Škoda Auto a.s. is the largest car manufacturer in the Czech Republic. The headquarter of the company is in Mladá Boleslav, where the largest manufacturing facility is located. It has two other manufacturing facilities in the Czech Republic, in Kvasiny and Vrchlabí. Since 1991 it has been part of the German Volkswagen Group. It has long been the largest Czech company by sales, the largest Czech exporter, and one of the largest Czech employers. The company has also been awarded the title of Employer of the Decade, which reflects its achievements and reflects its long-standing high level of employee care. One of the company’s development goals is to turn the Czech Republic into a center for the development of electromobility in cooperation with the Volkswagen Group and local authorities, thus securing jobs in the long term.

Škoda Auto has developed a comprehensive age management strategy for all employees across the age spectrum. An individual and social approach are maintained. The pillars of this corporate strategy are health promotion, social policy, and education. An important factor is prevention which is implemented in the form of organized health promotion programs and social health promotion programs. Emphasis is also placed on ergonomics, automation, organization of work and workplaces to take account of reduced performance, the Social Seniority Program, health programs, Health Days, Healthy Company, personal health plans, and workplace tests.

One of the programs the company promotes diversity is a special Seniority Program for employees who have been with the company for 30 years or more. When a senior person is employed at Škoda Auto, he is transferred to a more suitable position if necessary. If this is for health reasons, the senior is entitled to a supplement to average earnings for 18 months. If this is for organizational reasons, the senior will be kept in the same grade as in the original workplace for 12 months. After the expiry of these periods, certain forms of supplementary payment may be negotiated for a senior who has less than 5 years to qualify for a retirement pension. In case of a senior’s resignation for organizational and health reasons, the employer provides a financial social allowance, which depends on the length of employment with the company.

The main goals of the Seniority program are to keep workers active, promote health at work, and find a compromise for the worker when his health conditions change.

Benefits are available to a senior employee who has not had 7.5 hours or more of unexcused absence during the year. A senior employee at Škoda Auto is an employee who has been permanently employed in the company for 30 years.

Škoda Auto’s Seniority program provides senior employees with the following benefits:

• If according to a medical report, the employee has lost the ability to perform his current job, he is transferred to another job. And in the event of downgrading for health reasons, the employee is entitled to a supplementary payment for 18 months.
• If the worker is transferred to another job at a lower pay grade because of an organizational change, the worker is entitled to the additional payment for 12 months.
• A senior employee is entitled to extra 5 days leave with pay for a 14-day stay at a spa each year.

Provision of social support in situations where a senior has to resign for health or organizational reasons. The amount of the allowance is subject to the number of hours worked.

Age discrimination usually produces negative effects, but it can also connote kindness towards older people, given their age. Increased morbidity, stereotyping and reduced performance are usually afflictions associated with aging, and overcoming these obstacles is an essential part of everyday life for older people. Most important is the active attitude of seniors themselves towards work, education, and new technologies. The view of old age among young and old alike needs to change as the retirement age continues to rise.

automotive, service and accessories, technology, emobility, manufacturing facility, individual and social approach, seniority program