The odelo company is a leading manufacturer and system supplier of automotive lights for the international automotive industry. They are present in nine locations worldwide and employ more than 3,500 employees. Their lights are characterized by high quality, innovation and the use of new technologies, and they produce around 10 million products annually. They achieve ambitious goals by living our values every day – teamwork, proactivity, innovation, customer orientation, integrity and empowerment. They are the proud holders of numerous certificates for quality systems, environment and information security, as well as recipients of various awards: for business excellence, foreign investor of the year, best logistician and TPM company of the year.

They employ around 1,500 employees in ODELO Slovenia, who come from more than ten countries from all over the world. Some stay with them for a short time, others until retirement. They offer the opportunity to both career starters and experienced staff, as well as unqualified workers and experts and PhDs. Age is not a key factor in recruitment and career development. They are united by common values: teamwork, proactivity, innovation, and customer orientation.

The elderly perform different jobs, depending on their knowledge, experience, and career path. In the past years, they have held dozens of workshops and trainings to promote awareness of the diversity of generations, cooperation, and communication, several motivational ‘team-buildings’ to strengthen the connection, belonging and well-being, they also socialize at picnics and New Year’s parties, and their leaders are regularly trained in the field of managing heterogeneous work groups. They believe that the synergy of all measures has developed over the years into a successful adaptation to demographic changes. They like and regularly invite their retirees to meetings, as well as picnics and other events, where they reminisce, laugh and sometimes even shed a tear of nostalgia.

In the automotive industry, which requires really high standards, dynamism and the highest quality in the work process, they have introduced various internationally recognized methods (PDCA, Process Time Analysis, KVP) that enable improvements in all processes. Practically every day they deal with improvements and optimizations that will enable them to do their work more easily, without losses and with as little effort as possible. They have adapted, automated and robotized many jobs, while they have sometimes encountered less resistance to change in the elderly population, especially in the area of ​​digitization. With age, employees usually also face a loss of physical and mental strength, and more difficulty handling stressful situations, which is why they held several workshops on the topic of awareness and strengthening responsibility for one’s own health. They got involved in several projects that supported them in the implementation of activities for the elderly, such as ASI, ASI Piloti (to maintain the commitment, productivity, and efficiency of older workers, to encourage longer working lives), Naprej, Polet (an innovative integrated business model for active and healthy aging developed). It is not superfluous to emphasize that this is not only a one-time and time-limited project, but rather long-term activities that do not end even after several years. At odelo, they value their older employees and their knowledge and experience, and they believe that they will also find a way for successful intergenerational cooperation in the future.

Not only when working with the elderly, but when working with people of all ages, from kindergarten through school, first employment and all the way to retirement, it is necessary to take into account mutual differences, beliefs, values, and last but not least, abilities and competencies. In the workplace, where they spend a third of the day, employees face many work challenges, which they can only cope with in the face of increasing multiculturalism and the aging of society by respecting diversity. What’s more: if they see in it an opportunity for dialogue, the enrichment of the organizational culture, by achieving common goals they will create fulfilling cooperation and an important competitive advantage for the company. They would like to have more get-togethers in the company, and they would like to offer the elderly more activities in the field of health, from healthy eating, exercise, training, to massages and benefits for employees of all ages.

manufacturer of high-quality lights for the premium class automotive industry.

Innovation, proactivity, teamwork, integrity