BMW solutions for Aged Workforce

CBS recently published a report about how BMW is thinking ahead of times with regards to their human capital. Though focused on automotive sales and product strategy, it is the human capital that is most valuable for BMW.

BMW recently came to the conclusion that its workforce is aging — a trend common in Europe and Germany as well called the Silver Tsunami. This means that their workers are already gray haired. In 2017, the average age of  BMW workers would be 47.

Though an older workforce brings years of valuable experience to BMW, it also means that they are less flexible, weaker in strength, and have poorer vision. In precision engineering, these skills are of much importance.

CBS reports that BMW could easily deal with this problem by forcing aging workers to retire or even removing them from the job. But this cannot happen due to social contracts, thus a younger workforce much make up for what the old workers are lacking or BMW can implement a better solution.

To help find a viable solution, BMW made an interesting experiment. A team of aged workers from an assembly line and were asked for feedback regarding the work conditions and environment. BMW then started to implement the feedback that they got and applied solution for common problems of the aged in the workplace. This includes special shoes for those whose feet hurt, wooden floors, special chairs to sit on, improved tools or bigger computer screens. Seventy small but important changes were implemented to help reduce physical stress and the chance of errors in production for aged workers.

The results were impressive. Productivity increased 7%, absenteeism rate went down, and the assembly line’s defect rate dropped to zero. Everything was accomplished by BMW for just US$50,000.

This experiment is expected to make it’s way to other BMW plants across the globe who have aged workers as well.

Source: CBS News