Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Firstly, the common feature of firms in the transportation equipment sector is the nonrecruitment
of older applicants. In distinction to the foodstuffs branch, the attractive image
especially of the automotive industry played a significant role in barring older applicants,
securing firms a steady inflow of young and well-qualified candidates. (Most Polish
transportation equipment companies in my sample were of foreign ownership and therefore
even more attractive to young applicants.) In Poland, the foodstuffs industry also did not
offer employment opportunities to older candidates, which I explain with the continuously
negative development of the food manufacturing industry in Poland in 2004-2006, while
German firms in the food manufacturing branch offered them singular employment options,
inter al. due to the already showing shortage of labour force willing to work at burdening
workplaces and for low pay. That shows the impact of branch-specific labour markets
(availability of labour force) and of the economic situation upon the recruitment chances of
older workers.
Secondly, only German firms from the transportation equipment sector were ´good
practice´ and implemented innovative solutions in the field of health and integration
management. Polish firms from both branches (with one exception) again had a
homogeneous personnel policy in that field, in accord with German firms from the
foodstuffs industry. Those firms run the externalisation policy towards impaired workers,
and offered little prevention. A possible explanation is the generally low-qualified bluecollar
workforce in the foodstuffs manufacturing sector which (in line with Mares´ (2001)
combined ´varieties of capitalism´ and ´varieties of welfare state regimes´ approach) does
not necessitate special incentives in order to retain workers or investments in their
employability. Blue-collar workers in that sector receive low wages, they fill strenuous
workplaces with “limited tenure” (Behrens 1999) which makes it possible for the firms to
rely on a solving of the ´ageing problem´ via natural wear and tear.
It follows from those examples that branch differences in age management policies are
more pronounced in Germany, while Polish firms have a more uniform policy across
sectors. Possibly, Polish firms have not yet developed adaptation patterns to deal with
structural constraints (economic situation of the given branch).
In view of findings presented in this and the previous two sections (4.2. and 4.3.),
hypothesis 6 (see section 2.1.) is supported for both countries with regard to firm-level
policies. The personnel policy of both German and Polish firms will rather hinder than
facilitate the prolongation of working life. In both countries, firms have not sufficiently
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