Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

All German firms in the sample occupy a medium position with regard to
internalisation, resp. externalisation of older workers. About half of the studied firms have
developed an age management strategy or their personnel policy takes into account some
aspects of the ageing of the workforce, while the other half is in the stage of ´muddling
through´ and incrementalism (Wiesenthal 2003: 60ff; Kohli/Rein 1991: 12), adapting
policies to current needs. The latter half of firms has not yet realised the need to respond to
the (approaching) challenges of workforce and demographic ageing with a comprehensive
HRM policy. (The values in this index were derived inter al. from Table 16 in section 4.2.2.
which visualised in how many HRM fields the studied firms are active.) The two variables
are not significantly correlated.
Firms in the column ´medium-internalising position´ are characterised by a mixed
portfolio of HRM strategies towards older workers. E.g., Firm DE-13 has an internalising
policy with regard to health management, but seldom takes into account older applicants in
recruitment. The civil service establishment Firm DE-1 grants equal access to applicants of
all ages (with the exception of certain areas, e.g. fire brigade), but does neither have a
developed further training policy nor age-adequate measures in this field.
Firms in the column ´medium-externalising position´ actively push out older workers on
early retirement, do not include them as new recruits, and/or use externalisation as a
solution to integration problems of impaired workers. E.g., Firm DE-11 conducts a
qualification plan and gives equal access to training to workers of all ages but does not
prevent the early exit of older, incapacitated workers on disability pensions.
On overall, it can be said that German firms in the sample have an inconsistent
personnel policy towards older workers. On the one hand, the direction of personnel policy
varies across policy fields. E.g., the firms can at the same time adopt health management
policies with the aim of preserving the workability of its workers, and set an incentive to
early exit of unproductive or incapacitated workers by compensating for pension
deductions; or highly value the know-how of older workers and ensure transferability of
knowledge onto younger workers while at the same time rejecting older applicants with the
argument that their knowledge is too specialised and „narrow-gauged“. On the other hand,
the HRM policy might change in the medium term due to the impact of structural or
demographic conditions on the labour market (see Fig. 1 in chapter 2.).
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