Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

older workers, without further adjustments (´no reaction´), or they make adequate
adjustments (e.g. higher compensation payments) in order to be able to uphold those
policies (´negative reactions´).
Institutional factors do have an impact upon corporate policy, but the adaptation to new
legislative regulations takes place against the background of structural market conditions.
Even in times of stable employment, firms are forced to adapt staff levels to increased
productivity, or to make place for young workers with fresh knowledge. Institutional
changes are unlikely to change this dominant orientation of firms, but they can make the
externalisation of workers more costly. In order for the firms to accomplish a change to an
integrative and ageing-friendly personnel policy, the new institutional constraints would
have to be backed with internal commitment of the firms´ management to age diversity, or
with a looming threat of personnel shortage. Otherwise, firms which cannot afford
continued externalisation at own costs will rather resort to a policy of ´wait and see´ – they
will neither push out older workers, nor will they do anything to preserve their workability
in terms of qualifications and physical capacity. Hypothesis 1 (see section 2.1.) is therefore
supported here with restrictions.
This section presented evidence that there was almost no influence of legislative
changes in the realm of labour market policy (active labour market measures, antidiscrimination
legislation, rules of social selection in cases of dismissals; limited impact of
the shortened period of receipt of the unemployment benefit). Raised retirement ages and
related pension deductions brought about more reactions on the side of firms as those
reform elements in the realm of pension policy immediately narrowed down alternative
courses of action for the firms. Finally, as the termination of the early retirement scheme,
and ´retirement at 67´ is directed into the future, it had in most parts engendered ´no
reaction´.
A barrier to the adjustment of firms to reforms is their short planning horizon and
orientation on policies which bring immediate result. On the latter issue, sometimes clashes
between the management and works councils arose – while employee representatives
advanced a certain personnel policy measure as necessary adjustment to (pension) reforms,
the management rejected it on grounds of cost containment. In general, however, the
employee representatives and the management coincided in their rejection of pension
reforms. While works councils saw the risk of decreasing pension level and the obligation
to continue work despite severe health impairments, the management worried about
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