When reality falls short of preferences: a response surface analysis of working time arrangements and older employees’ work ability expectations

Abstract

In times of labor shortages and rising regular retirement ages it becomes increasingly important to maintain older employees’ work ability. In this study, drawing on person-environment fit theory, we assume that when working time arrangements do not meet older employees’ preferences this is negatively related to their expected work ability. We operationalize expected work ability as the age until which older employees believe to be physically and mentally able to work in their job. We use a subsample of 4347 employees aged 50 to 65 of the BAuA-Working Time Survey 2017. Results of polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses reveal that expected work ability is lower when a) actual working hours exceed preferred working hours, b) provided flextime, that is the possibility to control one’s daily beginning and end of the workday, falls short of flextime preferences, and c) work-nonwork segmentation possibilities, that is the possibility to separate work from private life, fall short of the work-nonwork segmentation preferences.Practical Relevance:Our study is of practical relevance, especially to organizations who aim to keep their older employees in the workforce. The findings indicate that not only actual working time arrangements themselves but also the fit with older employees’ preferences can play an important role to keep them in the workforce.