Utilizing the potential resources of elderly people
An interview study about the potential resources of elderly and young (40+) people, what those resources consists of and how they can be defined.
PensionerElderly peopleResourcesEducationVoluntary workFull/part time workThird ageForth agePensionäräldreResursUtbildningIdeellt arbeteArbete ? hel/deltidTredje åldern och fjärde åldern.
The overall purpose of this master essay is to investigate whether there is an interest among people near retirement to contribute with their knowledge and experience after they reach the defined retirement age. Furthermore, I would like to investigate if they want to continue with their old jobs, full time/part time or to do something else, which is beneficial to the society. I also want to find out how the older people view themselves to continuing to work. Also which types of social and structural barriers that might exist for them and why. The aim is also to investigate what types of knowledge and experience they believe could be used in the future community. For that purpose I have structured interview questions and conducted eight individual interviews. Below is a brief summary of the main results.The study shows that there is a general interest in working after retirement. Most people prefer to work only part-time. Participation and influence is meaningful to the individuals. It is seen as having a positive impact on individuals, groups and societal perspectives. At the individual level, the relationship between the possibility to choose both type of work and working hours and the desire to continue working, is very strong. The choice contributes to the feeling that life is meaningful. That proved to be of great motivation to participate in the working life. The study shows the importance of paying attention to flexible working hours adapted at individual level. The results also show that the elderly are often pictured as competent, knowledgeable and skilled people, which resources can be utilized in the society. It also appeared that older people are carriers of knowledge and experiences, which can be taken care of and transferred on to the younger generations instead of being lost.The study pointed out that there is manual work situations particularly risky for older people. It also revealed negative factors such as competition for the jobs between younger and older people, which can create an opinion in society against letting older people work. The results also indicate that the mixture of older and younger people creates a knowledge and experience transfer which creates new approaches to working tasks. It also emerged a number of factors that influence an individual's choice to attend to work; Important to take an individual approach, assess the participant?s interests and abilities for the particular job, his desired working hours and the need of upgrading or retraining.