[Measures for age adequate adjustment of work conditions]

Within the framework of a research project on behalf of the organization "Humanisierung des Arbeitslebens" (Humanization of Working Life) we investigated under which conditions (economic, technical, organizational, and social) the places of work of both older workers with a changed performance level and handicapped workers can be modified in such a way that these employees can remain at their jobs. The goal was to find a method of employment which was geared both to performance abilities and to productivity. We also investigated the problem of how to arrange transfer jobs which fulfill the demand for qualified and productive employment, when it is no longer possible for the employees to remain in the job they have held up to then - for example, when the manufacturing process does not allow the modification of a single work place. The goal of gearing work places to the needs of older employees often fails in reality for various reasons. Especially worth mentioning are: lack of comprehensibility with regard to technical-ergonomic work aids - although there is a wide range of these available; general strategy of the firms to dismiss older workers and workers with a changed performance level; qualification deficiencies of older workers; and technical problems: i.e. in shift-working firms, when the modified job is taken over in the 2nd or 3rd shift by a worker with no health limitations. In spite of all assertions to the contrary, it has become clear that jobs for the handicapped and workers with a changed performance level can be conceived, so to speak, "in stock" as early as in the planning stage.