It is of great value for banks to make sure their senior employees are happy, motivated and useful.

That is the opinion of Dutch bank the Rabobank, which has launched a special ‘Seniorship’ program for employees over the age of 45.

Why focus on this particular age group? According to research performed by the Rabobank, ‘older’ employees are in general less flexible, less mobile and less eager to learn. Since the trend is to keep people around longer, it is important that they remain motivated.

Self awareness
With the Seniorship program, the bank wants to increase the self awareness of senior employees by allowing them to reflect. One of the ways to achieve this is by letting employees work at another company for a short period. This allows them to experience different corporate cultures. The Rabobank does not necessarily reward participating employees with a raise, but rather an increased job satisfaction.

Employees can participate voluntarily. Since the start of the program, over one hundred employees have joined up. The Rabobank reports that participants rate this form of human resource management with an 8 out of 10. Looks like a good prospect for the approximately four thousand ‘golden oldies’ working for the Rabobank at this time.