Employers' attitudes, practices and policies towards older workers

Loretto, Wendy; White, Phil

doi:10.1111/j.1748-8583.2006.00013.x

Cited by 253 publications

(293 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…In 2011, following a series of legal challenges, the default retirement age of 65 was abolished, effectively outlawing mandatory retirement unless the employer can provide a legally justifiable reason (see below). Moreover, even before the legislative changes, throughout the 2000s the 'business case' for employing older people was achieving more coverage, linked to debates about the benefits of organisational diversity (Lain, 2012;Loretto and White, 2006). There is reason to believe that recent increases in the employment of over-65s likely to become a long term trend.…”

Section: The Changing Landscape For Over-65s In the Uk Labour Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing employees beyond age 65: from the margins to the mainstream?

Lain

Loretto

2016

Employee Relations

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Purpose: Against a backdrop of legislative and policy changes, this article assesses the extent to which the over-65 age-group is moving from the margins to the mainstream of UK employment. It aims to fill a gap in HR research and practice which, it is argued, has paid relatively little attention to the over-65s. Design:The analysis draws on three waves of the Labour Force Survey (2001, 2008 and 2014), to explore the extent to which organisational, occupational and sectoral marginalisation of the over65s has changed in the 21st Century. Overrepresentations of lower-level 'Lopaq' occupations reduced, and over-65s became more integrated across occupations and sectors. Research implications:More research is needed to understand the factors driving the steady move from the margins to the mainstream (for example, LFS does not measure pensions), and future research on the older workforce should automatically include workers in this age-group. Practical implications:The discussion considers the implications for managerial practice, in a context of increasingly age-diverse workforces.Originality/Value: This article addresses a gap in research into later-life working and also demonstrates the ways in which the nature of employment among the over-65s is changing, thereby challenging some of the assumptions about those who work into later life and how they are -or should be-managed.

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Section: The Changing Landscape For Over-65s In the Uk Labour Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing employees beyond age 65: from the margins to the mainstream?

Lain

Loretto

2016

Employee Relations

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“…Analysis of surveys conducted in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the UK in 2009 suggests that employers retain rather than hire older workers (Conen et al 2012). Loretto and White's (2006) interviews with Scottish employers found that despite having some positive attitudes towards older workers in terms of their reliability and work effort, their preferred recruits were younger. Qualitative research with 56 older people in the North of England has also identified higher levels of perceived age discrimination by employers, and devaluing of experience (Porcellato et al 2010;Carmichael et al 2011).…”

Section: Constraints and Limitations Of Policies To Extend Working Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving fuller working lives: labour market and policy issues in the United Kingdom

Phillipson¹,

Vickerstaff²,

Lain³

2016

Aust J Social Issues

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In the United Kingdom there has been a shift away from policies promoting early retirement towards an emphasis on extended, fuller working lives. This article examines the nature of policy change in this area and prospects for individuals remaining in work longer. Pension ages for men and women are rising rapidly and by 2028 are likely to reach 67 years. Cash benefits for those out of work before state pension age are becoming harder to access and incentives for working beyond 65 are being enhanced. In this context, restrictions have been placed on the use of mandatory retirement ages by employers. Employees have also been granted the right to request flexible employment. However, a lack of coordinated policy up until now means that important challenges exist with regard to extending working lives. Ill-health and low levels of qualifications limit the employment prospects of many older people, particularly among those in the poorest segments. Likewise, retention rates of older workers may have improved, but prospects for recruitment in older age remain poor. Policies focusing on the individual have also not yet recognised the extent to which employment in older age is influenced by the household and wider family context.

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“…In the meta-analysis of opinions about older workers, age negatively correlated with the assessment of many skills, productive potential and productivity (Bal et al 2011). Negative age stereotypes can significantly influence employers' decisions that are unfavourable for older workers and set a barrier for increasing employability and retention in older groups (Perry and Finkelstein 1999;Bytheway 2005;Loretto and White 2006;OECD 2006). Positive opinions about older workers, meanwhile, do not often translate into supportive practices (Taylor and Walker 1998).…”

Section: Soft Discrimination As Work-related Basis For Hard Discriminmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hard and soft age discrimination: the dual nature of workplace discrimination

2017

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The paper concentrates on the problem of age discrimination in the labour market and the way it can be conceptualised and measured in a multi-disciplinary way. The approach proposed here combines two understandings of age discrimination-a sociological and legal one, what allows for a fuller and expanded understanding of ageism in the workplace. At the heart of the study is a survey carried out in Poland with a sample of 1000 men and women aged 45-65 years. The study takes a deeper and innovative look into the issue of age discrimination in employment. Confirmatory factor analysis with WLSMV estimation and logistic regressions were used to test the hypotheses. The study shows that age discrimination in labour market can take on different forms: hard and soft, where the hard type of age discrimination mirrors the legally prohibited types of behaviours and those which relate to the actual decisions of employers which can impact on the employee's career development. The soft discrimination corresponds with those occurrences, which are not inscribed in the legal system per se, are occurring predominantly in the interpersonal sphere, but can nevertheless have negative consequences. Soft discrimination was experienced more often (28.6% of respondents) than hard discrimination (15.7%) with higher occurrences among women, persons in precarious job situation or residents of urban areas. The role of education was not confirmed to influence the levels of perceived age discrimination.

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Employers' attitudes, practices and policies towards older workers

Cited by 253 publications

References 16 publications

Managing employees beyond age 65: from the margins to the mainstream?

Managing employees beyond age 65: from the margins to the mainstream?

Achieving fuller working lives: labour market and policy issues in the United Kingdom

Hard and soft age discrimination: the dual nature of workplace discrimination

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