Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

combination of the receipt of unemployment benefit and severance payments (55 rule, 59
rule, etc.) or via a firm-level pre-retirement scheme, the workers have become orientated
towards exit even before the 60 th year. Also workers participating in the early retirement
scheme have adjusted to entering the ´free-time phase´ at the age of 57.5 years. The impact
of legislative changes on shaping behaviour had first become evident in the evolution of the
early retirement trend:
Firm DE-10 had offered good financial conditions for pre-retirement in the 1980s. “And since then,
workers have got used to the idea that they will retire at 60. Then, ATZ came when one could leave
in practice already at 57.5 – as we have the blocked model here. And when I ask nowadays some
people about it, then many of them have orientated their life plans towards ceasing work between
57 and 60” (2_Firm DE-10_WCM).
Prime examples for the development of the early exit trend are Firm DE-2 and Firm
DE-8. The trend set in upon introduction of the pre-retirement scheme which was available
1984-1988 on legislative basis with reimbursement by the employment office.
“Both colleagues and friends said when someone entered pre-retirement ´Well, apparently they
wanted to get rid of him!´ Nowadays, pre-retirees are supported by their networks, following the
maxim ´You must be silly if you don´t accept that offer!´” (1_Firm DE-2_HRM).
Also other empirical studies revealed that in the initial stages of the introduction of
firm-based early exit options and the ´flexible retirement age´, older workers selected for
release were sceptical about it (Naschold et al. 1994b: 153; BmFSFJ 2005: 85).
In accounts of personnel managers and works council members, financial incentives set
by the employer (especially a generous ATZ income above the level demanded by the
legislator) appeared as the most important incentive to retire early. Second in importance
was active pushing out by the employer and the related agitation by the superiors or by the
works council in favour of using ATZ. In such cases, the argument of securing the
workplaces for younger workers was often used as a moral incentive, or even threat.
Other reasons for early exit were of financial nature (high earnings or pension of the
spouse in the case of female workers, otherwise a high occupational pension or savings),
related to health (health impairments, especially in highly burdening jobs in the case of fire
workers in the civil service establishment, steelworkers, and blue-collar workers in food
manufacturing companies), the orientation on past-productive life (wish to enjoy the last
years of life; planned family or leisure activities).
Finally, the retirement decision was sparked by dissatisfaction with the situation on the
job. Workers felt worn-out by the recent changes in the firm and high performance criteria,
increased work intensity and job pressure. The interviewees argued that this was related to
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