Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

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with the receipt of the unemployment benefit. The rationale for the use of pre-retirement benefits as an instrument of labour shedding in 2003/2004 was, both for the firm and the workers, the approaching worse conditions for the receipt of those benefits. The trade unions had signed an agreement with the employer to allow the workers to make use of the expiring option: “Although de facto, I say, those people could have easily worked longer, that was choosing the lesser evil. That means, the law [on pre-retirement benefits] helped the people to make a quick decision, because if they would be released today, they would not be entitled to that any more. Therefore… I do not call that mass lay-offs. That was a choice of the lesser evil.” (Firm PL-13_TU) That example shows the collusion of interests of employees, the employer and trade unions on the issue of early retirement, and the impact of institutional incentives. The workers in that and other Polish firms agreed to exit early, but their decision was not completely voluntary. They knew about the unstable employment prospects in the firm and exited early for fear of unemployment should the legislator decide to discontinue preretirement benefits altogether. This points to an adaptive, endogenous shaping of exit preferences (Elster 1983: 110ff). In sum, it can be said that the situation of constant downsizing is typical of Poland as a country with a transforming economy (Mroczkowski et al. 2005). Older workers are treated as a flexibility resource during personnel reductions or ńatural turnover´, although several firms which understand themselves as “social” attach importance to the protection of older workers and of those incapable of work from unemployment and low pension levels, and are willing to retain older workers who have decided not to utilise pre-retirement benefits. Natural turnover is also used as a means of seasonal personnel adjustments if there is no need for large-scale downsizing. Older workers in Poland are less protected from dismissal than in Germany, as dismissal protection is rarely codified in collective agreements (in my sample, there were three such cases). The 4-year protection period is circumvented by Polish firms by releasing older workers earlier, or by signing a cancellation agreement which is not always voluntary. The employer has more power in deciding on the conditions of early exit, the trade unions have reduced leeway (with the exception of industries ´with high importance for the national economy´, like energy industry, the railways, heavy industry), which is typical of privatised enterprises (Siewierski 1993: 146). That makes the prolongation of working life seem less likely in Poland than in Germany. However, an opportunity for prolongation of working life is the absence of the formulation in work contracts that employment ends upon reaching 191
standard retirement age, the options to continue work past that age in some firms, and the frequent practice of employing pensioners. As can be seen in Table 22, hypothesis 3 is supported with regard to the economic situation of the firm. Of the firms which did not grant the workers the initiative on early exit, all were reducing personnel or had done it shortly before the interview phase. Hypothesis 3 is however not supported with regard to the age of the workforce. Among the firms which take the initiative to externalise older workers, there are both such with an óld´, áverage´ and ýoung´ age structure. Table 22: Testing of hypothesis 3 Firm staff cuts in 2005 or 2006? branch development between 2004-2006 óld´ or ýoung´ firm** EE as decision of the worker*** PL-1 No negative young Yes PL-2 Yes slightly negative* average HRM: no, but free choice TU: no PL-3 No slightly negative* young (no early exits yet) PL-4 No positive young No PL-5 No positive/negative average Probably yes PL-6 Yes positive average Yes, mostly PL-7 Yes positive old 2005: rather not PL-8 Yes negative old Yes 2006: yes PL-9 Yes negative average No, but free choice PL-10 No positive average Probably yes PL-11 No positive old No, but some decision latitude PL-<strong>12</strong> No positive young HRM: no TU: yes PL-13 No positive young No, but some decision latitude PL-14 No positive n.s. Probably yes PL-15 Yes slightly positive* average Yes PL-16 No slightly negative* average Probably yes PL-17 Yes negative average 2004: Yes (HRM) 2006: No Source: Same as in Table 20. The cells with grey background mark cases with personnel reductions shortly before the period of investigation. * = less than -1% employment decline, resp. below +1% employment growth 2004-2006 ** = share of ´50pluses´ among the workforce in 2005/2006 was more than <strong>12</strong>5% higher/lower as in enterprises with 250 and more workers in Poland (Ipsos 2007). *** = older workers are not pushed out and take the initiative to apply for an early retirement pension or preretirement benefits on their own. staff cuts = large-scale personnel reductions of at least 30 persons. The label of ´good practice´ with regard to the procedures of contract termination and retirement transitions can be assigned in my view to Firm PL-1, Firm PL-5 and Firm PL-14 (see Box 9 for the latter case). All three employers allow to continue work until or even past 192
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Chances and Barriers for the Prolon
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Acknowledgments I would like to tha
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1
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5.2. Determinants at Establishment
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List of Tables Table 1: Crucial pen
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ATZ - Alterst
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older workers, and to preserve thei
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Germany and Poland were chosen as c
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under the factual minimum standards
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Figure 1: Firm-level decisions and
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Figure 2: Decisions and actions wit
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about by profit considerations in t
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concomitantly, the related opportun
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- retirement ages/age limits (Kohli
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In Poland, there exist no in-depth
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workers (´problem group´) and tre
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the view to structural factors and
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The authors sought to analyse wheth
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imposed in Germany, despite being b
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2.4. Explanations at Collective Bar
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2.5. Conclusions The depicted theor
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the development of qualitative meth
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concrete, context-based knowledge (
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I had originally intended to focus
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I chose the software MAXqda for thi
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strategy´, resp. ´muddling throug
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Figure 3: Country-specific analytic
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3.2.1. Overview of Changes in Pensi
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the early retirement scheme, and fi
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pathway, the flexible and partial p
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was utilised already since the late
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3.2.2. Overview of Changes in Labou
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criteria of what jobs are they are
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With regard to the legal and collec
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Figure 4: Inflows of men into the p
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of the average retirement age by on
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Figure 8: Employment rates of older
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Institutional changes have also had
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environment, prevention of health i
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urdens of the workforce and suggest
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ased on social insurance and their
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Moreover, “pensions of persons wo
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granted to unemployed women aged 58
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not promote a prolongation of worki
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education vouchers for workers 45+
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force had a low work ethos, low wor
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Figure 9: Annual numbers of recipie
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pensioners decreased by 41 per cent
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Figure 11: Employment rates of olde
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preferred way of exit due to easy a
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espective constituency and inhibits
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Figure 12: Fulfilment of Stockholm
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whom a separate pension system is m
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conducive towards the prolongation
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Due to the negligence in the field
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The position of older workers on th
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fact in Germany rather than in Pola
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2) the supply-side orientated inter
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Difficulties with recruitment of qu
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learning to the needs of older pers
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(Schmidt/Gatter 1997: 168), in Pola
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4.2.1. Presentation of the Studied
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Firm DE-14 Man. of Transport Equipm
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opinions by adding that similar tra
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Table 16: Focus of personnel policy
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4.2.3. Recruitment Practice Good pr
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egardless of their individual capab
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“The movements within the firm -
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epresentative or manager). However,
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The interview guideline for my firm
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tear. However, the externalisation
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publicly owned firms (Firm DE-1, Fi
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At aggregate level, the existence o
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means for „exchanging the old for
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Box 4: Good practice in employee ex
Page 151 and 152: combination of the receipt of unemp
Page 153 and 154: where workers cancelled the previou
Page 155 and 156: and the agitation by the works coun
Page 157 and 158: and on the other side, externalisat
Page 159 and 160: severance payment in case of the 58
Page 161 and 162: older workers, without further adju
Page 163 and 164: ationalisation, and foster adaptive
Page 165 and 166: with a health management professor
Page 167 and 168: only limited impact (and interest)
Page 169 and 170: those who cannot was reported by fi
Page 171 and 172: I made out some forms of irrational
Page 173 and 174: Another result of my studies, which
Page 175 and 176: sections of this work. At aggregate
Page 177 and 178: Table 20: Establishments studied in
Page 179 and 180: 4.3.2. Overall human resource manag
Page 181 and 182: wages, jubilee awards, or a longer
Page 183 and 184: dominate over measures which treat
Page 185 and 186: education, computer literacy, knowl
Page 187 and 188: the recruitment practice. In the ab
Page 189 and 190: To sum up, applicants over 50 are t
Page 191 and 192: training is provided for persons
Page 193 and 194: Neither hypothesis 2A nor hypothesi
Page 195 and 196: an occupational safety inspector. B
Page 197 and 198: The internalisation strategy - job
Page 199 and 200: supported with regard to the age of
Page 201: firms have an even longer protectio
Page 205 and 206: A striking feature in most firms is
Page 207 and 208: A polarisation in exit preferences
Page 209 and 210: espective improvements in several H
Page 211 and 212: That analysis evidently demonstrate
Page 213 and 214: Figure 13: Procedure of translating
Page 215 and 216: policy, as they have experience on
Page 217 and 218: each firm would be needed. From the
Page 219 and 220: working conditions). Also instituti
Page 221 and 222: of home country nationals in manage
Page 223 and 224: European corporation which is very
Page 225 and 226: Figure 14: Firm typology Firm label
Page 227 and 228: The qualitative support for the hyp
Page 229 and 230: eacted to pension reforms which sou
Page 231 and 232: Germany are more successful in prot
Page 233 and 234: older workers, but I nevertheless u
Page 235 and 236: 5. Barriers and Opportunities for P
Page 237 and 238: At firm level, the neo-classical la
Page 239 and 240: go policies´ (Schömann 2006: 135)
Page 241 and 242: differences in EU impact are visibl
Page 243 and 244: prevention does not play a role yet
Page 245 and 246: from coal heating to gas and oil, r
Page 247 and 248: innovative ideas of work-life balan
Page 249 and 250: term orientated, personnel policy r
Page 251 and 252: Badura, Bernhard; Schellschmidt, He
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Brown, Halina Szejnwald; Angel, Dav
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Dunn, Suzanne, 2005: “Effective S
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Frerichs, Frerich; Bögel, Jan (eds
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Heidenreich, Martin, 1991: "Verallg
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Kistler, E.; Ebert, A.; Guggemos, P
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Marstedt, Gerd et al., 2003: Alt we
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etrieblicher Personalpolitik und st
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Rustemeyer, Ruth, 1992: Praktisch-m
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Stettes, Oliver, 2007: Impact of Co
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Weitbrecht, Hansjörg, 2003: „Hum
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Annex A: Interview Guidelines (Exam
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early retirement scheme, freeze on
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Annex B: Short Firm Questionnaire (
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Annex C: Constructing Firm Typologi
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