Accommodating older workers at BMW

Happy New Year!

And in Germany, BMW are looking to the future where they predict that half their workforce will be over 50. With this in mind, the World at One recently featured a piece that looks at the changes BMW are making to the assembly line to accommodate older workers. This has involved re-designing work stations to minimise physical effort and allowing them to run faster or slower at the choice of the individual worker as well as a focus on fitness and exercise.

Managers say that the ageing population, higher retirement age and reduced numbers of younger workers are forcing them to re-assess the value of age.

A podcast of the whole programme can be downloaded from here:b018gylv

The BMW item starts at 37 minutes in and runs for about 4 minutes.