The knowledge and experience of older employees are an important element in a company’s success. To ensure that the potential represented by older employees can be fully utilized and their knowledge passed along, action is needed at several levels. With its PowerMEM^© toolbox, Swissmem offers practical assistance in this area. The field of action is based on three pillars.

The three pillars of the PowerMEM^© toolbox

1. Best practices

The “Older employees in industry” working group has compiled a number of best practices from the “Employees aged 50+” field and developed recommendations for action for Swissmem’s member companies.

2. Horizontal career

Older employees often possess know-how that has been acquired over decades. Mixed-age teams help to ensure that this knowledge is passed on. Moreover, work should be organized in such a way as to enable horizontal professional development paths to be pursued as an alternative to the customary hierarchical and vertical career paths.

3. Health management

Workplace health management is a key instrument in maintaining a company's competitiveness. It makes a significant contribution to keeping employees healthy and productive in the medium to long term.