Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

[short laugh] Because we have enough old ones and do not know what to do with them.” A
WCM in the same firm explained the trend towards rejuvenation of the staff with the
accomplished rejuvenation of the management:
“[H]ere in the plant, superiors who enter a new department and who are, say, 45 years old will of
course take care that they do not bring in an old one who is 55 and who is maybe even more
experienced. I experience that very concretely in the works that there are attempts to reorganise a
department, meaning that if one is the superior, one is the oldest. That entails that if I am 35, I will
get workers who are younger than me – and not older.” (2_Firm DE-3_WCM)
The opinion that rejuvenation of the workforce was needed was more often expressed by
managers. The preference for younger workers was voiced irrespective of the actual age
structure of the workforce. The arguments brought forward against the hiring of older
workers were the inadequacy of positions, the disregard of the qualification of older
workers, general preference for younger persons and neo-classical arguments (lower
performance of older workers, seniority system, legal and collective dismissal protection,
prohibition of certain work, shorter depreciation period of HRM investments).
The shorter depreciation period of investments in human capital was brought forward as
recruitment barrier by the chairman of the works council in a utility. Due to personnel
reductions and outsourcing, the remaining vacancies are highly specialised workplaces
which require four till six years of on-the-job training.
And if you hire him at 55, you can calculate that at some point it does not make sense. Soon he´ll be
over 60 and is almost about to retire (…).” (2_Firm DE-13_WCM)
Despite the generally youth-orientated recruitment policy, some chances for older
workers nevertheless appeared in the studied firms. Personnel managers in five firms
declared that they were giving equal chances to applicants of all ages. An ´age-blind´
recruitment policy in those firms does however not entail that workers of all ages have equal
access to all positions, as they are regarded as unsuitable for certain jobs (e.g. for physically
demanding work, customer service in case of young customers or jobs involving the use of
modern technologies). In such cases, older applicants are not taken into consideration
regardless of their individual capabilities (e.g. opinion of HRM in Firm DE-13).
Those findings support hypothesis 2A and falsify hypothesis 2B (see section 2.2.) for
the time being with regard to recruitment practice of German companies. Older workers
above a certain age threshold (set by the given firm) are perceived as less able and as a
potential ´problem group´. Stereotypical ascriptions (less able to learn new things, less
physically capable, less productive, low depreciation period because of propensity to early
exit) or the aim to rejuvenate their workforce lead to a rejection of older applicants
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