Abstract
Increasing statutory retirement ages around the world are forcing employees to prolong their working lives. We study the different ways in which mid- and late-career workers respond to such changes. We distinguish between negative emotions about working longer, cognitive engagement with prolonged employment, and proactive behavior to facilitate longer working lives. We analyze data from 1,351 employees aged 40-66 from the Netherlands. We estimate a structural equation model to identify in which ways experiences of age discrimination, accessibility of accommodative HR facilities, and social norms in the workers' social networks are related to the three different types of responses. Results show that when employees do not experience age discrimination, when their employer offers easily accessible accommodative HR facilities, and the social norms support prolonged employment, employees have fewer negative emotional reactions and are more likely to behaviorally respond to facilitate longer working lives. When these contexts are misaligned, the reverse is generally found. We also find socioeconomic differences in the ways employees respond to the prospect of prolonged employment. This study shows the importance of supportive contexts at different levels—societally, in organizations, and in individuals' own lives—for policy changes such as increasing statutory retirement ages to be effective. Different responses between different socioeconomic groups may lead to growing long-term inequality.
Highlights
As a result of population aging, governments in developed countries are trying to promote longer working lives of their citizens
The effect on negative emotional responses is strongest though, perhaps because the social environment reinforces a belief that early retirement should be possible, and increasing the retirement age is unfair [10]. These findings indicate some support for our ageinclusivity hypothesis, which stated that workers who perceive a mismatch between their organizational and social contexts and the overarching policy goal of longer working lives would experience more negative emotions and display less proactive cognitive and behavioral responses to facilitate their prolonged employment
We examined the different ways in which midand late-career employees respond to increasing statutory retirement ages
Summary
As a result of population aging, governments in developed countries are trying to promote longer working lives of their citizens. Many countries have closed off financially attractive routes into early retirement, transformed defined benefit pension schemes to notional defined contribution or point schemes, and increased statutory retirement ages or eligibility ages for retirement benefits [1, 3]. While these changes have contributed to increased labor force participation at older ages at the societal level, much less is known about how older workers at the microlevel respond to pension reforms that promote prolonged employment and how individual differences in responses can be accounted for. Holman et al [7] show the lagging awareness
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
