Krok Kyjov is a non-profit organization that helps people in difficult life situations. The quality of its services is directly dependent on the quality of its team. They run 4 registered social services:

• Therapeutic community for drug addicts: offers long-term residential treatment for addicted men and women aged at least 15 years.
• Aftercare program: the program acts as a transition bridge between the community and everyday life.
• Social activation services: mainly in the field, directly in socially vulnerable families, supporting families before and after divorce, in financial difficulties, etc.
• Specialist social counselling: counselling families with social problems, legal advice, mediation, therapy.

In addition, they run two other projects, namely the Volunteer Centre and Prevention Programs for Primary Schools.

For several years the organization has also been actively involved in activities aimed at nature conservation. These include nature management and conservation, as well as sheep grazing in protected, difficult-to-access areas. They are interested in renewable resources and carry out projects with clients, such as building clay houses.

The organization has always strived to ensure that the working conditions of its employees are favourable and that the needs of the employees are always taken into account. They help people who have fallen into a difficult life situation and the requirements for the expertise of the staff are constantly increasing, as they must be able to address new problems of the target group. All this places great demands on their resilience to stress and they are often overloaded.

While introducing age management, the organization started from the different floors of the so-called Work Ability House, which is an effective tool for managing people in the organization, making all areas of the company’s processes unified:

• Health and Functional Capacity “Healthy Office”: They held a workshop focused on compensatory exercises in the workplace and workplace ergonomics. They equipped offices with ergonomic aids (large monitors, kneeling machines, gymnastic balloons, ergo mice). They motivate each other to exercise regularly at work. For this purpose, an infographic leaflet has been created which contains a set of simple exercises. All workers were given a smart bracelet, called a pedometer, and started counting their steps. They attended a healthy lifestyle seminar and learned stress prevention techniques. Every year, they run a themed Health Day where they work together as a team to prepare healthy buffet meals, share information about who eats what and how, and exchange recipes. They go on trips together and, when the weather is nice, hold meetings outside.
• Competence: They have carried out a training needs analysis of their staff and created an internal training system aimed at know-how transfer, peer learning, intergenerational cooperation, and mentoring. Two workers have become authorized trainers of the method in professional seniority and subsequently trained the whole team.
• Values, Attitudes, Motivation: They try to create conditions for work-life balance.

Leadership style, workplace, and working conditions: They have also improved the recruitment system and the adaptation process. They conducted a satisfaction survey among all the employees to find out their opinions and needs.

When implementing age management, they recommend surrounding oneself with people who understand the issue and can be helpful throughout the process. They suggest choosing employees who are enthusiastic about the topic, who like to learn new things, and who are not discouraged by partial failures. It is advisable to have more than one team member so that they can support each other. The principles need to be gradually introduced to all staff through communication and identifying their needs. This is a long-term process and sufficient time and space should be set aside for it. The steps need to be chosen in such a way that the workers are not overwhelmed and that they enjoy the work and find it enjoyable. It is also necessary to be prepared for possible activities that could lead to a conflict between work responsibilities and the need to fulfil the indicators.

The essence of work-life balance is not only about finding a balance between personal and professional life, but it is also about finding an overall balance that occurs when people enjoy and find meaning in their work.

Employees want to be heard and really care about having their opinions and comments listened to, they want to be part of a team. It’s not just about a worker’s active years on the job or extending their ability to work, but that one of the goals should be that the person retires in a good mental and physical state so that they can enjoy the upcoming period.

Age management can be applied in any organization, regardless of sector or number of employees.

non-profit organization, therapeutic community, prevention, counselling, volunteering, personal growth support, work-life balance, Work Ability House, healthy office, intergenerational collaboration, mentoring