Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Annex A: Interview Guidelines
(Example: Interview Guidelines used in Germany during the first interview wave in 2004)
Interviewer: Paula Aleksandrowicz
Date: / Time: / Organisation: / Interviewee:
Way of arranging the interview:
Preliminary information on the firm:
Own material on the firm:
Guideline
• Short presentation of the project
• Goals of the interview and means of utilisation
• Confirmation of anonymity
• Asking whether interview might be recorded
Warm-Up
• Purview of the interviewee
• Areas of business of the firm, market situation, current problems
• Can an impact of the demographic change on the firm be currently made out? How does the firm deal
with that and in what departments?
• What sectoral, company and works council agreements are valid in the firm and have an impact upon the
employment situation of older workers?
Older workers in the organisation
• Number of employees, age structure of the workforce
• How would you define an ´older worker´?
• What do you perceive as the pros and cons of older workers?
• What are the working conditions of older blue- and white-collar workers? Do working conditions make a
continuation of working life until the 65 th year feasible?
• How is the situation dealt with in your firm when an older worker is not capable of working until his/her
65 th year?
Personnel policy towards older workers
• General direction of personnel policy towards older workers:
- age-blind policy; older workers do neither benefit nor suffer from age-diverse treatment;
- protective measures focused on older workers (protection against dismissals, seniority wages, …);
- older workers are preferentially laid off and sent on early retirement;
- ...
• Does your firm pursue singular personnel policy measures which treat older and younger workers in a
different way? What are the reasons? Possible measures are:
- seniority wages; according to what criteria are the wages calculated? What is the wage structure in
your firm, e.g. what is a blue-collar/a white-collar worker paid at the age of 55?
- protection against downgrading (demotion);
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