Jolanta Perek-Białas

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

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 employees 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 employers 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 performa...

Volunteering in older age: an organizational perspective

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to shed light on organizational perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of engaging older volunteers, and on how they might best capitalize on the availability of older volunteers in different countries and sectors. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws from 74 case studies of voluntary organizations carried out in eight European countries, conducted mainly between spring 2009 and autumn 2010. On-site interviews adopting common guidelines were carried out with organizational representatives. Findings - From the organizational perspectives, some disadvantages of engaging older volunteers are: difficulties matching older volunteers to tasks; problems relating to health and declining capacities; the need for special training efforts. Examples of perceived advantages are: considerable knowledge, skills, experience, reliability and strong commitment of older volunteers. In spite of the very different contexts, objectives and notions of “performance”, cost-benefit assessments of older volunteers do not differ greatly from those generally held by employers about older employees. Countries differ considerably in the recognition of older volunteer potential. Practical implications - Organizational policies and initiatives to capitalize on the availability of older volunteers are examined in the paper. Country and sector-related reflections show how different and changing are the environments for volunteering. Policy makers need to recognise these when implementing active ageing policies. Voluntary organizations should raise their awareness of the need for innovation in volunteer management, especially relating to older people. Originality/value - There has been much research about the experiences of older volunteers and how they benefit from the operations of civil society organizations. The perceptions of the organizations have, however, been neglected and these are explored in this paper.

Economic Gerontology: Older People as Consumers and Workers

This chapter discusses older people’s roles in the economy. It considers them in their role as workers who sell their manpower in the labour market, and as consumers who purchase goods and services. In Europe, the situation of older workers is currently strongly debated, and several governments have implemented reforms trying to encourage people to work until a later age. Older Europeans’ consumption patterns differ markedly from the ones of younger individuals, e.g. in that older people spend less money. Finally, this chapter discusses how the economic crisis might affect older Europeans.

Informal and formal reconciliation strategies of older peoples’ working carers: the European carers@work project

Faced with a historically unprecedented process of demographic ageing, many European societies implemented pension reforms in recent years to extend working lives. Although aimed at rebalancing public pension systems, this approach has the unintended side effect that it also extends the number of years in which working carers have to juggle the conflicting demands of employment and caregiving. This not only impinges on working carers’ well-being and ability to continue providing care but also affects European enterprises’ capacity to generate growth which increasingly relies on ageing workforces. The focus of this paper will thus be a cross-national comparison of individual reconciliation strategies and workplace-related company policies aimed at enabling working carers to reconcile both conflicting roles in four different European welfare states: Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

Measures of Ageism in the Labour Market in International Social Studies

With population ageing, ageism towards older workers has been brought to the attention of researchers and policymakers. This chapter provides an overview and evaluation of existing indicators measuring ageism in the labour market in large-scale international surveys. We present results from an international descriptive comparison of 18 self-reported indicators from seven surveys. These indicators measure attitudes, perceptions, values and experiences with regard to older adults’ labour market participation, and are grouped into the following five aspects of ageism in the labour market: recruitment/retention; performance; training; interaction with older colleagues; and structural ageism. A preliminary taxonomy of measures is developed based on the findings, and recommendations for further research are provided.

Towards an Evidence-Based Active Ageing Strategy

The aspiration of an active, healthy and engaged life is now a reality for many people in European countries because they have a life expectancy among the highest in the world. In 2012, the composite measure of the Active Ageing Index (AAI) was developed in the activities of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. It renewed the focus on the potential of active ageing as a policy strategy for the European as well as other countries globally. The AAI is an analytical tool for policymakers to enable them to devise evidence-informed strategies in promoting active and healthy ageing among older people (Active Ageing Index 2012: Concept, methodology and final results. Geneva: European Centre Vienna, 2013). In 2015, the AAI international seminar “Building an evidence base for active ageing policies: Active Ageing Index and its potential” brought together 150 researchers, civil society representatives, policymakers and other stakeholders, who focussed on how to achieve better active ageing outcomes—measured, for instance, by the AAI. It provided a multidisciplinary forum for those interested in the use of the AAI and other similar research to enhance the knowledge about ageing and older people in Europe and in countries across the world. The AAI seminar was structured around five principal topics, which are the same as five parts of this book, containing chapters on the topics: (I) Use of the AAI for policymaking, (II) Subnational adaptations of the AAI, (III) Comparative analysis of active ageing, (IV) Methodological improvements in measuring active ageing and (V) Use of the AAI in non-EU countries around the world.

Regional Approaches to Demographic Change in Poland

The Polish case study reveals the complexity of demographic challenges occurring within the regions, with each region experiencing different issues associated with its own socio-economic situation. The Malopolska and Pomorskie regions are experiencing population growth and ageing, while Łodzkie is experiencing population decline, ageing and low fertility, together with youth and young adult health concerns. These differences in demographic transitions require a territorial approach so that regional and local perspectives on policy preparation, development and implementation are coordinated with national policy efforts and European Funds.