Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

within the firm. The alternative – increasing the workability of all workers and integrating
older workers so as to make them equally productive and innovative – is seldom embraced.
A general commitment of German firms to the idea of prolongation of working life is
missing.
However, there are a few examples of innovative personnel policy and a dedicated age
management strategy spanning several policy fields. But even there, the continuation of
early exit options for incapacitated older workers, or in order to make room for the young,
is a central element of the strategy. As reasons for embracing an age management strategy,
I singled out the impact of firm culture, the link to a business case, the concerted action of
social partners at branch level, or the perception of the need to adjust to demographic
changes.
One and the same firm may apply a different logic regarding the utilisation of older
workers depending on the given policy field and problem constellation. I.e., older workers
may be treated as a problem or a resource depending on the context and on the external
pressure the firm is currently in. This confirms the statements of the firm-structural
approach (Kohli et al. 1983).
The limited adaptation of firms to ´soft´ changes in labour market policy can be
explained with limited effect on firm policy (e.g., if older applicants are not taken into
account as valuable workers, hiring subsidies will only to a small effect compensate for
their assumed negative traits) and the missing sanctions in case of non-adaptation. In
contrast, pension reforms have engendered more effects upon company agency, as current
early exit pathways have become too costly. However, even there, ´negative reactions´ and
´no reactions´ prevail (continuation of current pathways, opening up of new ones,
´muddling through´).
The actual age of the workforce (relative to the Germany-wide average age of the
workforce and percentage of ´50pluses´ in German firms) has no impact upon company
policy, quite in contrast to the impact of the firm´s perception of the age of its workforce.
Possibly, when deciding about the integration, externalisation or keeping out (by nonrecruitment)
older workers, firms compare its workforce with the long outdated ´age
pyramide´ (Koller/Gruber 2001: 503) – while in practical terms, their workforce does not
substantially diverge from the Germany-wide labour force composed of 27.6 per cent of 20-
34-year-olds, 42.4 per cent of 35-49-year-olds, and 25 per cent of 50-64-year-olds (Eurostat
data, retrieved on Dec. 18 th , 2008).
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