Revolutionizing work or eroding well-being? The impact of technical demand on older employees' health in digital work transformation

Given the challenge of a high proportion of older employees who retire early from work we analyse associations of indicators of a poor psychosocial quality of work with intended premature departure from work in a large sample of older male and female employees in 10 European countries. Baseline data from the 'Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe' (SHARE) were obtained from 3523 men and 3318 women in 10 European countries. Data on intended early retirement, four measures of well-being (self-rated health, depressive symptoms, general symptom load, and quality of life), and quality of work (effort-reward imbalance; low control at work) were obtained from structured interviews and questionnaires. Country-specific and total samples are analysed, using logistic regression analysis. Poor quality of work is significantly associated with intended early retirement. After adjustment for well-being odds ratios (OR) of effort-reward imbalance [OR 1.72 (1.43-2.08)] and low control at work [OR 1.51 (1.27-1.80)] on intended early retirement are observed. Poor quality of work and reduced well-being are independently associated with the intention to retire from work. 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.

This study examines the impact of engaging in seven types of activities on depression and quality of life in retirees and older workers over a period of 2 years, using a sample from the survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe. Longitudinal data were available from 2,813 retirees and 1,372 older employees. Our results showed that volunteering, providing help and going to sports or social clubs at the baseline improved retirees' quality of life over a period of 2 years. No direct effects of engaging in activities were found for older employees. Moreover, higher depression at the baseline fostered the depression experience at the follow‐up in those retirees and older employees who were caring for disabled adults at baseline. In retirees with higher depression at baseline, participation in religious organizations was associated with a greater decrease in depression at follow‐up than in those who had lower levels of depression at baseline. For older employees, taking part in political or community organizations at baseline was related to a greater decrease in depression at follow‐up than in those employees who experienced higher initial depression.Practitioner points Practitioners should make attempts to reduce physical demands and time pressure exerted over older employees to improve their well‐being over time. Practitioners should design intervention programmes and preventive measures that focus on how to stimulate retirees' and older employees' engagement in community and leisure activities to achieve successful ageing.

The present study aimed to investigate the area per player (ApP) to replicate the technical and locomotor match demands using small-sided games (SSGs) in male soccer players (n = 20) competing in major European and UEFA competitions. The relative number of each individual technical activity per minute (number · min-1; technical demands) was counted and the relative (m · min-1) total (TD), high-speed running (HSRD), very high-speed running (VHSRD), sprint and acceleration+deceleration (Acc+Dec) distances were collected during different SSG formats (n = 24; 4 vs 4 to 10 vs 10 with an ApP from 60 to 341 m2 · player-1) and official matches (n = 28). Data were collected during two full seasons. A linear mixed model analysis was used to calculate the individual relationship between technical/locomotor demands and the ApP during SSGs; the correlation coefficient was also calculated. With the exception of an inverse moderate (r = -0.457) correlation for Acc+Dec, each locomotor metric (TD, HSRD, VHSRD and sprint) showed a positive large to very large (r = 0.560 to 0.710) correlation with ApP (P < 0.001). The technical demands showed an inverse moderate correlation (r = -0.529) with ApP. Additionally, inverse moderate to large correlations (r = -0.397 to -0.600; P < 0.05) between the technical demands and the locomotor demands (TD, HSR, VHSR and sprint) were found. Lastly, an ApP of ~243 m2 · player was found to replicate the official match technical demand and it was quite similar to the ApP required to replicate HSRD, VHSRD and sprint. These findings may help practitioners to replicate, overload and underload both technical and locomotor demands using a specific ApP during SSGs in elite soccer.

The increasing application of intelligent and automation system (eg, artificial intelligence [AI]) has facilitated the organizational efficiency as well as imposed technical demands on older employees. Drawing from the Job Demand-Control model and the data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, this study applies the instrumental variable regression to investigate the direct influence of intelligent automation job substitution risk on health, as well as the moderation role of remote work in the above relation among older employees. The intelligent automation job substitution risk intensifies employees' occupational health problems, which is buffered by the remote work engagement. Organizations should focus on the appropriate solution to the use of multiple workplace techniques.

Age discrimination at work is a widespread destructive phenomenon that often takes subtle forms. Based on negative stereotypes about older employees, we argue that older employees often experience that they are perceived as less ideal followers than younger employees. We propose that older and younger employees do not differ in what they assume their supervisors expect of an ideal follower (implicit followership theories, IFTs). Thus, we hypothesize that older employees perceive that they compare less favorably to their supervisors' IFTs than younger employees (i.e., worse IFT‐fit). This should entail lower quality of the relationship between leader and follower (leader‐member‐exchange, LMX), which, in turn, should have detrimental effects on employees' health (i.e., burnout) and job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and identification). We tested our model in a field study with 379 employees. Results differed for ideal and counter‐ideal follower attributes. Concerning counter‐ideal follower attributes (e.g., being incompetent), age had the proposed negative effect on psychological health and job attitudes that mediated through IFT‐fit and LMX. Concerning ideal follower attributes (e.g., thinking ahead), older employees expected their supervisors not only to think less of them than of their younger colleagues, but also expected them to have less demanding IFTs—contrary to our expectations. Employee age was negatively related to psychological health and job attitudes, mediated through lower perceived IFTs, worse perceived appraisal of the actual employee and their joint effects on LMX.

Background: Depression is a frequently occurring mental illness that has been shown to be strongly related to important life outcomes, such as education or labor. Few studies focus on the impact of job status on the risk of depressive symptoms. Aims: We used longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for people aged from 50 to 64 years old across 11 countries to analyze how the type of job is related to depression. Methods: Associations between the type of job and depressive symptoms are analyzed using logistic multilevel models. Results: The risk of depressive symptoms is higher for self-employers. Among the self-employed, women are more at risk (OR: 3.22) as well as those who visit the doctor more frequently. On the other hand, people reporting a good quality of life and those living with a partner demonstrate a lower risk of depressive symptoms. These effects manifest less for employees, while the risk is also higher for women and those visiting the doctor frequently but lower for those who have a good quality of life or children. Conclusions: The stress suffered at work is related to a higher risk of depressive symptoms. The self-employed usually experience more stress at work, as this is related to a larger responsibility and, usually, less stability.

BackgroundThe relationship between retirement and mental health remains elusive, with existing literature presenting mixed evidence. This ambiguity may be due to the methodological challenges in establishing causality, anticipatory effects and...

BackgroundTo limit the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, different restriction measures were implemented aiming to ensure social distancing and isolation. However, it is well known that such measures may lead to adverse effects on mental health. MethodsData from 36,478 adults aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe was used to investigate the longitudinal changes in mental health from pre-COVID-19 to during the pandemic (summer 2020), considering national restriction levels across 26 European countries and Israel. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to assess changes in feeling 'sad or depressed', sleeping problems, and loneliness. ResultsCompared with the mental health status before the COVID-19 outbreak, participants had a lower risk of feeling “sad or depressed” (–14.4%) and having sleeping problems (–9.9%), while the risk of feeling lonely slightly increased (1.2%). However, for individuals in countries with high restriction levels, the risk of feeling “sad or depressed” was attenuated and the risk of loneliness was greater compared to countries with low restriction levels. ConclusionOlder people felt less depressed and had fewer sleeping problems during the pandemic as compared to before the pandemic, while the risk of loneliness increased slightly. Stricter policy measures attenuated the otherwise positive impact on mental health. Future studies are needed to investigate the long-term effects of COVID-19 on mental health.

A large variety of information of respondents’ physical and mental health has been collected within the context of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe(SHARE) from its first wave in 2004 on. Despite their undisputable value, self-reported and subjective health indicators turned out not to be unproblematic in international comparative analyses. The collection of biometric data contributes to remedying such problems. This research paper presents analyses with measures of isometric grip-strength – one of the biometric measures already available in SHARE to date. Further, the authors discuss the inclusion of other biometric measures (especially via blood samples) into the investigational program of the longitudinally designed SHARE. Relevant sociological problems and questions (e. g. the importance of biomarkers for analyses of the correlation between socio-economic status and health) as well as experiences with biometric data in studies comparable to SHARE (especially from Anglo-Saxon countries) are described.

Using data from 11 European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) we explore associations between social position and retirement intentions in elder employees. Social position is defined in terms of three complementary measures of occupational position: occupational class, occupational status, and occupational skill level. Additionally, we study to what extent psychosocial stress at work, as measured by the demand–control and the effort–reward imbalance models, underlies the association between social position and retirement intention. For all three occupational classifications, findings show a social gradient of retirement intentions and of work stress. The lower the people’s social positions, the more likely they are to report retirement intentions and to experience poor working conditions. Furthermore, results of multivariate analyses indicate that parts of the association between occupational position and retirement intentions can be explained by a poor psychosocial work environment. Our findings suggest that promoting working conditions may help to keep older workers in employment, in particular among workers in low occupational position.

The Health Effects of Unemployment on the European Elderly: An Application of Finite Mixture Models Using the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe

The goals of this study were to determine whether, among older employees, unfavourable physical and psychosocial work-related factors were associated with poorer mental and physical health and whether high work engagement buffered the associations between unfavourable work-related factors and poorer health. A 1-year longitudinal study with employed persons aged 45-64 was conducted within the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation (n = 8,837). Using an online questionnaire, work-related factors (physical: physical load; psychosocial: psychological job demands, autonomy, and support) and work engagement were measured at baseline and health at baseline and 1-year follow-up. General linear models were used to assess associations of work-related factors and work engagement with health. Tests of interaction terms assessed whether work engagement buffered the work-related factor-health associations. Unfavourable psychosocial work-related factors at baseline were associated with poorer mental health at follow-up. Higher physical load, higher psychological job demands, and lower autonomy at baseline were associated with poorer physical health at follow-up. Higher work engagement at baseline was related to better physical and especially better mental health during the 1-year follow-up. Work engagement had a small effect on the associations between work-related factors and health. Among older employees, especially the promotion of a high work engagement and, to a lesser extent, favourable work-related factors can be beneficial for mental health in particular.

The relation between social support and mental health has been thoroughly researched and structural characteristics of the social network have been widely recognised as being an important component of social support. The aim of this paper is to clarify the association between children and depressive mood states of their older parents. Based on international comparative data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe we analysed how the number of children, their proximity and the frequency of contact between older parents and their children are associated with the mental health of older people, using the EURO-D index. Our results indicate a positive association of children and depressive mood since childless men and women report more depressive symptoms. Moreover, few contacts with children were associated with an increased number of depressive symptoms. The family status was related to mental health as well: older men and women living with a spouse or partner had the lowest levels of depression. Interestingly, the presence of a spouse or partner was more relevant for the mental health of older people than the presence of, or contact with, their children.

The mental health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic in older adults and the role of physical distancing interventions and social protection measures in 26 European countries

Depression deterioration of older adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe