Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Box 1: Dedicated age management strategy in Firm DE-3
At the time of the second interview, Firm DE-3 had started conceptualising a HRM strategy. Age management
was designed as a part of it, albeit not all facets of the ageing workforce were of interest for the firm.
Firm DE-3 puts a focus on further training and redeployment of aged workers. Many of them are migrants with
only scarce knowledge of German and had been hired four decades ago for unqualified workplaces. On the one
hand, they work at workplaces which cause early wear and tear. For persons at such workplaces, the personnel
manager plans job rotation and job enrichment during the whole worklife, as the redeployment of already
incapacitated workers to less physically demanding workplaces has provoked resistance: “The older persons
from the blast furnace (…) did not want to change to the workshop as much money can still be made in
shiftwork.” (2_Firm DE-3_HRM).
On the other hand, many older workers are deployed at dequalifying workplaces where “one may do everything
besides thinking. They have done that for 30 years and then ceased thinking at all” (2_Firm DE-3_HRM). Due
to their low qualifications, those older workers were in times of personnel reductions transferred to an
outplacement agency where they will have to be qualified to fit into new workplaces.
Since 2006, Firm DE-3 is covered by the Collective Agreement on Demographic Change developed by IG
Metall. It obliges the covered companies to conduct an analysis of the age structure, qualification and work
burdens of the workforce. The personnel policy measures developed on that basis shall be consulted with the
works council (2_Firm DE-3_WCM). The collective agreement suggests the creation of age-mixed teams, job
rotation and qualification. However, it also suggests the use of long-term work accounts as a vehicle for early
exit, and define the “lowering of average age through intensified employment of former apprentices” as “top
priority” (information from the document).
Other firms did not pursue an HRM strategy but respondents pointed to certain policy
measures directed at older workers which are rather reactive and setting in when there is
acute need. The pursued measures are sign of treating older workers as a ´problem group´
rather than as ´resource´. Policies for older workers aim to alleviate the negative
consequences of being old (through the provision of sheltered workplaces and protection
against dismissals) and to cushion the income loss in the transition to retirement (through
the provision of early exit measures co-financed by the firm). The employer thus acts as the
provider of social benefits.
Table 16 depicts the main orientation of personnel policy towards older workers in all
studied German establishments. It can be seen that passive measures, treating older workers
as a group in need of care or aiming at their externalisation (right side of Table), are more
widespread than measures which treat older workers as a resource and aim at utilising or
enhancing their potential (left side and middle of Table). `Protective measures´ include
downgrading protection, extra holidays, exemption from certain work and jubilee awards.
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