Phil White

Ageism and Employment: Controversies, Ambiguities and Younger People's Perceptions

This paper traces the emergence and evolution of the concept of ageism with respect to employment matters in the UK, and challenges some features of the emerging concept as defective and undermining of efforts to eradicate age discrimination in employment. Also revealed is some loosening in recent years of the association of the term ‘ageism’ with older employees. This latter observation informed the focus of our empirical work, which examined the views of 460 Business Studies students concerning age and employment. A significant proportion had experienced ageism directly in employment, and a large majority favoured the introduction of legislative protection against age discrimination, with blanket coverage irrespective of age. Though negative stereotypes regarding older workers were by no means uncommon among the sample, little firm evidence emerged of intergenerational tensions or resentment towards older people. The concluding section considers the policy implications of our findings, including the relative merits of weighting policy responses towards older employees. It is argued that initiatives restricted in this way, and further constrained by commercial imperatives and macro-economic objectives, are likely to prove divisive and self-defeating as a means of combating ageism.

Analysis by paralysis: The pension purchase decision process

Purpose – Attempts to understand the consumer behaviour in the context of the pension purchase process, including the decision process and factors affecting the decision.Design/methodology/approach – Focus groups were conducted among manual and clerical grades of employees within a public sector organization who were members of an occupational pension scheme.Findings – Despite the relative importance of pensions and the degree of risk associated with the purchase, the findings clearly indicate that purchasing decisions in this context are neither completely informed nor rational. The process described by focus group participants suggests “analysis by paralysis”, characterized by complexity, confusion and apathy.Research limitations/implications – Small number of focus groups and a focus on manual and clerical grades of employment only. A larger sample and representation of other grades of employment might yield differences in decision making between different segments of the population.Practical implicati...

Ageism, early exit, and British trade unions

Union responses to ageism and the early exit phenomenon are here examined, based on documentation received from some 40 British unions. Our results show that though age discrimination is now accorded some prominence in union agendas, policies towards exit are only partially informed by current conceptions of ageism.

The role of pension schemes in recruitment and motivation

A postal survey of companies registered in Scotland considered various occupational pension issues. A major finding was the strong managerial belief (but absence of hard evidence) that pension schemes had positive recruitment and motivational effects. Ad hoc‐ery ‐ in the sense of expediency ‐ might help to explain this lack of evidence. Nevertheless, schemes could fulfil certain covert objectives, indicative of a more purposive management. The relationships between pension schemes and human resource management (HRM) are shown to be complex. Aggregate pension provisions seems to run counter to the individualistic thrust of HRM. However, early retirements and shifts into money purchase schemes for some employees might reflect a distinction between “core” and “periphery” employees, as well as “hard” and “soft” HRM approaches.

Something for nothing

Against a background of partial, and often contradictory, information, this article explores the attitudes of over 1,000 employees in one firm in the financial services sector towards various issues related to retirement and pensions. The respondents regarded the existence of occupational pension schemes as having a major influence on their job searches. Among the various reasons for being members of the employer’s scheme, the principal ones were associated with the perceived qualities of the scheme itself, the zero charge for employees, and opportunities for planning for the future. Levels of ignorance about certain features of the scheme were discernible, and differentiated patterns of response among groupings of employees suggested that employees bring to pensions matters diverse expectations and awareness. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for employee recruitment, motivation and retention.

“Thatcher’s children”, pensions and retirement ‐ Some survey evidence

Despite major changes in the UK pensions scene, including policy initiatives by successive governments, very little is known about people’s attitudes towards many pensions related issues. Reports the results of a survey of undergraduates, born on the threshold of the Thatcher era, who are themselves about to embark upon influential careers. The findings relate both to knowledge of pension and retirement details, and the students’ own pension and career plans. In the spirit of the 1980s, the students, especially the males, attached some importance to “individual choice” in pension arrangements. The need for a role for the State was acknowledged, whilst occupational pensions were not rated highly in employment choice terms. The overall pattern of responses allows for some tentative evaluation of recent Labour Government proposals and speculation of future developments in the field of provision for retirement.

Introduction Themed Section: What do Older Workers Want?

Across the industrialised nations, the labour market participation of older workers (i.e. those aged 50 and over) continues to attract considerable attention, as the numbers in employment decline and those who are inactive or retired increase (for a 21-country review see OECD, 2006). Against a background of concern over the economic and social implications of low employment rates among the over-50s, much public policy has come to focus on extending the average working life by encouraging people to work for longer and to delay retirement (see, for example, House of Lords, 2003; and on European policy, von Nordeim, 2004).

Industrial relations codes of practice: the 1999 Age Discrimination Code in context

Considers a neglected aspect of UK industrial relations. The effectiveness of earlier codes of practice is assessed according to various criteria: a thorough creative process; a high degree of consensus; and supporting institutions. These criteria are then used to gauge the potential impact of the 1999 Code on Age Diversity. The code’s non‐statutory basis is considered to have drawbacks which outweigh the merits. In consequence, it is contended that the code’s impact is likely to be small.

When is a Promise a Strategic Liability

Employers offer pension plans for two main reasons: paternalism and skills market competitiveness. Recent changes in legislation and business practice have prompted the scrutiny of the underpinnings for such a management tradition. Identifies several relevant factors that derive from: field work undertaken by the authors; the Pensions Act 1995; and recent changes to corporations tax. It is argued that what has emerged is a sharply focused trade‐off, relating to the asset and liability characteristics of employer‐based pension schemes. This questions the sustainability of all types of pension plans, and thereby has a place in strategies affecting financial planning and business development.

Book Review: Pensions: Challenges and Reforms

This, the 9th volume in a series of international studies of social security, comprising some papers given at a conference held in 2002, focuses upon pension reform. The book consists of a brief editorial introduction, and 12 papers in three sections: promoting later exit (two chapters); reform experience (eight chapters); and two chapters dealing with pension reform and the emerging public/private mix. The overarching international theme was that of seeking to square the circle of limitations on public expenditure on pensions, and the provision of decent living standards in retirement, although the chapters also brought out the diversity of routes taken, and range of politico-economic forces exerted. Most of the chapters are focused on individual countries including: Belgium, Colombia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. The four cross-country studies considered: Brazil and other Latin-American countries; a range of OECD countries (two contributions); and Germany, the UK, and the USA. The main methodological device throughout the book was the analysis of large-scale data sets, some of which focused on factors contributing to retirement. Early retirement in Finland was largely attributable to employers’ provision of incentives, and such retirement usually entailed permanent withdrawal from the labour market. In the British case, early retirement was shown to have been heavily influenced by a combination of Incapacity Benefit (IB) and occupational pension schemes, with the suggestion that early retirement could best be reversed by pushing back pension and/or retirement ages. A similar conclusion was proposed for the USA; while the social security budget was in surplus at the time of writing, that would cease to be the case when the baby boomers began to draw upon the system. Especially rich Colombian data, which threw light on how people exercise choice between ‘defined benefit’ (DB) and ‘defined contribution’ (DC) schemes, showed how the provision of choice tended to benefit the higher educated and better informed. The author of this chapter did admit, however, that her data could not gauge the influence of employer coercion on employee ‘choice’. The other ‘national’ papers comprised accounts of the ‘paradigmatic’ shift from DB to DC in Sweden; the continuing limits to the reach of the ‘social’ (minimum) pension in Italy, especially in the South; book reviews