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Working and ageing - Cedefop - Europa

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266<br />

<strong>Working</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>ageing</strong><br />

Guidance <strong>and</strong> counselling for mature learners<br />

Figure 14.1. Transitions after 50<br />

Personal<br />

transitions<br />

• midlife<br />

change<br />

Source: Phillipson, 2002.<br />

Employment<br />

transitions<br />

• career<br />

management<br />

• part-time<br />

work<br />

• self-employ-<br />

ment<br />

• retirement<br />

Income<br />

transitions<br />

• pensions<br />

• benefits<br />

• salary /<br />

wage<br />

Family<br />

transitions<br />

• household<br />

changes<br />

• children<br />

leaving<br />

home<br />

• divorce<br />

• living alone<br />

Care<br />

transitions<br />

• exp<strong>and</strong>ing/<br />

changing<br />

care tasks<br />

Leisure<br />

transitions<br />

• exp<strong>and</strong>ing/<br />

changing<br />

leisure<br />

activities<br />

From the organisational perspective, during a period of economic downturn,<br />

many organisations adopt early voluntary retirement/redundancy programmes,<br />

placing the older workforce, in particular, at risk of exiting the labour market. In<br />

addition, talent management programmes tend to be geared towards younger<br />

staff, with few opportunities to learn <strong>and</strong> develop available to older workers. It<br />

is important to note, however, that the extent to which the challenge of the<br />

<strong>ageing</strong> workforce is managed across the public, private <strong>and</strong> voluntary sectors<br />

varies significantly. One of the key findings of Loretto <strong>and</strong> White (2006), in their<br />

study of 40 employers across Scotl<strong>and</strong> from both the public <strong>and</strong> private<br />

sectors, was the acknowledgement by employers that early redundancy<br />

programmes ʻalmost wholly targeted older workersʼ (Loretto <strong>and</strong> White, 2006,<br />

p. 322). They also suggest that older workers are more likely to remain in<br />

employment in smaller, private companies as there is often no financial<br />

incentive for the employee to retire early. This is an important point to consider<br />

when comparing workers across sectors <strong>and</strong> at different skill levels.<br />

While popular conception among many authors (Loretto <strong>and</strong> White, 2006;<br />

Naegele <strong>and</strong> Walker, 2006; McNair et al., 2007) suggests that employers view<br />

older workers positively <strong>and</strong> recognise several desirable qualities such as<br />

reliability, experience <strong>and</strong> knowledge, the reality is that older workers are<br />

increasingly being deemed ʻdisposableʼ by many organisations. Scotl<strong>and</strong>ʼs<br />

largest local authority has recently adopted a strategy to cut 4 000 jobs held

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