Companies will face considerable challenges in coming years in the face of the demographic trend in western industrialized nations. There will be an increase in the number of older employees – especially in our factories. We expect the number of older employees in our plants in Germany alone to triple between 2005 and 2015.

In 2005, we launched our Demographics Program, a holistic concept designed to address the far-reaching changes as a result of this trend. In 2010, we were awarded the FOKUS 50plus Award for an initiative of APRIORI – business solutions AG. This initiative recognizes companies that actively deal with the consequences of an aging society in the working world. Continental received the award for its Germany-wide ergonomics project in particular. As part of this project, we succeeded in significantly increasing the proportion of "age-neutral" job positions in production between 2005 and 2010. All told, 25,000 jobs have been evaluated in the process.

Our activities focus on four topics:

• workplace design,
• maintaining employee health for a longer working life,
• targeted qualification measures,
• motivation for a longer professional life.

In workplace design, we measure the “age stability” of our production jobs using an ergonomic assessment tool. Targeted measures are applied if there is a deviation from the specification of 30% age-stable jobs (the minimum figure we set for our production sites). This way, we create jobs for older workers by, for example, improving the workplace ergonomics as a preventative approach to keep our employees healthy.

A large number of activities to systematically promote health at the plants aim to prevent diseases that are expected to occur more frequently with age. These initiatives are intended primarily to encourage health-conscious behavior. Programs for cancer screening and exercise as well as vaccination campaigns are also offered.

Lifelong learning is particularly challenging in times of demographic change. The HR departments therefore work with the specialist departments to address further qualification for employees using targeted, individually tailored programs.

Our managers play an important role in maintaining and supporting employee health. They influence the design of the workplace and work environment as well as the working atmosphere. To maintain and increase the motivation and commitment among employees, we turn to our managers directly by means of workshops. For ex-ample, the seminar entitled “Healthy Leadership” includes topics such as learning, stress management, mental illness, dealing with restructuring and uncertainty, and appreciation as a driver for motivation.

Following positive experiences in Germany, we are now beginning to gradually roll out this multi-layered demo-graphic program in countries with a similar age structure. All of these measures aim to allow our older workers to contribute to their own personal success and the economic success of the company at their usual high per-formance level.