Gedrag & Organisatie - Volume 24, Issue 4, 2011

Continuing work or retiring? An introduction to theory and practice of retirement in the Netherlands

The topic of this special issue on retiring or continuing work among older employees is introduced. In addition to an overview of relevant Dutch retirement legislation and statistics on retirement in the Netherlands, we pay attention to the operationalisation of retirement and highlight important psychological perspectives and theories on the topic of retirement. Furthermore, we summarize the theoretical and empirical findings of earlier research on retirement. Finally, we discuss the seven contributions of this special issue and formulate a research agenda.

Sustainable employability in older workers, work as value

Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, November 2011, nr. 4, pp. 341-355.Because of demographic trends and social and societal developments sustainable employability is an important issue. As the workforce is ageing and workers will be asked to work longer in particular at the end of their careers, and as older workers have increased risks of health problems, much attention is paid to the older worker.This article joins a number of recent definitions of sustainable employability where the value aspect of work is emphasized: work must add value for the organization as well as for the employee to be sustainable.In recent history work and the valuation of work changed considerably. In this article recent developments in work and work models will be addressed briefly and work as a valuable domain of life will be discussed in relation to sustainable employability and the capability approach of Amartya Sen.

Sustainable employability and lifelong learning

Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, November 2011, nr. 4., pp. 356-373.The objective of this study is to explore in what way age is related to employability, workability and vitality of workers, and whether these relationships are influenced by the lifelong learning as perceived by workers. We analyze data from a survey among 178 employees from Dutch primary schools. Results reveal that age and employees’ employability are positively related, but not age and workability or vitality. Lifelong learning is positively related to all three aspects of sustainable employment: employability, workability, and vitality. Finally, the interaction between age and lifelong learning showed significant effects for employability and workability. This means that older workers keep their employability and work ability, when they are interested in and perceive more possibilities for lifelong learning.

A study on the relationship between employability and the retirement intentions of older workers

Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, November 2011, nr. 4, pp. 374-391.Very recently, it has been decided that the retirement age in the Netherlands will increase to 66 in 2020. Therefore, it is more and more important to understand what motivates older employees to work until their pension age (as opposed to quitting the workforce prematurely). In this study, among 151 Dutch employees of 45 years and older, the central aim was to examine the relationships between workers’ employability perceptions and their intention to work until their retirement age. Additionally, we have investigated to what extent ‘the learning value of the job’, ‘participation in training and education’, and ‘career management’ relate to workers’ employability perceptions. Results of Structural Equation Modelling showed that employability is a significant predictor of the intention to work until retirement age. Moreover, our results indicated that ‘learning value of the job’ and ‘participation in training and education in adjacent area’s’ are important antecedents of one’s employability. The main conclusion of this study is that the higher older employees’ perceptions regarding their own employability, the stronger their intention to work until the official pension age will be. Moreover, a solid learning value of the job as well as possibilities for training in adjacent areas will contribute positively to the employability perceptions of older employees.

Continuing working until the pension age? Relations between work characteristics and the estimated work ability

Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, November 2011, nr. 4, pp. 392-410.The Dutch and Belgian government attempts to let employees work longer with financial measures in order to solve the threatening shortness of labor forces. Until today this approach seems to be less successful. For this reason this study investigated, within the frame of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, whether the job characteristics workload, emotional and physical demands, cognitive demands, learning opportunities, autonomy and relation with the supervisor are related to someone’s expectation to be able to continue his job until the pension age. This study found several new practical and theoretical insights. It turned out that there were significant relations for workload, emotional and physical demands, learning opportunities and autonomy with someone’s expectation to be able to continue his job until the pension age. Psychological exhaustion as well as work pleasure had a mediating role in these relations. Using multiple mediation model analysis the research model was tested on the data of 2107 employees of 50 year or older of the Flemish Workability Monitor 2007.

Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age

The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS) were used for this study. The results of this longitudinal study showed that satisfaction with terms of employment that concern flexibility (e.g. flexible working hours and the possibilities for part-time work) contribute to a higher preferred retirement age. It also contributes to not specifying the preferred retirement age. This means that employees who are satisfied with the flexibility in their jobs more often do not know at what age they prefer to retire than employees who are not satisfied, but if they do know they report a higher preferred retirement age. By arranging flexibility in the job together with and to the satisfaction of employees, employees can be stimulated to postpone retirement.

The retirement decision making process: the role of work and organizational context

Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, November 2011, nr. 4, pp. 428-450.This article links organizational forces to individual decision making on retirement. We examine to what extent work characteristics and organizational context (organizational policies and workplace norms toward retirement) affect the (planned) retirement age of workers aged 50 and over. We use data from the NIDI Work and Retirement Panel. This is a longitudinal study among older workers of three private sector organizations and among civil servants in the Netherlands. We use information for those employees that participated in 2001 as well in 2007 (N = 1,611). The results indicate that job characteristics are associated with retirement decision making: older individuals with attractive jobs (in terms of challenge and growth) have a higher (planned) retirement age, the opposite holds for older workers with demanding jobs. Social forces in the work place are relevant as well. The results indicate that older workers in organizations with an ‘early exit culture’, where almost all co-workers take early retirement, show a low propensity to continue working. Perceived supervisor support for extending working life has the opposite effect. Workers that feel that their supervisor has a positive attitude towards working longer, have a higher (planned) retirement age.

The role of work-related factors on early retirement in 11 European countries

Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 24, November 2011, nr. 4, pp. 451-463.With the ageing population there is a need to increase work participation. The longitudinal ‘Survey on Health and Ageing in Europe’ (SHARE-study) makes it possible to identify possible predictors of early retirement. The hypothesis is that poor working conditions might predict early retirement. The SHARE-study contains data from 4,673 workers aged 50-60 year with paid employment at baseline and information on work status during the four-year follow-up. During the follow-up period 14% of the workers exited the workforce due to early retirement. A low educational level, excessive alcohol consumption, a reduced self-perceived health, and a lack of job control were the most important predictors of early retirement. Preventive interventions aimed to prevent health problems might contribute to the prevention of early exit from work.

Referentie: Henderickx, E., Janvier, R., Van Beirendonck, L. & Lorré, J. (2010). Handboek HRM: competentiemanagement en arbeidsrecht. ISBN 978-90-334-5807-1. Leuven: Acco. 604 p. € 49,50.