Abstract
AbstractThis article explores the conditions for extended working life from an organising perspective. Based on the idea that temporality makes up a fundamental organising dimension, it discusses conceptions of internal job mobility, and if and when employees are expected to relocate to a different unit at work. The material consists of interviews with 11 men between the ages of 56 and 74, working in manual and managerial capacities at a foundry of a Swedish branch of a large international steel company. The results show that internal work mobility is regulated by normative assumptions of mobility in terms of on- and off-time. This socio-temporal order constructs younger age groups as the age normality while designating the older employees’ transitions as a normative breach. It is also shown that the temporal order constitutes a disciplining element steering employees from an early stage to plan for limitations that may arise as a result of ageism and/or physical changes. The result confirms that transition to less-physically demanding tasks is a prerequisite for continuing working in a physically demanding job. These transitions are not, however, included in the socio-temporal order of the company, but are presented as the older employees’ individual problem. All together, these results show the need to introduce organisational practices and corporate strategies in the debate on extended working life.
Highlights
Since the end of the 1990s, there has been a rapid increase of policies supporting extended working life (Phillipson, 2019)
By problematising the work mobilities that are regarded as possible, expected and coveted, I have pointed to the presence of temporal regimes and the key role which they play in the work organisation and for the employees’ opportunities to continue working at an older age
The results show the need for more thorough studies of how work ability relates to the physical aspects of the workplace as well as to its social organising, including temporal practices
Summary
Since the end of the 1990s, there has been a rapid increase of policies supporting extended working life (Phillipson, 2019). The policies have tended to focus on individuals, and the debate has to a great extent described older people as the problem Their participation in working life and current retirement trends are described as problematic as well as self-serving, uninformed and out-dated, and as a threat to welfare provision and benefits (Krekula and Vickerstaff, 2017). Behind the rhetoric about self-serving, uninformed and problematic older workers, there are welldocumented organisational practices which create age-based marginalisation and limit older people’s participation in working life. The necessary conditions for extended working life need to be explored in a broader political and social context, and the debate needs to be based on knowledge of how age-based marginalisation and the organisational practices of the workplace relate to retirement decisions (Hasselhorn and Apt, 2015; Krekula and Vickerstaff, 2017; Phillipson, 2019). The article illustrates that the temporal norms related to internal work mobility at an early stage influence individuals to plan for limitations that they fear will arise as a result of ageism in the future
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