AGE MANAGEMENT IN ALBANIAN SMEs

Age management is at the heart of the EU policy agenda. The changes in the world of work and the labour market are having a strong effect on human resources policies. Proactive measures are being taken by Member States to maximise employment levels, both amongst the young and older generations. The package of measures includes, for example, active labour market policy with integration programmes for the unemployed, intensification of education and training, improving occupational health and safety, programmes to enable the compatibility of work and family life, enhancement of equal rights and equal opportunities, creation of child care facilities, improving the care of sick and disabled people. Age management should therefore create a friendly environment for older workers and create opportunities for those who want to remain long er within the labour market. The aim of the paper is to encourage the development of the lack of knowledge about age management that exists in the Albanian SMEs and to present recommendation for both policy-makers and enterprises. Innovation and the correct knowledge and experience transmission are basic inside the companies. All this makes necessary to validate and formalize this learning to make the oldest workers leave their defensive position and to favour their professional development, and therefore develop their employ ability encouraging the integration of the young generation in the Albanian company. From this point of view, encouraging the experienced (the older) workers participation in the evolution of the SMEs and favouring the integration of the new ones becomes a requirement to achieve the effective competitiveness in companies. This analysis has been carried out through secondary sources, as well as by interviews with industrial companies from different fields.