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Published on: January 24, 2020
Managers' attitudes to their older employees: A cross-sectional study
1Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Sweden.
Work (Reading, Mass.)
|February 15, 2018
Summary
Managers' own retirement plans influence their views on older workers' retirement age. While recognizing older workers' experience, managers also hold stereotypes, impacting retention strategies for extended working lives.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Organizational Psychology
- Human Resource Management
Background:
- Growing societal interest in enabling older workers to prolong working lives due to demographic shifts.
- Managers play a crucial role in extending employee working life through organizational and environmental controls.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine managers' attitudes towards their older workers.
- To understand the factors influencing managers' perceptions of older employees' retirement age.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study design.
- Questionnaire survey administered to 905 managers in Swedish municipal departments.
Main Results:
- Managers' personal retirement planning correlated with their views on older workers' retirement age.
- Positive perceptions included older workers being careful, experienced, and good mentors.
- Negative stereotypes persisted, with managers viewing older workers as slower, change-resistant, less educated, and technophobic.
Conclusions:
- Managerial attitudes towards their own retirement significantly impact their views on older employees' retirement age, crucial for the delayed retirement debate.
- While many managers saw potential in adapting tasks for older workers, few departments had organizational measures for sustainable work situations.
- Retention of older workers was often conditional on possessing specific, needed skills rather than general value.
Keywords:
Age managementage discriminationageingdemographyextended working lifeolder workersretirementMore Related Videos
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