| dc.description.abstract | In this report we analyze results from the Norwegian Senior Policy Barometer among employed persons. MMI/Synovate interviewed one thousand persons of all ages for Centre for Senior Policy each year from 2003 to 2008. A new sample was drawn each year. The questions included opinions about older workers, age discrimination, psychosocial working environments, job satisfaction and preferences for timing of retirement. The main aim is to study changes of significance for seniors and older workers over the study period. The most obvious change is that more workers in 2008 than in 2003 want to continue work after the first option for retirement. This is particularly true for the age group 55-61 years, who is close to the first option of voluntery exit at 62 years. In 2008, 52 per cent in this age group said they wanted to continue, compared to 35 per cent in 2003. The average preferred or ideal age of exit increased from 61,4 to 62,9 years. The increased interest for work may reflect signals from the authorities about the need for seniors to remain in work. It may also reflect a general increase in employment rates and need for labour. Older workers seems to be included the general increase in employment rates over the period from 2003 to 2008. The results also indicate that older workers have a stronger position on the labour market in 2008 than in 2003. A higher support for the seniority principle by lay offs, and a clear increase in the opposition against rules allowing mandatory retirement, give evidence for a strong and strengthened position of older workers. Apart from this, we find only small changes in perceptions on the qualities and work ability of older workers, and in the experience of how often age discrimination takes place in working life. The psychosocial working environment is also conceived in about he same way in 2008 as in 2003. However, in the age group above 55 years, there are signs of a more including environment with better options for learning at the job, more autonomy and better prospects for getting new tasks. Partly, younger and older workers have quite different opinions about work and ageing, and partly they have similar opinions. The disparity in opinions seems not to be clear enough to cause strong generation conflicts in working life. However, seniors conceive 'older workers' in more positive ways than younger workers do. Studies on work performance in different age groups indicate that age differences are small, but vary according to profession. Thus, a less than perfect agreement on the qualities of older workers may cause older workers to feel underestimated by their younger workmates. Older workers, on average, report higher job satisfaction than younger workers. Particularly many of the 62-66 years olds look forward to go to the job. Apart from the polarities, those under 30 years of age and those above 67, there is a broad agreement on the definition of 'older workers'. The mean is 56 years. However, only about 50 percent of those above 56 years conceive of themselves as 'older workers', and at all ages less than 50 percent believe that their employer consider them to be 'older workers'. The majority of older workers don't seem to be happy to be counted as 'older'. Those among the seniors who report the highest degree of including factors in their working environments, are those having high education, high income and who are working long hours each week. Such including factors are options for learning new things, autonomy at work and prospects for new tasks. Policy recommendations would be to improve options for learning, autonomy and prospects for new tasks even for senior workers with low education and low income, in other words seniors lower in the hierarchies at work or with jobs requiring little or no education. Seniors with high education, high income andworking at least full time, more often has experienced that age discrimination occurs in working life. It may seem paradoxical that the groups more often reporting about an including work environment, also more often report about age discrimination. However, while the including factors refer to the workers own situation, respondents reporting age discrimination has not necessarily themselves been exposed to discrimination. Comparisons between changes among leaders (Solem 2008) and senior employees show different patterns. First, changes in definitions of 'older workers' have started earlier among seniors, and leaders have approached the higher age limits set by seniors. Second, perceptions of the qualities of older worker and their work performance are very similar among seniors and leaders in 2008. However, the two groups have reached this agreement from different starting positions. The seniors had much more positive conceptions than the leaders of the performance of older workers, and have become more negative. The leaders have become more positive. Perhaps public attention to senior workers in this period has resulted in more nuances in both groups and more realistic views on older workers. A third comparison between leaders and senior workers indicate that leaders have changed their view on the prevalence of age discrimination and report age discrimination less often in 2008, while seniors' opinions not have changed. Possibly, the legislation against age discrimination implemented in Norway in 2004 has alerted leaders to try to avoid age discrimination. Since seniors don't seem too see any improvements, leaders may have to increase their efforts to avoid discrimination of older workers. This study concludes that changes in leaders' attitudes toward older workers and the increased interest among older workers to remain in work for more years probably are parallel expressions of changes on the labour marked. Older workers are increasingly needed in the labour marked over the study period. However, we see no direct links between leaders attitudes and older workers intention to remain in work. Probably such links are more apparent in the interaction between senior workers and their supervisor. Messages from the supervisor to individual senior workers that 'we need you' are expected to be more appealing than general policy statements from the top management on the need for senior workforce. In the leader section of the Senior Policy Barometer (Solem 2008), the sample is drawn from top managers. The answers are diverse to a question on what would incite the worker to remain in work for one more year than initially intended. Obviously, one single measure would not suffice to keep a significant number of workers for one extra year. However, most of the issues mentioned are in the control of managers; higher pay, longer holidays, to improve job satisfaction and love of work, interesting tasks, to feel needed, and practical adaptations. Prevention of health problems is also of importance, according to the answers. This may require long term measures whit broader target groups than seniors. | en |
