Employers attitudes and actions towards the extension of working lives in eight European countries

Transcription

1 Employers attitudes and actions towards the extension of working lives in eight European countries ESRC Seminar Series: Rethinking retirement Manchester 4 November 2011 Kène Henkens Netherlands Interdisciplinairy Demographic Institute (NIDI) Department sociology, Tilburg University

2 Project ASPA Activating Senior Potential in Ageing Europe 7th framework How to use senior potential, inside and outside labour market? Focus on governments and organisations Focus on years of age Paid and unpaid labour market Information:

3 ASPA methods Activating Senior Potential in Ageing Europe 7th framework We collected data using: Survey s among employers Case studies among employers Case studies in civil society Policy analyses

4 Participating countries

5 ASPA-institutes Universiteit Utrecht UU, Utrecht, The Netherlands Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute KNAW/NIDI, Warwick University, Warwick, United Kingdom Research Centre for Ageing and Society at the University of Vechta, CAS Vechta, Germany Centre for Labour Market Policy Research, Linnaeus University, CAFO Växjö, Sweden Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies (CCWS), Aalborg Universitet AAU, Aalborg, Denmark Department of Gerontological Research of the Italian National Research Centre on Ageing, INRCA Ancona Italy Jagiellonian University JU, Kraków, Poland Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, CEMS / IMM Paris France

6 Working lives

7 Employers Targets to extent the working life are unlikely to be met without the active support and commitment of employers

8 Research question Do employers attitudes and behaviour towards older workers reflect intentions and efforts to extend working lives?

9 Data collection Fieldwork: March November 2009 Employers with more than ten employees Stratified sample on size and sector Overall, more than 6,000 respondents Response between 7 and 53%

10 Results We look at: Expectations on ageing and retirement Recruitment and retention Expected consequences of ageing Dimensions of productivity Support for public policies

11 Sense of urgency Denmark 73 France 78 Germany 83 Italy 10 Netherlands 79 Poland Sweden Do you expect that the following developments will cause labour market problems in your country within the next ten years? A. Ageing of the population - % (Very) likely

12 Expectations on retirement age Denmark France Germany Italy Netherlands Poland Sweden UK Do you expect the average retirement age in your establishment to change over the next ten years? - % Expecting an increase Do you expect the average retirement age in your country to change over the next ten years? - % Expecting an increase

13 Behaviour: recruitment and retention Denmark 16 Denmark 34 France 11 France 40 Germany 22 Germany 26 Italy 2 Italy 11 Netherlands 10 Netherlands 17 Poland 15 Poland 40 Sweden 12 Sweden Measure applied: Recruit older workers Measure applied: Encouraging employees to continue working till the statutory age of retirement

14 Behaviour: recruitment and retention after 65 Denmark 18 Denmark 8 France 8 France 10 Germany 7 Germany 17 Italy 5 Italy 3 Netherlands 8 Netherlands 4 Poland 26 Poland 38 Sweden 15 Sweden Measure applied: Encouraging employees to continue working beyond the statutory age of retirement Measure applied: Recruit employees who already retired

15 Expected consequences of an ageing workforce (Strong) increase Stays the same (Strong) decline If the average age of your personnel increases by five years, what will be the effect on

16 Dimensions of productivity To what extent do you think the following characteristics apply to workers aged % applies or strongly applies

17 Social Norms on retirement At what age would you say a person is too old to be working 20 hours or more per week? At what age would you say a person is generally too young to retire permanently?

18 Governmental policies In your view, how effective are the following policies to increase the labour force participation of older workers? - % (very) effective

19 Conclusions 1. Some sense of urgence 2. However, low recruitment and retention levels 3. Employers report a gap between productivity and labour costs 4. Older workers strong in soft skills. Older workers weak in in hard skills 5. Employers support pubic policies that reduce the costs-productivity gap.

20 References Conen, W., K. Henkens & J. Schippers (2011), Are employers changing their behavior toward older workers?, Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 23(2): Dalen, H. van, W. Hendrikse, K. Henkens & J. Schippers (2010), Do European Employers Support Later Retirement, International Journal of Manpower, 31(3), Dalen, H. van, K. Henkens & J. Schippers (2010) Productivity of Older workers: Perceptions of Employers and Employees, Population and Development Review, 36(2): Dalen, H. van, K. Henkens & J. Schippers (2010), How do employers cope with an ageing workforce? Views from employers and employees. Demographic Research, 22 (32):