TY - JOUR
T1 - Employees’ longer working lives in europe
T2 - Drivers and barriers in companies
AU - Principi, Andrea
AU - Bauknecht, Jürgen
AU - Di Rosa, Mirko
AU - Socci, Marco
N1 - Funding Information:
Data are drawn from the research European project ‘Activating Senior Potential in Aging Europe’ (ASPA), which was funded within the EU 7th Framework Research Program under the Socio‐Economic Sciences and Humanities theme (2008–2011). Data collection took place in 2009. This study includes 4624 companies with at least ten employees in six European countries: Denmark (587), Germany (666), Italy (770), the Netherlands (1046), Poland (1030), and Sweden (525). In each country, the sample was stratified by size and sector. Sector classification is based on the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Union (Nomenclature statistique des Activités économiques dans la Communauté Européenne (NACE)) [40], and the sectors were categorized according to industry (NACE B–F), (private) services (NACE G–N), and public sector (NACE O–Q). Large companies were overrepresented in the sample to include a sufficient number. Agricultural companies were excluded, since they are mainly composed of self‐employed people. The interviews were carried out with an identical questionnaire across countries. The interview techniques differed between countries, depending on country‐based methodological considerations [26]: computer‐ assisted telephone interviewing—CATI (Italy and Poland); computer‐assisted web interviewing— CAWI (Denmark); and, paper and pencil interviewing—PAPI (Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden). The interview duration was about 40 minutes, on average. The sample of companies in each country was selected from national databases (e.g. the Register of Companies in the Chamber of Commerce). The response rates varied between 11% (Germany) and 53% (Sweden), and they were generally in line with the response rates of surveys carried out among employers [41]. The respondents were specifically selected on the basis of holding high positions in the company and/or managing HR policies and practices within the organization. This information was requested at the beginning of the interview. These respondents (one respondent for each company) were directors/CEOs/owners (29%); heads of departments (10%), general managers (15%), HR managers (31%), and administrators/other positions (15%).
Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under Grant 320333 (MOPACT); the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007‐2013) under Grant FP7‐216289 (ASPA). This research was partially supported by Ricerca Corrente funding from Italian Ministry of Health to IRCCS INRCA.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Age management
KW - Employers
KW - Extending working life
KW - International study
KW - Older workers
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17051658
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17051658
M3 - Article
C2 - 32143344
AN - SCOPUS:85081114354
VL - 17
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
SN - 1661-7827
IS - 5
M1 - 1658
ER -