Employers’ Policies and Attitudes Towards the Performance of Older Employees in Lithuania

Abstract

The ageing labour force is the one of the main challenges for the labour market in Lithuania. The working career of older employees very much depends on the policies and attitude of employers. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyse the policies and attitudes of Lithuanian employers towards older employees. The data of Eurobarometer 76.2 in 2011 and the data of the employers’ survey in Lithuania in 2014 were used for the implementation of the goal. The construction, trade, education, health care and public administration sectors were selected on arbitrary basis. The respondents were surveyed by telephone. The sample of the survey included 216 managers or staff managers. The employers in primary data of Eurobarometer 76.2 were defined as general and middle managers. The data were analysed using the method of factor analysis. The secondary Eurostat data were used for the analysis of socioeconomic context. The legal norms were analysed using national documents. The main findings of the research reveal the general positive attitude of employers towards older workers in Lithuania. However, the existing workplace practice gives little encouragement for prolonging the working career in older age due to obsolete cultural and legal norms.

Older workers and extended working life – Managers’ experiences and age management

“…We probably have someone who have left earlier but we also have someone who should have retired a long time ago. (9) There were also examples of workers who stayed longer than the stipulated retirement age:…”

“…it should be, but I think HR has been involved quite often, they (employees) have gotten into the habit of going to the HR manager to talk about such things. (9) The informants indicated that the year before the official retirement age was the most common occasion when the question of retirement was raised, usually at the yearly employee evaluation. Another approach mentioned by the informants was to send a letter to the employee, but in many cases, this was considered unpleasant or even offensive by employees.…”

“…We need to do our homework to be able to keep people (in employment) until the age of 68 by influencing and improving the work so that it is sustainable in the long run. (9)…”

“…It is furthermore well documented that managers' attitudes play an important role in whether, and how, age management practices are implemented. Managers' attitudes to and perceptions of older workers range from the positive [2, [7][8][9] to negative attitudes and perceptions towards older workers, seeing them as inflexible, IT incompetent and having difficulty learning new things [2]. It is likely that positive and negative attitudes coexist in organizations [10] and the age of a manager influences the attitude towards older and younger workers, as managers tend to judge workers of a similar age to themselves more positively [11,12].…”

Retraining Citizens of Age Groups as a Tool of Social and Labour Adaptation

“…The analytical review [16] showed a generally positive attitude of Lithuanian employers in construction, education, trade, health care and public administration towards agerelated employees. And retraining increases the competitiveness and demand of professionals, overcoming some outdated norms and stereotypes in employment [17].…”