Curiosity, development and wisdom in senior working life
Project description
With the NUVIS project we will enhance the agency of the senior workers by supporting their curiosity, development, and wisdom, as well as change the narrative about their contribution at the labour market. The project is innovative for research as well as for practice in its focus on development rather than settlement in senior working life. In this regard, we will counteract the loss of agency, which some senior workers experience already in the transition to senior working life at the labour market. The project is based on ethnographic fieldwork amongst senior workers in a transitional phase in their working life such as change of jobs, further education, or business startup. Based on this knowledge, we will initiate a development process with the project partners The Asssociation of Danish Physiotherapists, DJØF and DM in order to develop, anchor and scale initiatives that facilitate agency in the senior workers’ transitional phases on the labour market.
We can help create good work lives for many seniors - Aske Juul Lassen
How did you become interested in working in your particular field?
I experience many prejudices and misunderstandings which I would like to dispel. There is an idea that the further you are into your work life, the less motivated you are to develop because you are en route to retirement. However, we have conducted studies showing that seniors are still curious about wanting to develop.
In recent years, I have looked at skills development for seniors, and I’m hoping that we can create good and long work lives as long as we understand and promote the contribution made by seniors. We hope that we can help build bridges between the generations in the labour market and prevent stress and burn-out.
What is the grant spent on?
As a research group, we would like to help overcome the mistaken and old-fashioned way of talking about senior citizens that we are witnessing, and in particular concerning seniors in the labour market.
Many of the things you become good at during your work life – maintaining an overview, seeing things from different perspectives, teaching others and providing professional care – can be called wisdom, but it has not been studied in this way.
The question is, can we even talk about wisdom in today’s labour market? I would say that we can. When we talk about wisdom, we must bear in mind that seniors build up skills and experience in the course of their long work lives, and this is not sufficiently acknowledged.
What changes has the grant meant for your work?
Basically, the grant means that we can add new layers to our research in describing the roles of seniors in the labour market. There is growing evidence that wisdom, curiosity and development are important
components for the labour market to continue to be meaningful. Earlier we have examined how well-being in the workplace and the extent to which we can influence our work life are important components, but with the funds we can explore new aspects of the work lives of seniors, and learn more about what we can do to create good, long work lives.
