oa Beïnvloeden ontziemaatregelen de houding van werkgevers ten opzichte van ouderen?

Do HR practices targeted at reducing older workers’ work load influence employers’ attitude towards older personnel?

Dutch employers have a relatively large number of HR practices targeted at reducing the work load of older workers (e.g., extra days off with increasing age). The Dutch government wants employers to reduce the number of such practices. The government is concerned that such policies make older workers too expensive for employers, and that employers may therefore be less inclined to hire older workers or may be less willing to extend their older personnel’s working lives. Analysis of data from an employers’ survey, the Labour Supply Panel, shows that employers did indeed decrease the average number of HR practices targeted at reducing older workers’ work load between 2005 and 2013. Employers who had reduced the number of such practices became more positive about older workers’ wage costs. Their opinion on older workers’ performance and their opinion on the desirability of extending older workers’ working lives did not change, however. The share of employers who hired at least one older worker and the share of older workers who took early retirement were not influenced by a decrease in such HR-practices either.