Quality of work, well-being, and intended early retirement of older employees--baseline results from the SHARE Study

Abstract

The consistent association of a poor psychosocial quality of work with intended early retirement among older employees across all European countries under study calls for improved investments into better quality of work, in particular increased control and an appropriate balance between efforts spent and rewards received at work.

“I want to break free”. The role of working conditions on retirement expectations and decisions

“…Following Siegrist et al (2006), we build the effort/reward ratio as the ratio between the items of the effort component and those of the reward component (defined according to our factor analysis), respectively, as shown in the following equation for the respondent i:…”

“…As suggested by Siegrist et al (2006), we then define a dummy variable (''poor job quality'') taking value 1 if the respondent's ratio is higher than the top tercile of the country-specific distribution.…”

“…Early exits from the labour market are more frequently observed, in fact, among employees who have physically demanding or monotonous/repetitive jobs (Henkens and Tazelaar 1994). Furthermore, poor quality of work is often associated with an increase in the intention to leave and a reduction in performance and motivation, as shown among others by Siegrist et al (2006) using the data from the first wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE). Correspondingly, Cottini et al (2011), using Danish linked employer-employee data, found that workplace hazards substantially increased the probability of voluntary turnover and that workers under adverse workplace conditions were more likely to quit their jobs.…”

Psychosocial work factors and older workers’ health in Europe

“…Low job control, defined as low ability of employees to influence decisions about their job and work organization (Gallie, 2011), was found to be a risk factor for disability pension, unemployment, and early retirement, a finding that entailed more labour market exit pathways compared to self-perceived health or unhealthy behaviours-i.e., high body mass index, physical inactivity, smoking history, and excessive alcohol intake (Robroek, Schuring, Croezen, Stattin and Burdorf 2013). Good working conditions and well-being have been found to delay retirement intentions in the near future (Siegrist et al 2007), and were also found capable of extending older workers' participation in the labour market even when disabled or impaired (Pollak 2012). Siegrist and Wahrendorf (2011) found that continued employment after 60 years old was more prevalent among workers in good health and with perceived high job control, yet the association was weakened when controlling for country, suggesting that national contexts may affect the quality of work and chances of being employed after age 60.…”

Assessing Health Endowment, Access and Choice Determinants: Impact on Retired Europeans’ (In)activity and Quality of Life

“…An aging population is choosing early retirement from regular employment, with predictions for 60? year olds comprising up to one-third of the population in several countries in the next two decades (Siegrist et al 2006). This predicts a future dominated by an ever-increasing population of retired citizens, without enough younger workers to fund (via taxes or social contributions) retirement programs or other state welfare agendas, representing a major challenge to social and health policy in European countries.…”