Workforce Planning: Aging and
Employment
Module 3: The Employee Perspective
Barbara McIntosh, Ph.D., SPHR 2010
Module 3: Overview of the Employees’
Perspective
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Why work?
Costs and benefits of continued work.
Alternative choices.
Decision to stay depends on:
> Treatment.
> Job satisfaction.
> Continued challenge.
• Changing expectations about the work
environment: aging worker friendly?
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Why Work?
• Today, it is all about money and uncertainty:
> Portfolio losses.
> Shrinking opportunities in the labor market.
> Uncertainty about health care costs.
> Uncertainty about family financial
responsibilities.
> Uncertainty about how far shrinking retirement
savings need to stretch for 10, 20, 30 years.
In reality:
• We are living longer, healthier lives and are able
to work.
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Why Work? Contribution
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According to a 2007 AARP survey of
individuals aged 50 and older:
Work in some capacity: 70%.
Work part time for interest or enjoyment: 29%.
Work part time mainly for the income: 22%.
Started their own business: 11%.
Retired from current job but work full time
doing something else: 6%.
Do not work at all: 29%.
Do not know: 2%.
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Specific Reasons to Work (AARP, 2007)
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Need the money 76%
Enjoy the job/enjoy working 70%
To save for retirement 64%
Need to maintain health insurance coverage 61%
Need to pay for health costs for self and family 56%
It makes me feel useful 52%
Need to support other family members 46%
To qualify for Social Security 42%
To fulfill pension requirements/qualify for pension 41%
Source:
www.aarp.org/research/surveys/stats/surveys/public/articles/2
007_Staying_Ahead_of_the_Curve.html
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Costs of Continued Work
• Alternative time use (leisure, care giving, etc.).
• Foregone opportunities.
• Direct costs:
> Pension reduction.
> Social Security earnings if younger than full
retirement age.
> Commuting.
> Clothing.
> Payment for services you would perform if you had the
time (house cleaning, yard work, etc.).
• Indirect costs:
> Health: Exposure.
> Mental health: Stress.
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Benefits of Continued Work
Direct:
• Salary/wages.
• Benefits (if covered).
• Access to company perks (corporate passes,
reduced membership fees, etc.).
Indirect:
• Challenge (use it or lose it).
• Being productive, feeling useful.
• Social connections; networking.
• General mental health (Bosse, et. al., 1987; Reitzes,
Mutran & Fernandez, 1996; Gallo, et al., 2000; McIntosh &
Danigelis, 2005).
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Choices
• To work or not to work: work, volunteering,
family, leisure.
• To work but with alternative hours: full time,
part time or part year (seasonal).
• To work in one’s primary occupation or
another occupation:
• Variation in primary occupation
(transition employment).
• Different occupation/industry: Pursue
hobby or passion (bridge employment).
• Location change.
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The Decision to Stay Depends on
Individual Treatment
Individual comparison/discrepancy theories
• What I need and what I receive (Maslow’s
Need Theory).
• What I value and what I receive (Locke’s
Value Theory; Vroom and Lawler’s
Expectancy Theory).
• Equitable treatment and the way I am treated
(Adam’s Equity Theory).
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The Decision to Stay Depends on
Job Satisfaction
• Job satisfaction is directly linked to turnover
and the intent to stay.
• Older employees tend to have high levels of
job satisfaction (Shen, Pitt-Catsouphes &
Smyer, 2007).
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Decision to Stay Depends on
Job Satisfaction
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Job Satisfaction Evidence: Methodology for
HRS Study
• Wave 1: Health and retirement survey (HRS)
panel study (1992).
• Sample of individuals between 51 and 61
years of age.
• 2,506 full-time and part-time workers (2,195
FT; 887 PT).
• Gender (1,308 men; 887 women).
• Dependent variable: “How satisfied are you
with your job?”
• Statistics: Correlation analysis and OLS
regression analysis.
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Regression Results
ALL
FULL-TIME
Co-workers Co-workers
-Stress
-Odds lose job
-Age discrim.
-Stress
Fair pay
-If lose, retire
-Age discrim.
PART-TIME
Co-workers
Freedom
Fair pay
-If lose, retire
-Odds lose job
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Gender Differences in Satisfaction with
Work
MEN
Co-workers
Fair pay
-Stress
-Odds lose job
-Age discrim.
-Absence/health issues
WOMEN
Co-workers
-Stress
-Age discrim.
-Odds lose job
Fair pay
Work even if they
don’t need the
money.
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Results Summary
• Co-worker support is the most important
predictor in deciding to remain working,
regardless of hours worked or gender.
• Hours of work:
> For full-time workers, stress level is the second most
important predictor. Age discrimination is also a
predictor.
> For part-time workers, freedom is the second most
important predictor. Stress is not a predictor, but
concern about losing one’s job is.
• Gender:
> Men are more concerned about fair pay and being
absent.
> Women are more concerned about age discrimination
and would keep working even if they did not need the
money.
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Research Implications
• More attention needs to be given to co-worker
relationships--fits with teamwork emphasis.
• Future research:
> How do older workers compare to younger
workers? Are all workers responding the
same way to the changing workplace?
> Are there tenure-related determinants of job
satisfaction?
> Are these determinants cohort-specific?
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We Are Working Longer
• The number of workers aged 80 and older grew
by 67 percent between 2000 and 2008. This is
the fastest growing cohort.
• The oldest worker in America:
> Jack Borden, 101, Weatherford, Texas.
> Former district attorney, FBI agent and
private attorney. He works about 40 hours a
week, specializing in real estate and probate
work.
> Recognized as America’s Outstanding Older
Worker in 2009 by Experience Works, a
provider of training and services for older
workers.
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Decision to Stay Depends on Continued
Challenge
• The National Study of the Changing Workforce
shows that older workers want the same or more
responsibility on the job (87%), not less (12%)
than they currently have.
> Older workers’ career ambitions may be less
visible.
> Older workers may be motivated to
accomplish more as they “cap” their careers.
Source: Shen, C., Pitt-Catsouphes, M., & Smyer, M. (August, 2007). Today’s Multi-Generational
Workforce: A proposition of Value. Issue Brief 10. Chestnut Hill, MA: The Center on Aging & Work,
Boston College.
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Decision to Stay: Employee Commitment Is
Vital
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Changes in the Work Environment:
The Older Employee Perspective
• Culture:
> Respect.
> Visibility, credibility.
> Promotion.
> Recognition.
> Opportunities for co-worker interaction and
support (age-integrated teams, projects,
etc.).
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Changes in the Work Environment:
The Older Employee Perspective
Recruitment and selection
> Sources (implicit messages in outreach):
• Employee referrals (older workers’
contacts).
• Non-traditional sources (postings on golf
courses, churches, etc.).
> Trait evaluation: Diverse selection committees.
> Perception (real): Age discrimination.
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Changes in the Work Environment:
The Older Employee Perspective
• Hours, flexibility:
> Sabbaticals.
> Leaves of absence.
> Phased retirement.
> Rehearsal retirement.
> Part-time work.
> Part-year work.
> Seasonal work.
> Snow-bird programs (like those offered by
Borders Books and CVS Pharmacy).
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Changes in the Work Environment:
The Older Employee Perspective
• Rewards:
> Direct compensation.
> Alternatives?
> Recognition.
• Development:
> Challenge: Additional responsibilities (job
enrichment), job rotation, new assignments, etc.
> Training: Access and age-friendly pedagogy.
> Mentoring:
• Opportunity to share experiences, organizational
learning.
• Reverse mentoring in multi-generational
workplace.
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Changes in the Work Environment:
The Older Employee Perspective
• Nature of the job itself:
> Repetitive motions lead to musculoskeletal
disorders.
> Standing.
> Lifting.
• Physical environment:
> Age-friendly (e.g., door knobs, handles,
visibility issues)
> Lights, heat, physical stressors
> Noise level
> Ergonomics
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Module Summary
• This module offered multiple answers to the
question, “Why work?”
• The costs and benefits from continued work were
addressed, as well as alternative choices.
• The decision to stay depends on:
> Treatment.
> Job satisfaction.
> Continued challenge.
• There are changing expectations about the work
environment:
> What is an age-friendly work environment?
> HR must address multiple concerns from the
employee perspective.
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