Changes of profession, employer and work tasks in later working life: an empirical overview of staying and leaving

It Is Better for Younger Workers: The Gain Cycle between Job Crafting and Work Engagement

Job Crafting has been proposed as a new perspective, consisting in a bottom-up strategy to achieve person-job fit by emphasizing employees' active participation and spontaneous change in job design, which is specifically adequate for older workers. Despite this fact, the cyclical influence between Work Engagement and Job Crafting over time has been less researched. We postulated that a gain cycle could be observed in the relationships between Job Crafting and its outcomes. Hence, we tested a longitudinal moderated mediation model in which Work Engagement increases over time through an increment in Job Crafting behaviors (Hypothesis 1), while this process is moderated by workers' age (Hypothesis 2). The present study follows a three-wave design where participants (N = 126) responded to online surveys at three measurement waves, three months apart. At Time 1 and Time 3, we assessed Work Engagement, Job Crafting behavior, and demographic variables, while at Time 2 we only assessed Job Crafting. Our findings partially differ from what was expected. The findings supported that the relationship between Work Engagement at Time 1 and changes in Job Crafting behavior across time was negative and non-significant, failing to provide support for Hypothesis 1. Related to Hypothesis 2, our results are mixed. Although the interaction between changes in Job Crafting and workers' age did not demonstrate a statistical influence on Work Engagement at Time 3, our findings suggested that the direct influence was complemented by a negative indirect effect through the longitudinal increase of Job Crafting, which mainly affects aged workers. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

A conceptual framework addressing the complex labour market dynamics of the work-to-retirement process

The way in which retirement is conceptualized and measured is likely to influence the research findings. The previous literature has addressed a wide range of elements related to the complex work-to-retirement process, such as early, late and partial retirement, statutory retirement, work disability and unemployment paths to retirement, or different types of bridge employment. However, conceptual clarity in terms of connections between the different elements is called for. We introduce a conceptual framework of the work-to-retirement process to guide its future measurement. Together with information on the statutory retirement age, the main elements of the framework are based on employment and pension receipt, acknowledging that these may overlap. The framework is flexible to the user, providing the possibility to add various specifications-e.g. of types of employment, types of pension receipt, unemployment, and being outside the labour force-depending on the study context and aims. The framework highlights the complexity of the work-to-retirement process, bringing forth its multifaceted, multiphased and multidirectional features. Accounting for such complexity in later-life labour market dynamics helps to elaborate what is actually addressed when investigating "retirement". Our conceptual framework can be utilized to enhance well-defined, precise and comparable measurement of the work-to-retirement process in studies.

Job quality trajectories among baby-boomers in Germany and their consequences for the motivation to work – results from the lidA cohort study

In light of a large proportion of older workers leaving the German labour market in the near future, policy makers aim to extend working lives to ensure sustainability of the social security system. In this context, safe and healthy working conditions are considered a precondition for encouraging employment participation. To understand better the role of the work environment in pre-retirement years, we draw upon an established model of five job quality profiles for the German ageing workforce. We explored seven-year profile development and linked selected manual and non-manual job quality trajectories to the motivation to work (MTW) using data from the 2011, 2014 and 2018 assessments of the lidA cohort study (valid N = 2,863). We found that older workers shifted to physically less-demanding profiles. Individual profile stability was prevalent among one-third of the workers. In 2018, there was a higher MTW when job quality remained favourable or improved early, while later improvements were associated with lower MTW. Early deterioration of job quality was associated with lower MTW levels among workers with non-manual trajectories only. The results highlight the dynamic job quality situation of the older German workforce and the importance of adopting a person-centred perspective when investigating working conditions and its effects. They further underline the need to consider quality of work when designing and implementing strategies to extend working lives.