Quality of work community and workers' intention to retire

Antecedents of and experiences with voluntary early exit from working life before the expected retirement age in Sweden

BACKGROUND

In most Western countries, senior workers have increased their participation in the workforce. However, at the same time, early retirement also increases. The reasons behind this early exit from the workforce are still unclear.

OBJECTIVE

This qualitative study aims to explore the antecedents of and experiences with a voluntary exit from working life before the expected retirement age of 65 in Sweden.

METHODS

Data consist of semi-structured interviews with 18 participants who exited working life between the ages of 61-63. In Sweden, these ages are considered as an early exit from working life since, for many years, the expected retirement age has been 65. Qualitative content analysis with an abductive approach was utilized.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed four sub-themes: 1) Health benefits with an early exit from working life (with the categories: own health status, the possibility for recovery time, and avoidance of strain); 2) Having economic conditions that enable an early exit from working life (with the categories: offers from the employer and financial compromises); 3) Social benefits with an early exit from working life (with the categories: enabling more time with my social network and avoidance of unsatisfying social work environment); 4) Self-fulfillment activities during the senior years (with the categories: enabling time for activities beyond work and avoidance of decreased job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

This variety of antecedents of and experiences with a voluntary early exit from working life before the expected retirement age highlights that the ongoing increased statutory retirement age also increases the risk for extended inequalities among the aging population.

Disparities in the Quality of Working Life Among Older Workers: Housing Conditions and Life Satisfaction With Latent Class Analysis

Little empirical research informs understanding of the disparate active aging experiences among working older adults, especially in terms of the association with living circumstances and life satisfaction. To address this knowledge gap, this study used latent class analysis on data from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) core interview and focused on 1,194 employed adults aged 50 and above. The results revealed four subtypes of the quality of working life in older workers. Notably, in contrast to the other identified classes, higher levels of housing satisfaction and feelings of neighborhood safety were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of being a member of the group of older adults with the highest work capacities and the healthy work-life balance. Furthermore, participation in the class characterized by the highest work capacity and a healthy work-life balance was related to the highest levels of overall life satisfaction.

Can workplace intervention prolong work life of older workers? A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

We aimed to evaluate the impact of a workplace senior program intervention on early exit from labor market and on the disability retirement among older employees and work-related physical factors associated with it.

METHODS

A total of 259 individuals aged 55 + years participated in the study (107 in intervention and 152 were controls). A questionnaire survey was conducted among Finnish food industry employees between 2003 and 2009 and the intervention "senior program" was provided between 2004 and 2009. The type of pension for the respondents who had retired by 2019 was obtained and dichotomized as statutory vs. early labor market exit. Disability pension was investigated as a separate outcome. Information on work-related factors was obtained from the survey. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with their 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

Fifty-one employees had early labor market exit. Of them, 70% (n = 36) were control participants. Employees in the senior program worked for longer years (mean years 7.4, 95% CI 6.4-8.1) compared to the control (6.6, 95% CI 6.3-7.5). Sixty percent lower risk of early labor market exit (HR 0.40, 95% CI 0.19-0.84) and disability pension was found among employees in the senior program compared to the control group. Good work ability had a 94% lower risk (0.06, 95% CI 0.01-0.29) of early labor market exit and 85% lower risk (0.15, 95% CI 0.03-0.73) of disability pension compared to poor work ability. Employees with musculoskeletal pain had 4 times higher risk of disability pension compared to those without musculoskeletal pain.

CONCLUSIONS

A workplace senior program intervention prolonged work life and had positive effect on reducing disability pension among older industrial workers.

Indicators of Sustainable Employability among Older Finnish Postal Service Employees: A Longitudinal Study of Age and Time Effects

We first clarify the definition of sustainable employability, and then we study how the indicators of sustainable employability among older Finnish postal service employees have changed over time. Finally, we estimate the effect of age on these indicators in a two-year follow up. A questionnaire survey among the Finnish postal service employees was conducted in 2016, and a follow-up was conducted in 2018. We analyze data from 1262 subjects who replied to both the baseline and the follow-up surveys. Sustainable employability is defined as a multidimensional construct using nine indicators and covering three domains (health, well-being and employability) based on Fleuren and colleagues’ model. Measurement time (repeated measure) is used as a within-subjects factor, and age is used as a between-subjects factor. The estimated marginal means of the indicators of sustainable employability at the baseline and the follow-up by age in years are calculated. No significant change is found in eight indicators (work ability, time and resources, recovery after work, job satisfaction, motivation, perceived employment, enough training on the job and relevance of work) of sustainable employability after the two-year follow-up. We find a statistically significant effect of time on self-rated health (F = 6.56, p = 0.011). Six out of nine indicators (self-rated health, work ability, time and resources, recovery after work, job satisfaction, and perceived employment) have a statistically significant effect of age between subjects. Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2p) shows a very small difference in the indicators of sustainable employability during the follow-up, indicating that the employability of the workers was sustained throughout. We used the Fleuren model as the basis for our definition of sustainable employability. Although they are based on single items, these indicators of sustainable employability remain stable after the two-year follow-up. Significant effects of age between subjects are found for six out of nine indicators. The results suggest that age may be an important determinant of sustainable employability.