TRAINING OLDER WORKERS IN CYBERSPACE. A CRASH ICT TRAINING PROCESS FOR THE FINAL PHASES OF EMPLOYMENT. A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

The purpose of this paper is to capture the breadth of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) training process at work, together with representations from people aged over 44 concerning it. Understanding employment training in a broad sense, the forms of learning are examined as forms of socialisation in cyberspace, generally linked to instrumental uses. Considering this, the discourses generated from different positions in the structure of the organisation are presented in order to achieve richer training for older people. The methodology used is qualitative and consists of 11 semi-structured interviews with people approaching the phase of life running from stability at work to retirement. Their positions in the job market and their organisation correspond to a heterogeneous sample in terms of production sectors and different levels of the employment scale. In this way, the different processes for integrating ICTs into the work of over-44s are captured while we find out the effect of computerisation processes on their tasks and on their performance in their jobs. In the same way, the power relationships generated by a learning process are explored, together with the strategic search for forms of learning that do not question a person’s position in the structure or consider the end of their productive life as a barrier to learning.
Meanwhile, the policies and directives of organisations in terms of integrating older people into ICTs are examined, along with the individual responses and strategies of the older people when they see their position in the organisational structure as being under threat.
Finally, we conclude with some strategic lines that could correct deficiencies in the general adaptation to cyberspace of individuals who are in this final phase of employment in the commercial sphere.