Page 123 - Petelin, Ana. 2020. Ed. Zdravje delovno aktivne populacije / Health of the Working-Age Population. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 123
In the research that was conducted as a part of her Master‘s thesis by hiring older people as a way to increase diversity and improve the quality of society 121
Križanc (2016), absenteeism is presented as a consequence of an illness or in-
sufficient results of treatment with conventional medicines. There are several
studies at different post-graduate level programmes that deal with the phenom-
enon of absenteeism, yet only few at healthcare faculties. On the other hand,
presenteeism, which has been recognised as a problem only recently, has not
been researched in the scope that would provide a greater insight into finding
specific solutions. Absenteeism and even more so presenteeism are often the
consequence of fear of the »impossible« or »loss« and are harmful both for the
employee and organisation, financially as well as medically (Vučković, 2010;
Logar, 2011). Both phenomena are unacceptable: absenteeism also because it of-
fers employees a possibility for abusing the sick leave system; and presentee-
ism, in which an employee understands that their medical state might be en-
dangering to others but can be labelled as incapable, old and fit for retirement
if they remain absent from work. Both society and the government need to in-
troduce measures that will allow a person to be ill and recover in peace but at
the same time prevent employees from abusing the system (Logar et al., 2015).
Taking care of health, by maintaining physical fitness and partially also
managing stress, is dealt with in the reviewed materials without a special focus
on older employees, which is confirmed also by other researchers (Logar, 2011;
Ovčar, 2015; Jakop, 2016; Jagodič, 2019). The influences of psycho-social factors
are not presented or rather they are not studied thoroughly enough, owning to
their complexity and the fact that they are becoming the key causes of illness
development. The connection between health and socio-economic position of
older employees is key. Employees with lower levels of education, lower posi-
tions at work and lower income tend to suffer from cancer, cardio-vascular dis-
eases and lower life expectancy (Manfreda, 2020). Preventive measures can go
a long way in maintaining and improving people‘s health. They include vari-
ous activities in health promotion programmes which are suitable for different
generations (Saje Zupanc, 2015; Raduha, 2017; Topličanec, 2018).
One of the activities that helps to maintain good health is lifelong learn-
ing. The theses review demonstrated that many theses were prepared and stud-
ies carried out regarding learning organisation, the need for lifelong learn-
ing, passing the knowledge from generation to generation, which encourages
cross-generational cooperation and strengthens knowledge of teams and or-
ganisations (Robnik, 2016; Lešnik, 2016).
Older employees already are or are about to become our reality. It is nec-
essary to act in three ways: developmental strategy, management training, sen-
ior and junior staff training to achieve synergy – and in older employees also
for quality aging before and after retirement (Ramovš et al., 2020).
The limitations of the survey conducted include a sample that is too small,
owning to the fact that at healthcare faculties (Master‘s and Doctoral study)
there is almost no published material about employment of older population,
absenteeism and presenteeism. The phenomena of absenteeism and presentee-
Križanc (2016), absenteeism is presented as a consequence of an illness or in-
sufficient results of treatment with conventional medicines. There are several
studies at different post-graduate level programmes that deal with the phenom-
enon of absenteeism, yet only few at healthcare faculties. On the other hand,
presenteeism, which has been recognised as a problem only recently, has not
been researched in the scope that would provide a greater insight into finding
specific solutions. Absenteeism and even more so presenteeism are often the
consequence of fear of the »impossible« or »loss« and are harmful both for the
employee and organisation, financially as well as medically (Vučković, 2010;
Logar, 2011). Both phenomena are unacceptable: absenteeism also because it of-
fers employees a possibility for abusing the sick leave system; and presentee-
ism, in which an employee understands that their medical state might be en-
dangering to others but can be labelled as incapable, old and fit for retirement
if they remain absent from work. Both society and the government need to in-
troduce measures that will allow a person to be ill and recover in peace but at
the same time prevent employees from abusing the system (Logar et al., 2015).
Taking care of health, by maintaining physical fitness and partially also
managing stress, is dealt with in the reviewed materials without a special focus
on older employees, which is confirmed also by other researchers (Logar, 2011;
Ovčar, 2015; Jakop, 2016; Jagodič, 2019). The influences of psycho-social factors
are not presented or rather they are not studied thoroughly enough, owning to
their complexity and the fact that they are becoming the key causes of illness
development. The connection between health and socio-economic position of
older employees is key. Employees with lower levels of education, lower posi-
tions at work and lower income tend to suffer from cancer, cardio-vascular dis-
eases and lower life expectancy (Manfreda, 2020). Preventive measures can go
a long way in maintaining and improving people‘s health. They include vari-
ous activities in health promotion programmes which are suitable for different
generations (Saje Zupanc, 2015; Raduha, 2017; Topličanec, 2018).
One of the activities that helps to maintain good health is lifelong learn-
ing. The theses review demonstrated that many theses were prepared and stud-
ies carried out regarding learning organisation, the need for lifelong learn-
ing, passing the knowledge from generation to generation, which encourages
cross-generational cooperation and strengthens knowledge of teams and or-
ganisations (Robnik, 2016; Lešnik, 2016).
Older employees already are or are about to become our reality. It is nec-
essary to act in three ways: developmental strategy, management training, sen-
ior and junior staff training to achieve synergy – and in older employees also
for quality aging before and after retirement (Ramovš et al., 2020).
The limitations of the survey conducted include a sample that is too small,
owning to the fact that at healthcare faculties (Master‘s and Doctoral study)
there is almost no published material about employment of older population,
absenteeism and presenteeism. The phenomena of absenteeism and presentee-
