"The European ""Innov'Age"" project is the result of a strategic partnership for training in diversity, age management and innovation, applied to the European postal sector. The project addresses the issue of Europe's ageing population and the need to attract new skills/talents among younger generations. In fact, management of intergenerational teams is becoming a criterion of competitiveness for European postal operators. The objective of the project is to improve age management in the postal sector by creating an innovative training prototype to enhance intergenerational teams. The issues related to this objective are: increase the employability of both seniors and younger people; enhance and make more efficient intergenerational teams to promote business innovation; facilitate and stimulate innovation in the postal sector.The project consortium brought together six European postal operators (France, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Greece, Cyprus), the PostEurop postal association (52 postal operators), the University of Bordeaux, the Greek Post Vocational Training Centre and InoSalus, a Portuguese SME specialising in innovative training. Project Structure: The project was divided into three main Intellectual Outputs (IO): IO1: Research, identification and mapping of training needs in the postal sector related to age management; IO2: Co-creation and development of an innovative training toolkit for age management in order to develop a dynamic approach focusing on cooperation between generations, the motivation and involvement of professional teams including young and old people, the valorisation and transmission of experience - which will be done first and foremost in the partner companies of the project; IO3: Design and test a prototype of training in some intergenerational teams. This allows managers to discover a new management an approach to diversity, taking into account the specific needs and expectations of new entrants and seniors, acquire and appropriate methods and tools for the cohesion, motivation and performance of an intergenerational team.All the results were shared during the monthly conference calls, the transnational meetings and the dissemination events. Activities implemented: Scientific study on the following variables: diversity practices by age, climate in work organisation, learning climate, acceptable distance (depending on corporate culture) between employees and management, strengthening leadership, innovative team behaviours and related performance;Analysis of training needs and psychosocial aspects to develop the sectoral training needs matrix (questionnaire, study, research) and mapping of the current situation in postal organizations;Development of a roadmap for the volunteer team to help co-build training programs and identify case studies;Selection and development of case studies and production of a pedagogical movie; Development of the training programme based on the macro-competences identified to be developed through this prototype;Development of a test prototype and design of the toolbox;Assessment of the impact of the training prototype on the teams;Communication and dissemination of project results via partner communication media;Dissemination meetings coordinated by a communication committee.Results: The Training Program was formalized as a prototype. A part of the prototype (test modules) was implemented by the six postal partners, adapted to the reality of each operator and tested by the volunteer teams. The evaluation of these tests has improved the training programme by identifying areas for improvement or consolidation. The evaluation confirmed the importance of this training to help managers improve the management of multi-generational teams and foster inclusion and innovation. Project Outreach: Partnership with OSHA and its “Healthy Workplaces for All Ages” campaign, EYDAP SA, Athens Water Company, “Intergenerational HR Club”, and the University of Aix-Marseille has also shown its interest.Visibility of results: Meetings with external stakeholders: kick-off, closing conference, Multiplier events in Athens, Rome and Strasbourg; Use of websites, social networks...Two initiatives, one national pilot implementation initiative in Greece and the final multiplier event of the project, put in place in the framework of the Innov’Age project have been approved and registered successfully as events of the European Vocational skills week organized by DG Employment on 14-18 October 2019. The approval of both submitted events confirms their relevance in terms of training and innovation. Registering to this European-wide initiate coordinated by DG Employment is a further way to raise awareness about our work in the field of vocational education especially towards other sectors and stakeholders. The next step of Innov’Age 1 would be the certification of this training. (Innov’Age 2 – awaiting for funding)."

The European postal industry is a key contributor to the European economy with an increased importance during the COVID19 pandemic. The once traditional sector is currently moving fast to a new digital era while also undertaking concrete actions on environmental issues. The DigiGreeNPost project intents to bring resilience to the postal industry through the provision of upskilling for postal employees in green and digital competence areas, acting as an enabler towards the implementation of digital and green policy agendas, building the understanding of the importance of digital and green-related jobs throughout the sector. The project will achieve this goal through the following activities: (a) a Transnational Ecosystem for DigiGreen Skilled Postal Employees, (b) Two New Skills Curricula, (c) Pilot delivery of Trainings, (d) a Dual Recognition Scheme in the Postal Sector, and (d) Dissemination and Exploitation Activities. Τhe target groups benefited concretely from the project are: end users (>600); Current and future potential postal employees, Postal Managers, L&D Managers, Trainers, and relevant stakeholders (>500); Postal Operators & Business representatives, VET/Educational Providers, HEIs & Research Institutions, Umbrella Organizations, Policy Makers. Expected results are: the resilience and harmonization of the EU postal industry under common initiatives, the reinforcement of digitalization in the postal sector, the adaptation of green practices, the creation of “digigreen” skilled workforce and the enhancement of their employability, the creation of synergies between the Education Providers and the sector representatives. Outputs to be produced are: Upgrade of Sectoral Profiles with new skills, a Competence Framework, a DigiGreen Post Model, two Competence-based Curricula, a new Joint Training Scheme including WBL, an e-learning platform, Individual Learning Accounts (with Micro-credentials awarding) and a new “Cross-Border” Certification Scheme.

The EU postal sector accounts for €91 billion or 0.72% of EU GDP (letter post alone accounts for €44 billion or 0.34 percent of the GDP, and the number of letters was 82 billion). Postal services play a key role in an effective and dynamic EU Single Market and they are of crucial importance to businesses and EU citizens alike. The European Commission works on improving the quality of delivery and access to postal services, and aims to complete a well-functioning Single Market for postal services.In this context the project ‘Cultural mediators in the Postal Sector” (CULMED) has achieved in piloting activities that have benefit and merit for both post organizations and third country nationals interacting with post organizations. CULMED aimed principally in matching the rising demands of post sector organizations to adapt to the rapid socio-economic and technological changes, together with the societal needs of accommodating and facilitating social inclusion of a large number of immigrants and refugees through better informed and designed public services. In this framework, all project Intellectual Outputs and outcomes have conduced in the establishment of a coherent body of knowledge and skills for post employees, immigrants and key stakeholders from both public and private sector that may support both the active social inclusion of third country nationals and increase the capacity of post organizations for informed interventions on the application of their services.The adaptation of skills and competences can be considered as an essential answer to manage the organizational changes and challenges coming from the external environment for the postal sector and in this field an essential effort has been made in the midst of the pandemic to deliver quality training to participant post employees in all program countries. Cultural Mediators as professionals has been trained so as to facilitate relations between local and foreign citizens and to promote reciprocal knowledge and comprehension, favoring a positive relationship between persons of different cultural backgrounds. The project training programs has included soft skills and language skills and targeted both post professionals and indirectly immigrants that will be able to get informed about the post services within a new culture and environment within post organizations and from better informed services.Among the main achieved project objectives are:1) The promotion of social inclusion by facilitating active participation of third country nationals in host societies, through improved access to post services and interaction with post organizations; 2) The provision of specialised training to post employees, so at to be able to deliver quality services in a multicultural social environment;3) Improvement of the quality of services provided to immigrants;4) Enhancement of the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications related to the postal sector;5) The identification of new skills and the development of key competences for post employees, when providing services to third country nationals.

The liberalization of the EU Postal Market that led to an increased competition in the provision of high-quality and diversified mail, parcel and financial services has transformed in the requirements for the employees’ attitude towards providing a positive customer experience and attaining high quality of service. The diversification of financial services, respectively the insurance brokerage, is one of the development objectives for each Postal Organization present in the project. The consortium brought together under this proposal is made up of:- Postal operators from member countries which serve as the source for the identification of training needs as suppliers of information and deliverables under the described intellectual outputs as well as the project’s direct beneficiaries whose personnel will be trained.- The Hellenic Post brings the company inside its group which is dedicated to the development and implementing professional programs for vocational education and training for the postal employees – KEK-ELTA.- Insurance E-Learning systems developer and vocational educational and training company serving as a leader for all the intellectual results, acting also as a project manager for developing the e-learning platforms.- Professional E-Learning systems developer: the national research and development institute of informatics from Romania, who will implement the requirements for the platforms drawn by Rory Sol.Postal workers require new skills and behavioural abilities to approach clients with insurance products. This is a new activity for them which requires proactivity, creativity and new knowledge. Also, the Member states are due to implement the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) by 23rd of February 2018. The IDD will impact mainly the insurance brokers and, in line with the future changes, the partners in this project (the postal operators with affiliate broker / insurance intermediary companies) will be prepared in complying with trained employees that will become insurance intermediaries. IDD focuses on customer mainly thus the proposed training programs for postal workers will be strongly customer oriented. The existing certification programs in insurance are mainly knowledge oriented, therefore by this project the intention is to reform from it from grounds shift it from knowledge based to competency based. The Key activities will generate the following intellectual outputs:O1 Research on training needs to intermediate insurance policiesO2 Training curriculum and associated materialsO3. Training e-toolkit for insurance intermediaryO4. E-Learning platforms Each postal operator will bring its own experience on selling financial services and on relating with the potential customers based on culture, internal procedures, specific workflow for intermediating insurance policies. The baseline of the new training curriculum and associated materials will be the national and European qualifications framework (EQF), the new Insurance Distribution Directive, the mandatory list of knowledge, competences and skills imposed by the national authorities on insurance. The research on profiling the postal workers will form the basis of the new Syllabus development, training material, innovative training toolkit and similar e-learning platforms.The main steps for having an innovative training program are:· Assess postal workers’ profiles (knowledge, competences, skills etc)· Correlate profiles with the training needs· Design and develop the training curriculum, materials and content· Implement e-learning platform and deploy training programs· Monitor, evaluate results and effectiveness of training programsFinally, a set of activities have been planned to increase multiplying effects of the project outcomes:E1: Project launching conference - RomaniaE2: E-learning platform launching conference -RomaniaE3: Success stories conference for training in RomaniaE4: Success stories conference for training in Bulgaria E5: Success stories conference for training in GreeceE6: Project closure conference - Romania The participants in this project from the 3 Postal Organizations from this project will be at least 500. After the closure of the program the 3 Postal Organizations can further exploit project's outcomes to all front office employees involved in selling insurance policies, the number of them estimated at 2500.This number is an estimation covering only project partners. Nevertheless, and given the size of the insurance market and extent of the global postal business activities, it is believed that the project’s results can benefit employees of all postal operators interested in adding insurance selling/reselling/advisory as services, as well as the stakeholders (min 40 in each country): the national regulatory insurance authority, the certification insurance designated organism, all the insurance companies, media: newspapers, televisions etc

The regulatory changes which led to the liberalization of the EU Postal Market and increased competition in the provision of high-quality and diversified mail, parcel and financial services have led postal operators:a) to adapt to a customer-oriented model aiming at providing positive customer experience and attaining high quality of service.b) to focus on the development of human resources, by transforming traditional skills and knowledge into new, enhanced competencies.The projects’ overall objective is the provision of an attractive and modern training framework aiming at:- highlighting the necessity for recognition of skills, knowledge and competencies in customer service operations (sub objective 1)- enhancing and certifies employees’ professional assets and thus safeguarding their job positions (sub objective 2)- improving the perceived service experience of customers and citizens (sub objective 3)- providing a complete, integrated and configurable training toolkit (sub objective 4)- identifying ways for generalization of project outcomes to relevant sectors (sub objective 5)The project brings together ten partners from six sectors and six countries:- E-Learning systems developer (GR): project leader- e-learning expert - Postal Operators (GR,CY,RO): source for the identification of training needs, target group of beneficiaries- VET institutions (GR,FR): development of professional training programs- HR and business experts (PT,GR): consultation on human-centric orientation of the developed scenarios and experiential training, business continuity aspects- Certification body (GR): certification-related tasks (i.e. certification system, tools, methodologies)- NGO (LV): consultancy in the field of training and competence building Key activitiesThe project evolved through a coherent set of activities, corresponding to relevant expected project outputs:- Research on training needs for customer service (Research tools and methodologies, Training needs for customer service – Research results)- Training curricula for customer service (Development of Curricula, Development of Certification System)- Training Toolkit for customer service (Webinars for knowledge refresh, Training Scenarios, Experiential training)- 3D-based training system for customer service (3D game system with certification level, Evaluation toolkit)The training and certification system were applied in the Postal Operators through the following 3 interdependent Activities:- Experiential training- Webinar for refresh of knowledge - Scenario-based training in 3D environmentFinally, a set of activities have been planned to increase multiplying effects of the project outcomes:- Project launching conference for external interested parties (companies, governmental bodies, institutions, trade unions etc.) - Progress overview conference aiming at collecting feedback from stakeholders- Certification Ceremonies (RO,CY,GR) aiming at motivating postal employees for further participation- Project closure conference, which has central role in the dissemination activities plan and is expected to bring multiplication effects. - e-Workshops Methodology:- Analysis of training needs (literature research, original research (questionnaires, interviews) and group decision making sessions based on Nominal Group Technique). Results were analyzed with the use of formal qualitative and quantitative statistical techniques.- Development of training curricula: The experts adapted the generic training material to specific postal employees’ training needs, they identified potential gaps in the literature and developed new material. The certification method complies with ISO and ECVET standards. - Development of training toolkit. The design of: (a) training scenarios based on KEK ELTA’s Competencies Workbooks methodologies, (b) webinars for knowledge “refresh” and guidance exploiting e-learning authoring and multimedia tools through a prototyping approach and (c) experiential learning scenarios for experimental or control groups - 3D learning environment. Simulation of a post office workplace, multiple participants as avatars, predefined role playing educational scenarios. Dissemination strategy aims at communicating the project results to the widest possible reach through various channels. The project had high impact initially at national level and in particular in the participating countries. More than 500 Post Office employees in 3 different EU Countries participated in the first launch of the program (GR/CY/RO).The outcomes was also diffused to other EU countries and the impact is expected to be realized in several other external stakeholders and training professionals capitalizing on:- the architecture, the methodology and the applications developed- the potential of self-assessment of desirable competencies - the utilisation of the properties of the 3D serious games.