older employees, overcoming stereotypes about older employees, empowering employers with skills to manage an ageing workforce and postponing retirement.

Therefore, the target groups of the project are various employers, employees, particularly those older than 45, public institutions involved in the formation and implementation of active ageing policies, the private sector, social partners and the public.

The core of project entails the following activities:

• training workshops for the effective management of older employees
• supporting companies in developing strategies for effective management of older employees and strengthening their competencies with programs for personal and professional development
• building a web portal containing all the relevant information about the project, resources etc.
• launching an awareness campaign about the problematic of ageing population and elderly workforce
• organising international conferences for employers and human resource directors and other relevant stakeholders
• an annual contest for companies to receive the recognition award » older employee friendly company«
• devising a catalogue of measures for the effective management of older employees
• an info point for the external public to provide them information about the project and its activities
• supporting and implementing pilot projects and innovative solutions for maintaining commitment, productivity and efficiency of older employees

Our main expectations are to include 12.500 older employees in our training programs of motivational, personal and professional development by 2022 and 50 companies which we hope will accomplish a significant reduction in the average number of sick days leaves till 2022. A catalogue which will be annually revised and modified will also be created. We also plan to include 1,200 participants in the workshops for effectively managing older employees.

Programme is co-financed by the Ministrsty of Labour, Family, Aocial affairs and Equal opportunities and the European Union under the European Social Fund.