Oasis – Open architecture for Accessible Services Integration and Standardization
Smart Workplaces applications (for elderly users only)
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- Usage of ICT (Information Communication technology)
Smart Workplaces applications (for elderly users only)
Figure 37: Working activities among interviewees (in percentage of total interviewees per country) A majority of the interviewees is no longer working, be it that the percentages of interviewees still working is the highest in Bulgaria, Romania and the UK. 
Figure 38: Employment status of interviewees that are still working (in percentage of total interviewees per country) If we look at those that do work, then the situation is diverse. Extrapolating this however would be wrong due to the limited size of the interviews. Nevertheless, it does indicate that elderly people have various employment formats. In Greece, all interviewees that work do so in a full time self employed status, while in the UK this is entirely in a part-time self employed status. Difficulties/problems while working 
Figure 39: Problems while working (in percentage of total interviewees per country) Problems that arose while working were varied, but ergonomic issues, too fast evolution of ICT tools and eye fatigue (most likely related to PC usage) were mostly mentioned. Use of teleworking An absolute minority uses teleworking (Bulgaria and Romania). Therefore, a comparison cannot be made here between the different countries, and only a presentation of the Bulgarian and Romanian results is made. 
Figure 40: Teleworking ways Bulgarian interviewees indicated having experience with both working from home, as well as via a teleworking office. The latter has to be understood as being decentralised offices. Romanian interviewees indicated to only work from home. 
Figure 41: Tools to support teleworking The tools used to support this remote working are the internet, phone and fax in both Romania and Bulgaria. 
Figure 42: Need for extra training in order to remain employed, and in what specific areas Additional training has been provided in both countries, mainly then in the ICT area. This training took place at the office. Usage of e-learning 
Figure 43: Past usage of e-learning platform (in percentage of total interviewees per country) E-learning has hardly been used by any of the interviewees (6 respondents indicated they had some experience), but most of those who had used it were satisfied. A majority of the respondents is however not interested to use e-learning. Only in Romania, there was much eagerness to do so, and to a much less extent also in Bulgaria and Greece. Eagerness to continue working 
Figure 44: Eagerness to continue working (in percentage of total interviewees per country) In most countries only a minority was eager to continue working with the exception of Romania, while Bulgaria and the UK had approximately 40% interviewees indicating that would like to continue to work. An obvious explanation for this is not clear, and might be linked to a rather homogeneous user group. 
Figure 45: Reasons to continue working (in percentage of total interviewees per country) When we look at the reasons why people would like to continue working, then the outcome was quite diverse, however with a slight emphasis on earning an extra outcome. In addition, feeling useful and needed was also mentioned in all cases. 
Figure 46: Reasons to discontinue working (in percentage of total interviewees per country) Reasons why people cannot work anymore, despite being eager to do so, are mostly related to retirement and acquired disability (especially in Greece), while in Bulgaria a plethora of reasons was summed up. Training of younger colleagues (mentoring) 
Figure 47: Involvement in training a younger colleague (in percentage of total interviewees per country) The older workforce is increasingly being involved in providing training to younger staff (see following graph). This concept, also referred to as adult mentoring, is present in all countries and was in the majority of the cases requested by the employer (valid for all countries), and were mostly conducted face-to-face at the office and to some limited extent via workshops. 
Figure 48: Results of training a younger colleague (in percentage of total interviewees per country) Obtained results were in all cases positive, although sometimes some resistance was met by the younger colleague.
Figure 49: Internet usage (in percentage of total interviewees per country) Overall there was a very positive attitude towards the usage of the internet with the exception of Greece where the attitude is generally negative, and to some lesser extent in Bulgaria (also because of the rather expensive access rates). 
Figure 50: Point of access to internet Access in all countries is mainly from home, and to a lesser extent from work. 
Figure 51: Frequency of internet usage The internet is mainly accessed once a week in Bulgaria and Italy, while Romanian and especially Greek respondents indicated mainly a weekly usage. What devices being used at home/office 
Figure 52: Devices used at home In all countries we notice a high penetration of mobiles and to a less extent of PCs for usage at home, with the exception of Greece, where PC penetration among elderly interviewees is very low. 
Figure 53: Connection types to the internet ADSL access for internet at home is the most used channel in all countries, while Romania has a 100% usage via cable. In the UK and Greece, dial up connections are still being used, thus causing limits towards data transfer. 
Figure 54: Devices used at work When we look at the professional environment, then those still working are again using mostly mobiles and PCs, and to a lesser extent other “satellite” devices like printers and scanners. What software is being used 
Figure 55: Types of operating software being used Interviewees indicated that the operating systems that are being used by them predominantly are Microsoft based (mainly Windows XP). No Linux or Mac operating systems were reported as being used. 
Figure 56: Types of software being used A similar result we find back in the usage of desktop software which is dominated by Microsoft products (such as Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer). Only in Italy and the UK, Open Office was being used. This might indicate that in other countries the knowledge on freely available software packages is scarce, or that pirated copies are being used.
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