Conference Programme

Wednesday May 10th 1995
18.00 Welcome address by the Secretary of the Ministry of Labour; ENOS European Secretary; President of the Greek Association of Social Workers; President of the Federation of Greek Industries; President of the Confederation of Greek Workers; ENOS Greek Coordinator.
18.30 Direct and Indirect Policies to Manage Employment. N. Analytis, Vice-President of the Federation of Greek Industries. Member of the European Social Dialogue Committee.
19.00 Social Europe in front of the Economic and Monetary Union. A.Th. Papandropoulos, President of the Association of European Journalists.
19.30 Plenary Session by the representative of the Deneral Confederation of Greek Workers.
20.00 Discussion
20.30 Cocktail.

Thursday May llth 1995
09.00 Retirement and Early retirement- Social consequences. A. Amira, MA Sociology, Athens School of Social Work
09.30 Retirement and early retirement - Psychological consequences and interventions on these foci. B. Menoutis, M.D. Psychiatrist-Group Analyst Director of Therapeutic Comunity in the Salamina Naval Hospital.
10.00 25 years in planning for retirement. 'A Swiss experience.' R. Quenon.
10.30 Coffee break
11.00 New developments in age related human resources and management. Teun van den Bosch en Fer Schuur.
11.30 ' The Israeli experience' Helen Eliaspur OSW Port and Railway Authorities of Israel.
12.00 Discussion
12.30 Lunch
14.30 Workshops

Friday, May 12th 1995
0900 Visit to Industries: Titan Cement company; Elefsis Ship Yards; Ion, SA Cocoa and chocolate Manufactures.
1600 ENOS Members Meeting: Issues discussed stimulating bilateral contacts with ENOS members; the membership list; the range of the tasks.
20.30 Gala Dinner.

Saturday May 13th 1995
0900 'Employee Assistance Program' Dr. D.A. Masi University of Maryland
10.00 Closing Plenary Session . Conclusions and Recommandations.

Summary
The conference included theoretical contributions as well as presentations on the social and psychological impact of retirement and early retirement. Papers covered the different models and approaches which have been used and also provided participants with the opportunity to learn from the experiences of colleagues in this area. Courses for early retirement vary significantly and in somecompanies do not exist all. The provision of such courses would appear to depend on both the willingness of the individual company and on the overall political and social situation of the country in question.

This issue can be related to a previous conference theme: 'Occupational Social Work in the Mealstrom of Reorganization'. (Switzerland, 1993). One contribution alerted us to the very real problems associated with early retirement, dismissals, transfers and out-placements.
Flexibility and mobility are the slogans of the modern approach and that means that workers are required to be willing to be flexible both in terms of task and also in terms of being relocated. Happily most organisations adopt a responsible approach in this regard. The majority of courses focus on the provision of practical information with little attention paid to the psycho/social implications.
While it was recognised that to include the latter would involve a greater investment by companies at times of possible recession, the participants at the conference expressed a wish that all such courses would include a psycho/social dimension.

Another emerging issue was the importance of recognising and valuing the 'know-how' of the older worker. The conference heard of the methods associated with 'Job Consult', a series of procedures which enabled the successfull relocation of skilled and experienced workers to new tasks and also facilitated the outplacing workers. These instruments include investigations of the labour market; advice with regard to education and training; interview preparation and mediation on suitable vacancies.

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