The Proactive Shift in Managing an Older Workforce 2009–2017: A Latent Class Analysis of Organizational Policies
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Longitudinal perspectives on how organizations react to workforce aging are missing in the literature. In this study, we fill this gap and ask how organizations deal with older workers, how their approaches change over time, and in which sectors of the economy and types of organizations the changes were most profound. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data come from two large-scale employer surveys: 2009 (n = 1,077) and 2017 (n = 1,358), representative for the Netherlands. We use a three-step group-comparison latent class analysis combined with a multinomial logistic model. RESULTS: We found four clusters of organizations based on their practices regarding older workers-those trying to activate and develop their employees (active), focusing solely on exit measures (exit), implementing a combination of development, accommodating and exit measures (all), and practicing no age management (none). We find a major shift in employers' approaches to aging workforces between 2009 and 2017, with strong decreases in those that offered no age management (47%-30%) and those focusing on exit measures (21%-6%), and an increase in active organizations (19%-52%). Active age management is no longer concentrated in large and developing organizations, but has become a standard human resources tool economy-wide. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Overall, there is a long-term trend away from exit measures toward the application of proactive age management measures. More involvement of employers in retaining older adults in the workplace may signal a growing awareness of the changing demographic reality.
Source: The Gerontologist
Authors: Konrad Turek, Jaap Oude Mulders, Kène Henkens
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,408
Awards: G1616687, G2025007194, G2596785601, G3345895242, G3384832218, G3515840600, Longitudinal employer–employee perspectives on the role of human capital investments for retirement transitions, G434337789, G4937468798, G504025110, G6329715174, Ageing workers in an ageing society: Labour force transitions and work in late life, G8512683158
OpenAlex ID: W3023288758