Europe is facing a growing challenge: an aging population. Since 1950, the proportion of people over 65 has increased from 12% to 19.2%, and is expected to surpass 36% by 2050. While life expectancy is rising, this does not guarantee a healthy or active old age, particularly in the workplace, where issues such as physical frailty, functional decline, and managing multigenerational teams are becoming more pressing.
In this context, the European project WAge ("Healthy Working Environments for All Ages"), funded by the HORIZON-HLTH-2023 programme of the European Commission, was launched. Its goal is to develop a comprehensive framework to enhance the physical and psychosocial health of workers across age groups, with a focus on industrial sectors. The project involves nine organisations from Europe and Malaysia, and studies over 400 workers in car factories across Spain, Portugal, and Poland.
WAge assesses both physical and psychosocial aspects of work. A key innovation is the focus on well-being, its causes, and its outcomes. Central to this is the HERO (Healthy & Resilient Organisation) model, a validated tool that analyses psychosocial well-being at individual, team, leadership, and organisational levels. Using the HEROCheck instrument, both qualitative and quantitative data are gathered to identify risks, protective factors, and to develop tailored Positive Psychological recommendations and guidelines for each age group.
One of the main outputs will be the WAge Index, a tool to accurately measure physical health (e.g. musculoskeletal disorders), functional decline, and psychosocial well-being factors like work engagement, considering age and gender. Grounded in scientific evidence and cutting-edge methods, this framework aims to support the creation of healthier, more inclusive and sustainable working environments throughout the entire working life.