Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Another question guiding my analysis was whether the position of trade unions held
in the 1980s – shortening of working life supported by trade unions in the foodstuffs
industry, chemical industry and the civil service, resp. shortening of weekly working hours
supported by IG Metall (see section 3.2.4.) – is still reflected at firm level. However, when
comparing firms in the purviews of respective trade unions in Table 19, no pronounced
externalisation, resp. internalisation strategy of one group or the latter is visible. Possibly,
with time, the positions of trade unions on early retirement have grown closer together, as
the agitation of IG Metall for a prolongation of ATZ vividly demonstrate (IG Metall 2006).
With regard to the stage of development of HRM in the studied firms (the rows in Table
19), it shows that about the same numbers of firms have an elaborate age management
strategy, or an HRM strategy which takes into account the ageing of the workforce (see
section 4.2.2.), as firms which ´muddle through´ and firms which are in intermediate stages.
This shows that there is much to be done before German firms adopt a sustainable HRM
policy which addresses the ageing of the workforce in all relevant fields, but it also shows
that the internalisation of older workers is not significantly correlated with how elaborate
the HRM policy is, and to what degree demographic and workforce ageing is reflected at
firm level.
Hypothesis 5 (see section 2.2.) cannot be answered at this point, as no clear pattern
emerges when studying solely the personnel policy of German firms. I will return to that
hypothesis in the comparative section 4.4., when a pattern may emerge in contrast to the
personnel policy of Polish firms.
4.3. Polish Firm Case Studies
In the next chapters, I will describe and analyse the findings from Polish firm case
studies (interviews and collected statistical material and collective agreements). I will
analyse the barriers and opportunities to the prolongation of working life in the field of
recruitment, further training, health management (including the integration and
rehabilitation of incapacitated workers) and the policies guiding the end of work life.
Throughout the chapter, I will make use of the distinction between internalisation and
externalisation towards older workers (see section 4.1.1.). In each HRM field, I will typify
´good practice´ examples. I will also answer the hypotheses formulated in the initial
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