This project evaluated the programme “Laufbahnberatung 45+” (Career Guidance 45+) offered by the Directorate of Education, Social Welfare and Sport (BSS) of the City of Berne. The objectives of the evaluation were to assess the acceptance of the programme, develop potential improvement options and examine a broader embedding of the programme in the Berne city administration.

The experiences with Career Guidance 45+ at the BSS were collected by means of structured interviews with the person in charge of the programme, and eight employees between the ages of 41 and 58 who were seeking advice. Seven interviews were conducted with the heads of HR from the five city directorates on the issue of introducing career guidance at the other city directorates.

The interviews with those seeking advice clearly show that they turned to career guidance for three overriding motives. The change motive is normally characterised by a thought process that has been under way for some time, and by a preliminary decision to make a career change. These persons mainly expect career guidance to confirm that their thoughts are understandable, comparable to a second opinion. With this motive situation, a typical effect of career guidance is professional realignment, which can also lead those seeking advice to a new employer.

In the case of the orientation motive, the situation is characterised by uncertainty. At issue here are gaps in knowledge, which career guidance can close. In many cases, those seeking advice want the counsellor to assess their professional situation so that they can obtain a deeper understanding. This may well be a first step towards a change, but it is by no means mandatory with the orientation motive. Often, this type of guidance results in further training or continuing education, although some who seek advice also come away feeling that they are “in the right place”.

Those who seek guidance because of a currently unsatisfactory or even burdensome work situation value the fact that it can highlight alternative courses of action that are often not apparent to the affected person himself or herself. However, the counsellor normally cannot simply meet the desire for “resolution” of the stressful state. Therefore, the main task of this guidance situation is to strengthen the ability of the person seeking advice to solve and clear up the problem.

Career Guidance 45+ is considered by those seeking advice to be a valuable and useful programme. However, several critical responses are significant: They concern the neutrality of the counsellor, the desire for longer, more frequent guidance talks, and finally the voluntary nature of the programme, which is considered key by all parties involved. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that a voluntary programme may also be subject to selection bias because it presupposes training in self-reflection, which correlates with the level of education.

The results also show that a cross-directorate programme of career guidance needs to be established in a low-threshold form, because the city’s varied workforce means that the directorates have differing needs. Thus, uncomplicated access, communication appropriate for the recipients and giving the programme a name suited to the target group are essential.

Which working models are promising relating to the "Labour market 45+"? And how can such models be applied to the Swiss labour market?

After consultation with the expert panel, five fields of action for the future-oriented labour market 45+ were defined:

• Health aspects
• Preservation and enhancement of competences
• Life balance
• Career planning 45+
• Personal motives

By means of a systematic analysis of the evidence-based practice, the main problems and typical interventions could be defined for each of these core areas (see chart).

In Swiss companies and administrations, three models are being used and sometimes combined in the "Labour Market 45+":

Relatively common is a reduction of workload in the years before the retirement. This approach also applies to the "arc career" model, which in addition to a lower workload includes a reduction of responsibilities.

Some companies offer so-called "cadre pools" for management staff and specialists. By enabling consulting mandates which allow for a high degree of flexibility, companies ensure the conservation of their knowhow.

These and other pilot projects were submitted to the expert panel for evaluation and were discussed in detail. In the coming months, promising approaches will be implemented in companies and existing models will be evaluated.

As the population ages there is growing concern about keeping older workers in the labor market. While older workers traditionally suffer lower unemployment, they tend to suffer longer unemployment spells, often leaving the labor market permanently after becoming unemployed. There are many different reasons for this: declining skills and productivity, failing health, higher reservation wages, and the economic ability to retire early. It is also possible that higher pension contributions for older workers encourage labor market discrimination, particularly in countries like Switzerland, where pension contributions are a full 18% of salary at the close of one’s career compared to just 7% at the start.

In this sub-project we test whether higher pension contributions decrease the probability of reemployment and decrease wages. We take advantage of policy changes that took place in 2005 in women’s pension mandatory contributions: a two-point decline in mandatory occupational pension contributions for women ages 32-34, 42-44, and 52-54.

Early results suggest that indeed, the women whose mandatory pensions declined had a statistically significant larger increase in their chances of leaving unemployment than women just slightly older or younger whose contributions remained constant. In other words: higher pension contributions seem to make it harder to find a job. That said, the results show that the magnitude of these effects were small. If we extrapolate from the measured effects, assuming that the effect of the 2% change in contributions would be linear (double the size for a 4% change), and we forecast a scenario in which everyone paid a 10% pension contribution, the gap in reemployment between young workers (25-34) and prime age workers (35-44) would essentially disappear, but the gap for older workers (45-61) would still remain substantial, as illustrated in the figure below, showing the proportion of workers remaining on unemployment insurance over time under the current and hypothetical scenarios. Much more analysis is necessary but so far, we can say it seems that flat pension contributions would be a solid policy change, but we should not expect it to take care of all or even most of the problem.