Rewarding ageing employees—means used in the public sector

Abstract Finland along with the rest of Europe will face considerable challenges in the next five to ten years due to changing age structures. The large number of ageing and aged employees, the baby-boomers, as well as the remarkably low birth rates that have occurred ever since the beginning of the 1980s, have led to a social phenomenon never experienced before. These changes should be considered when designing and implementing human resource strategies in organisations and institutions. This study considers the rewarding of ageing employees as a function of human resource management, and moreover rewarding is considered as an important function of age management. The purpose of this study…

Examining Bridge Employment From a Self-employment Perspective : Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

Trajectories of mobility limitations over 24 years and their characterization by shift work and leisure-time physical activity in midlife.

Abstract Background We aimed to investigate trajectories of mobility limitations (MLs) over a period of 24 years. In addition, we aimed to study how shift work and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in midlife predict assignment to MLs trajectories separately for those retired on statutory pensions (SPs) and on disability pensions (DPs). Methods Subjects who responded MLs questionnaires (1985–2009, N = 3048) in Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees were included in this prospective cohort study. LTPA and shift work were measured during baseline. International Classification of Functioning was used to code MLs. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify the trajectorie…

Changes in physical performance according to job demands across three cohorts of older workers in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam

This study set out to evaluate the association between job demands at baseline and physical performance over a six-year period across three cohorts of older Dutch workers examined 10 years apart. Data were drawn from three cohorts (1992–1999, 2002–2009 and 2012–2019) of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Individuals aged 55–65 years from each cohort who worked for pay were included (n = 274, n = 416, n = 618, respectively). Physical performance was measured using gait speed and chair stand performance. A population-based job exposure matrix was used to indicate levels of exposure probability of physical (use of force and repetitive movements) and psychosocial (cognitive demands and tim…

Work strain in midlife and 28-year work ability trajectories

We investigated the 28-year development trajectories of work ability among initially middle-aged male and female municipal employees and the association of perceived mental and physical work strain in midlife by work ability trajectory groups.The baseline data of the Finnish longitudinal study of municipal employees (FLAME) were collected in 1981 (N=6257) with follow-ups in 1985, 1992, 1997, and 2009. Work ability was assessed in all the waves as present perceived work ability relative to lifetime best. Altogether, N=2690 had work ability data in 1981 and 2009, and at least for one wave in between these years, and were included in group-based semi-parametric mixture modeling trajectory anal…

The extended late career phase – examining senior nursing professionals

PurposeBy relying on a sustainable career perspective and recent studies on senior employees’ late career phase, this study aims to examine senior (50+) nurses’ late career narratives in the context of extending retirement age. Given the current global nursing shortage, there is a pressing need to find ways on how to promote longer and sustainable careers in the health-care field. Yet, there is limited knowledge about the extended late career phase of senior nurses.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were derived from 22 interviews collected among senior (50+) nursing professionals working in a Finnish university hospital. The qualitative interview data were analysed using a narrative…

Work ability in midlife as a predictor of mortality and disability in later life: a 28-year prospective follow-up study.

Background: Poor work ability correlates with increased morbidity and early retirement from the workforce, but the association in old age is not known. We investigated work ability in midlife among white-collar and blue-collar employees as a predictor of mortality and disability 28 years later. Methods: A total of 5971 occupationally active people aged 44–58 years participated in the Finnish Longitudinal Study of Municipal Employees (FLAME) in 1981. Perceived work ability relative to lifetime best was categorized as excellent, moderate or poor. In 2009, the ability to perform activities of daily living was assessed among 2879 respondents (71.0% of the survivors). Mortality data were availab…

Late Career and Retirement in the Context of Changing Careers

Salminen and von Bonsdorff provide a much-needed overview of recent studies focusing on older employees’ late career and retirement intentions in the context of the changing nature of careers. Owing to the current turbulent working life, individuals’ career and retirement patterns are more diverse and complex than before. By focusing on contemporary career models, Salminen and von Bonsdorff explore the possibilities and constraints that older employees may encounter under the new career realities. Based on the selective literature review, they identify several prerequisites for continuing working until retirement age and beyond, such as possibilities for continuous learning, adaptability, s…

Mid-career work patterns and physical and mental functioning at age 60-64: evidence from the 1946 British birth cohort.

Background: Previous studies of the associations between unemployment and health have primarily focused on mental health and long-term associations have not often been explored. This study investigated if discontinuous employment in mid-career was related to self-reported physical and mental functioning at age 60–64 years. Methods: Data come from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, a British cohort that has been followed-up since birth in 1946. A total of 2061 study members had data available on mid-career employment patterns and physical and mental functioning assessed using the Short Form 36 questionnaire at age 60–64. Employment patterns in mid-career …

Work-related biomechanical exposure and job strain in midlife separately and jointly predict disability after 28 years: a Finnish longitudinal study

Objectives We investigated whether the extent of biomechanical exposures and job strain in midlife separately and jointly predict disability in old age. Methods Participants of the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees (FLAME) in 1981 (aged 44–58 years) responded to disability questionnaires in 2009 (1850 women and 1082 men). Difficulties in performing five activities of daily living (ADL) and seven instrumental ADL (IADL) were used to assess severity of disability (score range: 0–12, 0=no disability). Information on biomechanical exposures and job strain was collected by questionnaire at baseline. Adjusted prevalence proportion ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95…

Early Life Origins of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Disability Pension: Findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

BackgroundThere is some evidence linking sub-optimal prenatal development to an increased risk of disability pension (DP). Our aim was to investigate whether body size at birth was associated with transitioning into all-cause and cause-specific DP during the adult work career.Methods10 682 people born in 1934-44 belonging to the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study had data on birth weight extracted from birth records, and on time, type and reason of retirement between 1971 and 2011 extracted from the Finnish Centre for Pensions.ResultsAltogether 21.3% transitioned into DP during the 40-year follow-up, mainly due to mental disorders, musculoskeletal disorders and cardiovascular disease. Average age …

Job strain in the public sector and hospital in-patient care use in old age : a 28-year prospective follow-up

Background: high job strain increases the risk of health decline, but little is known about the specific consequences and long-term effects of job strain on old age health. Objectives: purpose was to investigate whether physical and mental job strain in midlife was associated with hospital care use in old age. Methods: study population included 5,625 Finnish public sector employees aged 44–58 years who worked in blue- and white-collar professions in 1981. The number of in-patient hospital care days was collected from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register for the 28-year follow-up period. Results: rates of hospital care days per 1,000 person-years for men were 7.78 (95% confidence interval…

The choice between retirement and bridge employment: a continuity theory and life course perspective.

The rapid aging of the workforce in most developed countries, and the strengthening presence of bridge employment among older employees, has brought about a need for a deeper theoretical and practical understanding of this employment phenomenon. This study examined the concept of bridge employment from a continuity theory and life course perspective. Several personal and job-related antecedents of 539 middle-aged and older U.S. Federal Government employees' intentions of full retirement or engagement in bridge employment were investigated. A multinomial logistic regression analysis provided support for most of the hypotheses on the antecedents of full retirement and overall bridge employme…

Type of retirement as a determinant of pre- and post-retirement hospital in-patient care use: a prospective study

Background We examined prospectively the use of all-cause hospital in-patient care among public sector employees by using a 3-year pre- and post-retirement study window. Methods A total of 5269 participants of the Finnish Longitudinal Study of Municipal Employees had retired during January 1984 and July 2000. They had register-based data on retirement (non-disability retirement n = 3411, men 40%, and diagnose-specific disability retirement n = 1858, men 50%) and all-cause hospital in-patient admissions and discharges. Analyses were conducted using Generalized Estimating Equation model. Results The prevalence of hospital care use for non-disability retirees remained stable during the 6-year …

“Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur” : positioning analysis of written narratives

PurposeThe negative stereotypes concerning late-career workers are found to prevail and lead to negative circulation of narratives and actions between individuals and societies. Using the context of late-career entrepreneurs, the paper aims to find an alternative and a more positive narrative concerning late-career work by focusing on entrepreneurs and the narrative positioning related to them.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a narrative-positioning analysis, cycling through three levels of analysis and then returning to level two, in order to study our sample of seven narratives written by Finnish late-career entrepreneurs. The authors present in detail one story-telling narrati…

Association of childhood adversities and home atmosphere with functioning in old age: the Helsinki birth cohort study

Objectivechildhood adversities have been linked with adverse health outcomes, but less is known about the long-term consequences of childhood home atmosphere. We investigated whether childhood adversities and home atmosphere were associated with physical and mental functioning in older age.Methodsin the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 2003, participants born in the year 1934–44 had data available on nine childhood home atmosphere items, e.g. whether it was supportive and warm (sum score ranged between 0 and 36, higher score indicating better atmosphere), and nine childhood adversities, e.g. unemployment and divorce (sum score 0–9, coded into no; one; and two or more adversities) assessed in 200…

Perspectives on Dynamic Retirement and Active Ageing

One central goal in ageing individuals’ late-career stages is to participate in working life, subsequently transition successfully into retirement, and to lead a satisfying and healthy life in retirement. In many ways, these goals are aligned with the policy orientation of countries facing challenges with global ageing. This chapter describes some of the current themes of retirement and late-career research, with a specific interest on the role of individual resource allocation strategies and human resource management in promoting the work ability of older employees. It will present the concept of bridge employment in the Finnish context, and the effects of normal retirement, i.e. after rea…

DS_10.1177_0149206316662314_Supplement – Supplemental material for Employee Age and Company Performance: An Integrated Model of Aging and Human Resource Management Practices

Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0149206316662314_Supplement for Employee Age and Company Performance: An Integrated Model of Aging and Human Resource Management Practices by Monika E. von Bonsdorff, Le Zhou, Mo Wang, Sinikka Vanhala, Mikaela B. von Bonsdorff and Taina Rantanen in Journal of Management

Perceived stress symptoms in midlife predict disability in old age: a 28-year prospective cohort study.

Background Stress has damaging effects on individual's health. However, information about the long-term consequences of mental stress is scarce. Methods This 28-year prospective cohort study examined on the associations between midlife stress and old age disability among 2,994 Finnish municipal professionals aged 44-58 years at baseline. Self-reported stress symptoms were assessed at baseline in 1981 and 4 years later in 1985 and perceived disability in 2009. For the baseline data, principal component analysis was used for differentiation into stress symptom profiles. The regression coefficient estimates for self-care disability (activities of daily living) and instrumental activities of da…

Retirement as a predictor of physical functioning trajectories among older businessmen

Abstract Background Associations between retirement characteristics and consequent physical functioning (PF) are poorly understood, particularly in higher socioeconomic groups, where postponing retirement has had both positive and negative implications for PF. Methods Multiple assessments of PF, the first of which at the mean age of 73.3 years, were performed on 1709 men who were retired business executives and managers, using the RAND-36/SF-36 instrument, between 2000 and 2010. Questionnaire data on retirement age and type of pension was gathered in 2000. Five distinct PF trajectories were created using latent growth mixture modelling. Mortality- and covariate-adjusted multinomial regressi…

Organisational and individual resources as antecedents of older nursing professionals’ organisational commitment : Investigating the mediating effect of the use of selection, optimisation and compensation strategies

Aim and objectives To investigate how organisational and individual resources are linked to older (50+) nursing professionals’ organisational commitment, and to examine the possible mediating role of the active use of selection, optimisation and compensation (SOC) strategies. Background Many healthcare organisations need to find ways to retain their older nursing professionals due to nursing shortage. Design To test a set of hypotheses, cross-sectional survey data (n = 396) were used. Data were analysed using correlation analysis and partial least-squares structural equation modelling. STROBE Statement for cross-sectional studies has been followed in this study. Results The results exhibite…

Working hours and sleep duration in midlife as determinants of health-related quality of life among older businessmen

Background long working hours and short sleep duration are associated with a range of adverse health consequences. However, the combined effect of these two exposures on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has not been investigated. Methods we studied white men born between 1919 and 1934 in the Helsinki Businessmen Study (HBS, initial n = 3,490). Data on clinical variables, self-rated health (SRH), working hours and sleep duration in 1974, and RAND-36 (SF-36) HRQoL survey in the year 2000 were available for 1,527 men. Follow-up time was 26 years. By combining working hours and sleep duration, four categories were formed: (i) normal work (≤50 hours/week) and normal sleep (>47 hours/week);…

Predictors of employees' early retirement intentions: an 11-year longitudinal study.

Background Adjusting work life and encouraging older employees to continue at work has become a common challenge as the workforce ages. Gender differences in retirement decisions have largely been overlooked in previous studies, despite the fact that retirement as a life course event and the experience of retirement can be gender dependent. Aims To explore which personal and work-related psychological factors predict early retirement intentions among older women and men and to investigate the stability of these predictors through use of longitudinal data. Methods This research is based on an 11-year follow-up study of ageing Finnish municipal employees. Data on 1101 employees' early retirem…

Team autonomy, organizational commitment and company performance - a study in the retail trade

The study focuses on the relationship between perceived team autonomy and company performance through highlighting organizational commitment as a mediating factor in this relationship. Data collected in 2007 came from 25 small-sized companies in the retail trade, covering both the employer and employee levels (n = 369). This study aims to shed light on the following questions: first, is team autonomy associated with organizational commitment and company performance? Second, does commitment mediate the relationship between team autonomy and company performance? Results indicated that team autonomy was both directly and indirectly positively associated with company performance. Furthermore, o…

Job strain among blue-collar and white-collar employees as a determinant of total mortality: a 28-year population-based follow-up.

Objectives To investigate the effect of job demand, job control and job strain on total mortality among white-collar and blue-collar employees working in the public sector. Design 28-year prospective population-based follow-up. Setting Several municipals in Finland. Participants 5731 public sector employees from the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Municipal Employees Study aged 44–58 years at baseline. Outcomes Total mortality from 1981 to 2009 among individuals with complete data on job strain in midlife, categorised according to job demand and job control: high job strain (high job demands and low job control), active job (high job demand and high job control), passive job (low job demand a…

Investigating the links between resilience, perceived HRM practices, and retirement intentions

Purpose Human resource management (HRM) scholars’ interest in older employees’ resilience has only recently started to emerge. Little is known about how resilience and perceived HRM are linked to different retirement intentions. Drawing on the conservation of resources and social exchange theories, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between perceived HRM practices, resilience and retirement intentions. Additionally, the paper examines the possible mediating role of resilience in the relationship between perceived HRM practices and retirement intentions. Design/methodology/approach In 2016, a cross-sectional study was conducted among older (50+) nursing professionals work…

Additional file 1 of Retirement as a predictor of physical functioning trajectories among older businessmen

Additional file 1: Supplementary Table 1. Model Fit Statistics, Group Sizes and Average Latent Class Probabilities for Most Likely Class Membership. Figures. Reproduced with permission from [15]. Supplementary Fig. 1. Individual observations belonging to each of the five identified physical functioning trajectories. Reproduced with permission from [15].

Body size at birth and coronary heart disease-related hospital care in adult men : Findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

Aim: We investigated, among those who had been hospitalized at least once due to coronary heart disease (CHD), the relationship between ponderal index (PI, birthweight/length3) at birth, a measure of thinness, and the age at first hospitalization due to CHD, the number of CHD-related hospital care episodes, and cost of CHD-related hospital care from young adulthood to old age. Methods and results: Data from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study included 964 men born in Helsinki, Finland during 1934–1944, who had been hospitalized due to CHD and had birth anthropometrics data. PI (kg/m3) was categorized into low (27.5). CHD-related hospital care data were available from 1971 to 2013. We observed a…

Work-loss years among people diagnosed with diabetes: a reappraisal from a life course perspective

Aims Early exit from the workforce has been proposed to be one of the unfavorable consequences of diabetes. We examined whether early exit from the workforce differed between persons who were and were not diagnosed with diabetes during their work career. Methods The cohort included 12,726 individuals of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, born between 1934 and 1944. Using data from nationwide registers, the cohort was followed up from early adulthood until they transitioned into retirement or died. Work- loss years were estimated using the restricted mean work years method. Results During a follow-up of 382,328 person-years for men and 349 894 for women, 36.8% transitioned into old age pension…

Continuity Theory and Retirement

Work-Related Biomechanical Exposure and Job Strain as Separate and Joint Predictors of Musculoskeletal Diseases: A 28-Year Prospective Follow-up Study

We investigated how work-related biomechanical exposure and job strain in midlife separately and jointly predicted back and degenerative musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs). A total of 6,257 employees participated in the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees (FLAME) in 1981 and were followed up for 28 years. Risk ratios and the relative excessive risk due to interaction and 95% confidence intervals were modeled for separate and joint prediction estimates, respectively. After adjustment for confounders, job strain predicted degenerative MSDs among women after 4 and 11 years of follow-up. After 11 years, both exposures predicted both types of MSDs among men. Joint exposure predi…

Employee Age and Company Performance: An Integrated Model of Aging and Human Resource Management Practices

This study investigated the relationships among company average age, company work ability, and company performance by examining (a) the effects of employee average use of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) personal strategies and high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) on employee work ability; (b) the buffering effects of both employee average use of SOC and HIWPs on the negative relationship between company-level average age of employees and employee work ability; and (c) the link between company average age and company performance as mediated by company work ability. Analysis was conducted on data from 70 Finnish companies in the retail and metal industries and their 889 em…

Retirement age and type as predictors of frailty : a retrospective cohort study of older businessmen

ObjectivesTo study the association between retirement characteristics and frailty in a homogenous population of former business executives.DesignCross-sectional cohort study using data from the Helsinki Businessmen Study.SettingHelsinki, Finland.Participants1324 Caucasian men, born in 1919–1934, who had worked as business executives and managers and of whom 95.9% had retired by the year 2000. Questions on age at and type of retirement, lifestyle and chronic conditions were embedded in questionnaires.Primary and secondary outcome measuresFrailty assessed according to a modified phenotype definition at mean age 73.3 years.ResultsMean age at retirement was 61.3 years (SD 4.3) and 37.1% had ret…

Midlife work ability and mobility limitation in old age among non-disability and disability retirees - a prospective study

Little is known about the wellbeing and mobility limitation of older disability retirees. Personal and environmental factors, such as time spent in working life, may either exacerbate or mitigate the onset of mobility limitation in general population. We aimed to study perceived midlife work ability as a determinant of self-reported mobility limitation in old age among municipal employees who transitioned into non-disability and disability retirement. METHODS: 4329 participants of the Finnish Longitudinal Study of Municipal Employees (FLAME) had retired during January 1985 and July 2000. They had data on retirement, perceived work ability in 1985, and self-reported mobility limitation (non-…

Organizational justice, sickness absence and employee age

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to study age-related differences in how perceptions of two forms of organizational justice, i.e. procedural and interactional justice, are related to short (i.e. non-certified) spells and long (i.e. medically certified) spells of sickness absence. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a study on a large sample of Finnish public sector employees (n=37,324), in which they matched employees' 2004 survey data with their records-based sick absences in 2005 and 2006. Findings – The results suggest that age moderates the association between perceptions of procedural justice and long sickness absences after controlling for gender, tenure, occupationa…

Work careers in adults separated temporarily from their parents in childhood during World War II.

Introduction: Traumatic experiences, such as separation from parents in childhood causing early life stress (ELS) may increase the risk of adverse long-term health outcomes and biological age-related changes. This may have an impact on work career. Our aim was to examine long term consequences of ELS due to temporary separation from parents during World War II (WWII) in relation to work career. - Material and methods: The Helsinki Birth Cohort Study comprises 13,345 individuals born in Helsinki, Finland, between the years 1934–1944. From the original cohort, 1781 individuals were identified as being separated temporarily from their parents due to World War II. Information on date and type o…

Entrepreneurs’ Exit and Paths to Retirement: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations

The number of ageing entrepreneurs in micro- and small-sized companies is rapidly increasing in Finland and other European Union countries. Over half a million jobs, in over one hundred thousand companies within the EU, are lost annually due to unsuccessful, predominantly retirement-related transfers of businesses. This challenge coincides with EU Grand Challenges and has been highlighted in the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan (European Commission 2013). It has been estimated that in Finland, some 8000 jobs are lost yearly due to the ageing of entrepreneurs. Therefore, entrepreneur ageing has implications not only for the ageing individual but also for the company and the society at large…

Multisite musculoskeletal pain trajectories from midlife to old age : a 28-year follow-up of municipal employees

ObjectivesWe studied the developmental trajectories of multisite musculoskeletal pain (MSP) to learn whether pain in midlife persists to old age, and whether pain trajectories associate with midlife work or lifestyle exposures or retirement from work.MethodsMunicipal employees aged 44–58 years were studied in 1981 (n=6257) with follow-ups in 1985, 1992, 1997 and 2009. Pain in the neck, low back, and upper and lower limbs was assessed in each survey. Trajectories of the number (0–4) of pain sites were defined using growth mixture modelling (n=3093). Workload, lifestyle and morbidity were elicited by questionnaire and retirement from registries. Associations of baseline factors with pain traj…

Inverse Effects of Midlife Occupational and Leisure Time Physical Activity on Mobility Limitation in Old Age-A 28-Year Prospective Follow-Up Study

Objectives: To evaluate in a sample of initially middle-aged municipal employees whether leisure time (LPA) or occupational physical activity (OPA) was associated with mobility limitation (ML) in old age. Design: Prospective population-based follow-up. Setting: Municipalities in Finland. Participants: Public sector employees from the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Municipal Employees (FLAME) initially aged 44 to 58 (N = 5,200). Measurements: Baseline data were collected in 1981, including LPA (average exercise within previous year: inactive (no exercise), moderate (some form of exercise ?1 time per week), vigorous (brisk exercise ?1 time per week)) and OPA (usual activities at work within pr…