Age Management in Selected Enterprises Operating in the Opole Special Demographic Zone

Adverse demographic changes (ageing of the population, negative population change, depopulation) and their negative effects are currently among the key barriers to development not only in European Union. In Poland the region in which the ageing of the population and the ensuing negative effects are particularly severe is Opolskie Voivodeship. In 2014 there was launched a comprehensive programme aimed to counteract adverse demographic changes and establishing a Special Demographic Zone (SDZ) covering the entire area. The key programme partners are businesses because of the multi-dimensionality of the demographic problems. The aim of the article is to assess age management in selected companies located in the SDZ in the context of the broader implementation of the social responsibility concept. The theoretical part of the article was to define the concept of age management as a component of diversity management and corporate social responsibility (based on a critical analysis of the literature on the subject, polish and foreign). In the empirical part of the work was presented the results of the author’s surveys conducted among selected companies SDZ in liaison with the Marshal’s Office of Opolskie Voivodeship. The survey was sent to 25 business environment institutions, 45 beneficiaries of the Managing Authority of the Regional Operational Programme for Opolskie Voivodeship 2014–2020 and 17 beneficiaries of the Opole Centre for Economic Development between December 2017 and January 2018. The research revealed that the investigated companies undertook a variety of age management initiatives. Even though some of the surveyed businesses did not pursue the concept of social responsibility consciously, they could identify key elements. Examined companies agreed that age management has many benefits and identified them. The basic limitation of the conducted survey is a low return of surveys, which does not allow to consider the results as representative. The article may provide a hint to the managers, first and foremost, what activities of age management are most likely to be undertaken by small and medium-sized enterprises, and what advantage this brings.