The Growing Discontents of Older British Employees: Extended Working Life at Risk from Quality of Working Life

Abstract

A key component of sustainable welfare policy is the extension of working life (EWL). Currently this aim is chiefly pursued by financial policies, neglecting the potential role of quality of working life (QWL) in attracting people to remain employed. National survey data for Britain in the years 1992, 2006 and 2012 demonstrate deteriorating overall job attitude among older employees, following the changed competitive and technological conditions of the 1990s. The investigation goes on to diagnose aspects of the work situation implicated in adverse experience of work among older employees. Work demands and the nature of work emerge as key areas of discontent, with additional evidence of insecurity, and dissatisfaction with pensions, emerging over the recent recession. Policies potentially addressing QWL, with particular attention to the role of employers, are reviewed in the conclusion.

Expected and preferred retirement age in Germany

“…The finding that particularly older workers with low income, low education and low professional positions expect to work longer than they want to is in line with the results of previous studies showing that vulnerable labor market groups feel the financial pressure to work longer and even re-enter the labor market after retirement [13,14]. This supports concerns of social inequality in the transition from work to retirement [13,14] with highly qualified workers preferring and having the means to work longer, so-called silver workers [7] and low qualified workers, the precarious workforce [27], who would like to retire early but have to delay their retirement for monetary reasons. It seems as if the first group voluntarily remains in employment, while the latter does so involuntarily in jobs with a low quality of working life [27].…”

“…This supports concerns of social inequality in the transition from work to retirement [13,14] with highly qualified workers preferring and having the means to work longer, so-called silver workers [7] and low qualified workers, the precarious workforce [27], who would like to retire early but have to delay their retirement for monetary reasons. It seems as if the first group voluntarily remains in employment, while the latter does so involuntarily in jobs with a low quality of working life [27]. This results of this study complement previous findings by demonstrating that these differences do not only concern the actual employment and retirement behavior but also the attitudes towards retirement.…”

“…Low-skilled workers have to work and contribute longer to the public pension system to ensure a sufficient pension, whereas higher educated workers often stay employed because of a high identification with their gainful work and not for monetary reasons. In addition, low-skilled workers often suffer from poorer quality of working life [27], while the more highly skilled counterparts benefit from supportive employers and better workplace surroundings and, hence, have a better quality of working life. Applying this argument to future pensioners and their attitudes towards retirement timing, one would assume that the expected retirement age for lowskilled older workers is much higher than they would like.…”

“…In addition, the official statutory retirement age at which a full pension could be drawn was raised. Going even further a flexible statutory retirement age was implemented in Sweden [24] and in the United Kingdom the statutory retirement age was completely abolished [27]. These efforts to delay retirement were supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union (EU), which both promote the paradigm of active aging.…”

Do unions protect older employees' pay?

“…For evidence concerning this wider picture, see, for example, McNair and Flynn (), Smeaton et al . (), and Smeaton and White ().…”