Age Management and Using Human Capital in a Company

Abstract

The article presents major results of age diversity management in the context of using human capital in a company. The practical use of the concept of age diversity management might be one of the possibilities of addressing threats connected with losing stability or deficiency in employ-ment in companies resulting from unfavourable social and demographic changes. The essence of the age management concept is a new way of perceiving older employees and creating a friendly working environment for employees of all age groups, taking into consideration their age dependent needs and abilities. Age management is based on the system of various actions concern-ing employees' development, professional career, psychological and physical condition and em-ployment time taken in order to use human capital reasonably and effectively and fight against discrimination of „50+” employees. The main approaches to age management were presented, taking into consideration perspec-tives of all the interested entities, that is, employees, companies, and the state. The significance of the all-embracing execution and the key role of a company in shaping the participation of employ-ees in a working environment directly were emphasized. It was showed that an increase in effec-tiveness of using human capital, which might take place as a result of putting age diversity man-agement actions into practice of companies' functioning, manifests itself in several forms. These are: a) an increase in using the potential of employees of all ages, b) an increase in intellectual capital value of companies, c) a decrease in costs of work and organization, d) an increase in a number of clients, e) stimulation of older employees' development. On the basis of the observed barriers in popularising the concept of age management, there was a postulate formulated concerning working out a model, specific for Polish conditionings, which could be the basis for building the strategy of age diversity management in companies, providing high effectiveness of using human capital, and employees' satisfaction.