Given the greying of Europe's work force and the European employment objective of keeping more older workers in work for longer, it is very important to be able to predict (regional) trends in population ageing and employment. This calls for new scientific perspectives and solutions tailored to the practical realities, for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular but for regional players too. The machinery and advisory structure of statutory pensions insurance in Germany covers the whole country and is thus particularly well placed to raise awareness of and provide advice on the problems of managing an ageing workforce. The close link here with the substance and practicalities of managing occupational safety and health, rehabilitation and integration is self-evident.

The aim of the pilot project "GeniAL – Generational management in the world of work" (the German acronym stands for "Generationenmanagement im Arbeitsleben“) is specifically to address issues of demographic change as they affect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which lack extensive staff resources. To find out which options, particularly for using advisory instruments to help businesses with age-appropriate employment, are available to the German Pension Insurance (DRV) and which of them look promising, the German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, DRV Bund) will be running a GeniAL practical trialling exercise nationwide in 21 DRV information and advice centres between 2008 and 2011, with the aim of making the project practicable for all pensions insurance institutions.