Abstract
Employers are central actors in shaping employment opportunities for older workers and facilitating longer working lives. In this chapter, we study the ways in which employers have adapted their attitudes and organizational policies and practices to deal with an aging workforce. We do so by comparing data from two large surveys on the topic of workforce aging among employers in the Netherlands, conducted in 2009 and 2017. The Netherlands forms an interesting case study as it is in the midst of transitioning from a society with high rates of early retirement to one with comparatively high employment participation rates of older workers and an increasing statutory retirement age. The results show that employers have strong concerns regarding the costs of employing an aging workforce and about potential negative effects of aging on organizational productivity. At the same time, however, employers have become much more active in offering human resource practices aimed at accommodating and training older workers, and employers are overall more supportive of work at higher ages. Overall, we identify a growing sense of urgency among employers to invest in longer working lives and to ensure the long-term workability of older workers. However, there remains a strong desire for policy changes that offer a lower statutory retirement age for workers in physically demanding jobs or a more attainable form of part-time retirement to ease the transition to longer working lives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Baruch, Y., & Holtom, B. C. (2008). Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research. Human Relations, 61(8), 1139–1160. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726708094863
Beehr, T. A., & Bennett, M. M. (2015). Working after retirement: Features of bridge employment and research directions. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1(1), 112–128. https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/wau007
Bowlus, A. J., & Robin, J.-M. (2012). An international comparison of lifetime inequality: How continental Europe resembles North America. Journal of the European Economic Association, 10(6), 1236–1262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-4774.2012.01088
Conen, W. S. (2013). Older workers: The view of Dutch employers in a European perspective. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Conen, W. S., Henkens, K., & Schippers, J. J. (2011). Are employers changing their behavior toward older workers? An analysis of employers’ surveys 2000-2009. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 23(2), 141–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2011.551612
Conen, W. S., Van Dalen, H. P., & Henkens, K. (2012). Ageing and employers’ perceptions of labour costs and productivity: A survey among European employers. International Journal of Manpower, 33(6), 629–647. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437721211261796
Euwals, R., Van Vuren, A., & Van Vuuren, D. (2012). The decline of substitute pathways into retirement: Empirical evidence from the Dutch health care sector. International Social Security Review, 65(3), 101–122. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-246x.2012.01438.x
Euwals, R., Van Vuuren, D., & Wolthoff, R. (2010). Early retirement behaviour in the Netherlands: Evidence from a policy reform. De Economist, 158(3), 209–236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-010-9139-0
Henkens, K., Van Dalen, H. P., Ekerdt, D. J., Hershey, D. A., Hyde, M., Radl, J., et al. (2017). What we need to know about retirement: Pressing issues for the coming decade. The Gerontologist, 58(5), 805–812. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx095
Hofäcker, D., & Unt, M. (2013). Exploring the “new worlds” of (late?) retirement in Europe. Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy, 29(2), 163–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/21699763.2013.836979
Josten, E., & Schalk, R. (2010). The effects of demotion on older and younger employees. Personnel Review, 39(2), 195–209. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483481011017417
Kapteyn, A., & De Vos, K. (1998). Social security and labor-force participation in the Netherlands. American Economic Review, 88(2), 164–167. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/116912
Karpinska, K., Henkens, K., & Schippers, J. (2013). Retention of older workers: Impact of managers’ age norms and stereotypes. European Sociological Review, 29(6), 1323–1335. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jct017
Lazear, E. P. (1979). Why is there mandatory retirement? Journal of Political Economy, 87(6), 1261–1284. https://doi.org/10.1086/260835
Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2008). The relationship of age to ten dimensions of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 392–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.2.392
OECD. (2014). Ageing and employment policies: Netherlands: Working better with age. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264208155-en
OECD. (2017). Pensions at a glance 2017: OECD and G20 indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/pension_glance-2017-en
Oude Mulders, J. (2016). Organizations, managers, and the employment of older workers after retirement [Doctoral dissertation]. Retrieved from Utrecht University Repository (USE 032) https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/337479
Oude Mulders, J., Henkens, K., Liu, Y., Schippers, J., & Wang, M. (2018). Managers’ interview invitation decisions about older job applicants: Human capital, economic conditions and job demands. Ageing & Society, 38(4), 839–864. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x16001343
Oude Mulders, J., Henkens, K., & Schippers, J. (2017). European top managers’ age-related workplace norms and their organizations’ recruitment and retention practices regarding older workers. The Gerontologist, 57(5), 857–866. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw076
Oude Mulders, J., Van Dalen, H. P., Henkens, K., & Schippers, J. (2014). How likely are employers to rehire older workers after mandatory retirement? A vignette study among managers. De Economist, 162(4), 415–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-014-9234-8
Posthuma, R. A., & Campion, M. A. (2009). Age stereotypes in the workplace: Common stereotypes, moderators, and future research directions. Journal of Management, 35(1), 158–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308318617
Radl, J. (2012). Too old to work, or too young to retire? The pervasiveness of age norms in Western Europe. Work, Employment & Society, 26(5), 755–771. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017012451644
Rau, B. L., & Adams, G. A. (2013). Aging, retirement, and human resources management: A strategic approach. In M. Wang (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of retirement (pp. 117–135). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Settersten, R. A., & Hagestad, G. O. (1996). What’s the latest? II. Cultural age deadlines for educational and work transitions. The Gerontologist, 36(5), 602–613. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/36.5.602
Statistics Netherlands (2016). Van arbeid naar pensioen; personen 55 jaar of ouder. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://statline.cbs.nl/
Van Dalen, H. P., & Henkens, K. (2016). Why demotion of older workers is a no-go area for managers. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(15), 2303–2329. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1239214
Van Dalen, H. P., Henkens, K., & Schippers, J. (2010). Productivity of older workers: Perceptions of employers and employees. Population and Development Review, 36(2), 309–330. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2010.00331.x
Van Dalen, H. P., Henkens, K., & Wang, M. (2015). Recharging or retiring older workers? Uncovering the age-based strategies of European employers. The Gerontologist, 55(5), 814–824. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnu048
Van Duin, C., & Stoeldraijer, L. (2014). Bevolkingsprognose 2014–2060: Groei door migratie. Den Haag/Heerlen: CBS.
Van Solinge, H., & Henkens, K. (2017). Older workers’ emotional reactions to rising retirement age: The case of the Netherlands. Work, Aging and Retirement, 3(3), 273–283. https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/wax010
Verheyen, T., & Guerry, M.-A. (2018). Motives for (non) practicing demotion. Personnel Review, 40(2), 244–263. https://doi.org/10.1108/er-01-2017-0024
Visser, M., Gesthuizen, M., Kraaykamp, G., & Wolbers, M. H. J. (2016). Trends in labour force participation of older men: Examining the influence of policy reforms, normative change and deindustrialization in the Netherlands, 1992-2009. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 37(3), 425–447. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831x14546239
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oude Mulders, J., Henkens, K., van Dalen, H.P. (2020). How Do Employers Respond to an Aging Workforce? Evidence from Surveys Among Employers, 2009–2017. In: Czaja, S., Sharit, J., James, J. (eds) Current and Emerging Trends in Aging and Work. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24135-3_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24135-3_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24134-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24135-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)