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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on developments in Norwegian companies’ active-ageing policies, and hence offer insight into what characterises those Norwegian companies offering measures to retain their older workers. Design/methodology/approach – The research questions are investigated using data from two surveys carried out among a representative sample of Norwegian companies in 2005 and 2010. The two data sets are analysed both separately and jointly, being merged to obtain a pooled cross-section data set. Both multivariate logistic and linear regression are applied. Findings – The proportion of companies offering retention measures, as well as the extensiveness of their retention efforts (the number of different measures offered), has increased considerably from 2005 to 2010. What characterises these companies however is surprisingly similar in 2005 and 2010. The retention efforts of Norwegian companies seem to be part of a holistic approach to active ageing. Offering a number of different retention measures is more common among companies having initiated “measures to facilitate lifelong learning” and “measures to prevent health problems or reduced work capacity”. The financial incentives embedded in the contractual early retirement scheme seem also to have a significant impact on retention efforts. Originality/value – The employers’ perspective has received little attention in previous research and the authors are the first to report on developments in Norwegian companies’ retention efforts over time. Knowledge about what characterises employers offering such measures will be important for future efforts to increase employments rates among older workers, which is an aim for most European countries.

Aims:The article examines whether preventive measures and work adjustments at the establishment level affects sickness absence among workers aged 50 years and older. Methods: We combine survey data from a representative sample of 713 Norwegian companies, mapping the prevalence of preventive health measures in the work place in 2005, with register data on sickness absence and demographic variables for workers aged 50 years or older in 2001 and 2007. By means of a differencein-differences approach, we compare changes and differences in the likelihood of sickness absence among the sample group, with and without the various measures/ instruments in 2005 respectively. Results: In general, work-place preventive measures at the establishment level have not contributed to reducing the probability for sickness absence among workers aged 50 years and older. However, analyses comparing differences between industries find that the work-place measures have had a positive effect on public administration employees. Conclusions: Whether work-place preventive initiatives influence levels of sickness absence seems to be contingent on sector and industry. Therefore, work-place measures may be more effective in the public administration sector where most employees have office jobs compared to sectors such as manufacturing, construction and transportation, where many employees have manual work and more physical demanding jobs. Work-place initiatives thus seem to have less effect on preventing sickness absence in sectors dominated by manual labour.

Although active ageing policy and practice vary between countries, we believe that knowledge about the effects of Norwegian companies' initiatives to delay early retirement is of interest