The role of employers opinions about skills and productivity of older workers: example of Poland

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this empirical paper is to investigate the employers’ perception of productivity of older workers in Poland with comparison to the younger ones. The paper examines whether various factors including employee's skills and company policies play a role. The findings were compared with situation in the Netherlands, discussing the differences. Design/methodology/approach – Data come from 2009 representative survey (CATI) of 1,037 Polish companies. Supervisor’ rating method was used for assessment of workers skills and productivity. Primary analysis are linear regression models with employer's assessment of productivity of older and younger workers as dependent variables. Findings – In case of older workers, higher assessment of soft skills is the most influential factor for explaining the assessment of productivity, while hard skills play smaller, yet not minor, role. In case of younger workers the relation is reversed. Age management aiming at improvement of older workers’ job performance correlates with higher rating of their productivity. Research limitations/implications – Cross-sectional researches in the case of age-group comparison may be biased by the cohort effect. Practical implications – The paper brings forth important implications for policy makers and employers who will have to deal with the challenge of an aging and shrinking workforce. They refer to lifelong learning, system of public health, age management. The most important conclusion concerns the negative influence of age-related stereotypes for the labor market situation of older workers. Originality/value – The paper presents data from the first research aimed at employers’ views of older workers in Poland. The paper extends the knowledge about relation of employers’ opinions, their actions and situation of older workers.

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

“…They also assessed on average that the age at which a person is too old to work 20? hours per week is roughly 64, compared to 70 in a study in Denmark or 67 in Germany (Turek and Perek-Białas 2013). In 2014, as many as 75% of Polish employers had precise age preferences for work candidates, and only 38% of them said they would have accepted a 50-year old and 11% a 60-year old for the work they were offering (Turek 2015).…”

Factors Influencing Age Management in Organisations in the Czech Republic

“…According to Turek and Perek-Bialas (2013), there is still a negative influence of age-related stereotypes on the labour market situation of older employees, which is also confirmed by Isopahkala-Bouret (2015). Although employees in the age category of over 50 are referred to as more stable and more loyal to the organisation, they support the interests of the organisation and their goals are not usually associated with their own ambitions or career.…”

Older workers: stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy

“…A possible explanation could be related to the specific work environment (bank sector) in which our data were collected. Indeed, older workers are generally more positively assessed in the services sector in contrast to industries (Turek and Perek-Bialas, 2013). The bank clerks deal with work tasks that need mainly soft skills (e.g., social abilities, loyalty to organization) and cognitive abilities (e.g., crystallized intelligence, experience, practical and tacit knowledge, expertise) that improve throughout life (Turek and Perek-Bialas, 2013;Van Dalen et al, 2010).…”