scholarly journals Employees’ Longer Working Lives in Europe: Drivers and Barriers in Companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1658
Author(s):  
Andrea Principi ◽  
Jürgen Bauknecht ◽  
Mirko Di Rosa ◽  
Marco Socci
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
European Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Market Factors ◽  
Legal Retirement Age

This paper identifies, within companies’ sectors of activity, predictors of Human Resource (HR) policies to extend working life (EWL) in light of increasing policy efforts at the European level to extend working life. Three types of EWL practices are investigated: the prevention of early retirement (i.e., encouraging employees to continue working until the legal retirement age); delay of retirement (i.e., encouraging employees to continue working beyond the legal retirement age); and, recruitment of employees who are already retired (i.e., unretirement). A sample of 4624 European organizations that was stratified by size and sector is analyzed in six countries. The main drivers for companies’ EWL practices are the implementation of measures for older workers to improve their performance, their working conditions, and to reduce costs. In industry, the qualities and skills of older workers could be more valued than in other sectors, while the adoption of EWL practices might be less affected by external economic and labor market factors in the public sector. Dutch and Italian employers may be less prone than others to extend working lives. These results underline the importance of raising employers’ awareness and increase their actions to extend employees’ working lives by adopting age management initiatives, especially in SMEs, and in the services and public sectors.

scholarly journals Older workers’ evaluations of the political goal to extend working life: Discursive approach to the “attitude problem”

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 236-254
Author(s):  
Miira Niska ◽  
Pirjo Nikander
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Individual Preferences ◽  
Working Lives

Population ageing presents major challenges to the welfare system across the European Union. Consequently, emphasizing delayed retirement age and extended working lives abound in political discussions. Researchers have recognized numerous problems, which make the extended working life a challenging political task. One of these problems are citizens’ negative attitudes toward delayed retirement and extended working life. In this paper, we approach this “attitude problem” from the perspective of discursive social psychology and analyze the variation in the way aspirations to extend working lives are evaluated by older workers. The data analyzed in the study consists of interviews where participants between 50 and 65 years of age comment on the political goal to extend working lives. The article sheds light on the “attitude problem” by turning the attention from underlying individual preferences to discursive resources used to undermine the political goal and the situational functions these evaluative practices have.

Extending Employment beyond Retirement Age: The Case of Health Care Managers in Quebec

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Saba ◽  
Gilles Guerin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Health Care Managers ◽  
Bridge Employment ◽  
Unmet Expectations ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
New Phase

Baby boomers in public agencies are getting ready to retire and there are concerns about retaining the existing workforce apart from recruiting younger managers. Recent studies of workplace patterns of older workers have shown that the workforce of older workers should no longer be seen as a unidirectional journey to retirement. Older workers may value bridge employment or even prefer to extend their working lives. The motives for deciding to leave the workplace permanently can be related to unmet expectations, the desire for change, and the need to enjoy a new phase of life. Based on a survey conducted on 402 older managers working in health care institutions in Quebec, this study sheds light on the new alternatives to traditional early retirement that organizations will have to take into account while considering the preferences and intentions of employees who are approaching retirement.

Factors Associated with Employment Status in Later Working Life

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Jackson ◽  
Philip E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Factors Associated

This article reports on factors affecting the withdrawal of older workers from the labour market associated with unemployment, premature retirement and retirement at 65 years of age. Longitudinal data from three interviews with 175 adult males are examined; and findings show a process of psychological withdrawal from the labour market reflecting changes in personal identity which occur prior to reaching the formal retirement age, most strongly for those without heavy financial commitments. For most of those interviewed, retirement was a preferred option to unemployment, and allowed them to regain control over their lives. Older workers whose financial needs keep them in the employment market are doubly disadvantaged since they cannot select the route of early retirement and find it much harder to compete with younger people.

Theoretical and conceptual issues in the extending working lives agenda

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clary Krekula ◽  
Sarah Vickerstaff
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
The One ◽  
New Research ◽  
Individual Choices

The policy debate on older people's extended participation in working life is not based on a social movement, such as the one putting forward demands on job opportunities for women, and has, by means of categorical stereotypes, mostly characterised older people as the problem. This narrative of individual choices and decisions presents older workers as de-gendered, de-classed individuals, shorn of their individual biographies and social contexts. It also treats the issue of extending working life as a phenomenon disconnected from surrounding society and trends. This line of reasoning points to the need for more sophisticated theoretical foundations. This chapter therefore provides a more encompassing framework for the discussion of extending working lives and outlines a new research agenda, including a power perspective with potential to shed light on age-based inequality, an intersectional perspective and a masculinity perspective which challenges the homogenous descriptions of older workers, a feminist understanding of work and a life course perspective which provides a framework which links the previous three.

scholarly journals Swedish Collective Agreements and Employers’ Willingness to Hire and Retain Older Workers in Employment

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carin Ulander-Wänman
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Eu

Demographic change is transforming the EU population structure for the coming decades. One challenge that society faces is to preserve social welfare when elderly persons comprise a larger proportion of the total population. Allowing people to work beyond the current retirement age may help slow the growth of the maintenance burden for welfare costs, and creating situations where larger numbers of older employees can work longer and complete more working hours can improve conditions for preserving and developing welfare. However, a prolonged working life presupposes several conditions; one of these is that legal regulation of the labor market must support employers’ willingness to hire and retain older workers in employment. This article explores employers’ attitudes toward regulations in Swedish collective agreements—regulations which are of particular importance if employers are to increase hiring and retention of older workers in employment.

Some Useful Sources

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-694
Author(s):  
Michael McGann ◽  
Dina Bowman ◽  
Simon Biggs ◽  
Helen Kimberley
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Population Ageing ◽  
Age Discrimination ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Early Exit ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Working Lives

Issues related to population ageing and longer working lives span diverse research areas and are linked to a number of conceptual and policy debates. Here we provide details of texts which allow quick access to key debates in the different domains covered by the contributions. We focus first on social policy, retirement and pensions. We then provide key sources on the changing experiences and perceptions of retirement; age-discrimination, human resource management and older workers; and early exit, mature-age unemployment and activating older workers.

“Fuller” or “extended” working lives: a critical commentary

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Older Worker ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to, first, provide some background to the treatment of older workers; second, highlight the distinction between a “fuller” and an “extended” working life; third, note the importance of separating out different groups within the category “older worker”; finally, identify areas for action to suppose those now facing working into their 60s and beyond. Design/methodology/approach – Commentary paper analysing development of policies towards older workers. Findings – This paper identifies problems implementing policy of extending working and provides various areas of action to support older workers. Research limitations/implications – This paper suggests extending work unlikely to be achieved without ensuring greater security for older workers. Practical implications – Importance of developing more support for older workers. Social implications – Challenge of resolving insecurity in the labour force as an impediment to extended working. Originality/value – This paper outlines a critical assessment of current government policy towards older workers.

scholarly journals WORKING LONGER FOR ACADEMICS IN THE U.S. AND IRELAND: A GENDERED LIFECOURSE ANALYSIS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S129-S129
Author(s):  
Aine Ni Leime
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Us

Abstract Many governments including the US and Ireland have been advocating longer working lives for all workers to ensure pension sustainability in the light of population ageing. Policy changes encouraging increased social security/state pensions age reflect this. However, there has been limited investigation of how the gender implications of these policy changes. While longer working lives may be attractive for some workers, there is evidence that women and men have profoundly different work-life trajectories and women may be more financially disadvantaged approaching retirement age. There is a need to explore how this affects their ability and/or desire to continue working past traditional retirement age and their financial security. This presentation is based on analysis of evidence from an EU-funded cross-national research project involving work-life history interviews conducted with forty older workers in academia in the US and Ireland in 2016 and 2017. A lifecourse approach is used to analyse interview data from ten male and ten female academics in Ireland and ten male and ten female academics in the US, aged 50 or over. Participants discussed early influences, work-life history and health concerns. The paper uses a cumulative disadvantage perspective to analyse how gender, family and health trajectories across the life course affect and can limit options around late work and retirement. It concludes that gender differences regarding norms of care-giving are important and that extending working life is more likely to be caused by financial necessity for women. The implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Impact of work injury on early retirement among older Australian workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-21
Author(s):  
Irene Mok
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Work Injury ◽  
Work Centrality ◽  
Rehabilitation Professionals ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Expected Retirement Age ◽  
Need For Rehabilitation

AbstractA total of 274 Australian workers aged 45 years and above completed a Work, Retirement, and Health Survey. Results indicated that older workers with work injury have significantly lower expected retirement age compared to those without work injury. The results also indicated that this pattern is still apparent among intrinsically work motivated older workers with high score on self-reported work centrality. Older workers with work injury appear more vulnerable to premature retirement, which has significant negative social and economic consequences for workers, employers, and rehabilitation professionals. It also appears there is a complex relationship between ageing and work injury and the need for rehabilitation professionals to consider work injury prevention strategies for older workers.

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