R&D project - New HR practices for alternative career paths and good late careers

In accordance with its mandate, the Knowledge Centre for Longer Working Lives shall procure, develop, and disseminate knowledge to managers, elected representatives, and employees in businesses and organizations. Updated knowledge shall contribute to more businesses being able to develop good, inclusive, and attractive workplaces where the development of good late careers in working life is central. This will strengthen the opportunities for businesses to better meet their need for competence and labor, and for more experienced employees to both be able, and want, to continue working longer. Research-based knowledge is a prerequisite for disseminating good and relevant competence to Norwegian workplaces. New R&D projects shall provide actors in Norwegian working and social life with updated knowledge about what stimulates longer professional careers, what can prevent dropout from working life, and what it is like to be an older employee in various industries. Funds are now being announced to carry out the project “New HR practices for alternative career paths and good late careers,” which shall represent a preliminary study on new, possible employer policies/personnel policies/strategies/initiatives or HR practice(s) for alternative career paths and for good late careers for the oldest in working life. In the long term, there will be more employees in the age group 67+/70+ in Norwegian working life, both as managers, ordinary employees, temporary workers, etc. We can also expect more older job seekers in a future labor market. This entails new needs to rethink older workers and to develop new HR practices for the oldest in working life. Many will be able to continue for a long time without special accommodations in the job they already have, while others may need new, alternative career paths, opportunities for phased retirement, changes in tasks, or a completely new job in a new location – or perhaps a different, looser connection to employment in the final years of working life. We need to update and modernize the content of the term “career paths,” which has traditionally been associated with climbing the ranks, and where “alternative career paths” have mostly been perceived as demotion or downgrading. In a future labor market, one can imagine that there will be more who wish for various alternative career paths, e.g., with increased flexibility in tasks, more or less responsibility and autonomy. This may still involve changes upwards in position and responsibility, but it may also involve changes downwards, sideways, or into completely new areas. Can there be new solutions for how work is organized, e.g., with distribution of responsibility and tasks, working hours and location, which will also stimulate new thinking about the concept of career and what will contribute to more people continuing longer in working life? The intention of a strategy for good late careers in working life is to find practical solutions in the work situation that will promote work motivation, performance, and results – for both the individual employee and for the manager/employer. We are experiencing positive development in the health and employment of older people. With changes in the framework conditions of working life with age limits and increased flexibility in pension schemes for both the private and public sectors, there will be a need for new research – and eventually also development work where various HR practice(s) for new, sustainable, and adapted solutions for tomorrow's working life can be tested – based on the different needs of both older employees and businesses. This may result in more older people in work, in line with political intentions. To prepare for tomorrow's working life and future projects, we want to conduct a preliminary study that can provide us with new knowledge about where there is potential for new thinking, innovation, and development of new HR practices for both alternative career paths and good late careers for the oldest in working life. The goal of the study is to identify areas within management, personnel policy, HR, competence, and work organization, etc., that may be suitable for practical testing or for new research and development projects. We expect the project to result in a review of potential new strategies/new practices with descriptions of opportunities and challenges, which can later form the basis for further development through practical testing. The client is open to suppliers being creative in their approach to elaborating, specifying, and describing the problem, approaches, methods, and ideas related to the project's theme. We invite relevant research communities to develop proposals for a project idea and plan that they find relevant, interesting, and feasible within the limitations they deem appropriate. We ask the supplier to describe and justify how the project will be designed and implemented. The project can make a valuable contribution to the work of further developing practice-oriented and relevant working life policy. The project shall disseminate knowledge to managers, elected representatives, and employees themselves, so that they gain new insights and thus a better basis for developing good late careers for both current and future older employees in their respective workplaces. We envision that a reference group can be established for the project to provide input during the process. The R&D project is to be carried out in the period November 1, 2026 – October 15, 2027.

Client: KUNNSKAPSSENTER FOR LENGRE ARBEIDSLIV

Delivery location: Not location-bound

Estimated value: 1,600,000 NOK