Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Age management strategies were missing in the analysed firms altogether. Some
interviewees admitted that this topic was “revolutionary” and “completely new” to them and
that the interview made them think about possible alterations in the future.
Polish firms (both in my sample and at aggregate level, see Tokarz 2007a: 14) have not
discovered the potential of age management as a HRM approach for balancing out the
inequalities in the treatment of older and younger workers and for value-adding integration
of workers of all ages in the production process. Policies which take into account the age of
the workforce are understood as a solely protective approach or bear for them the risk of
ageism.
In line with those initial observations, explicit personnel policies towards older workers
in Polish firms were scarce, and focusing mostly on protective issues (Table 21). Therefore,
the below table pictures personnel policy in general, and not ´personnel policy towards
older workers´ as was the case in the analysis of German case studies (section 4.2.2.). 52
Table 21: Focus of personnel policy in Polish establishments
Firm
health
management
know-how
transfer
further
training
change
management
reti-
early
rement
social benefits
to older
workers
PL-1 X X
PL-2 X X
PL-3
PL-4
PL-5
X
PL-6 X X
PL-7 X X X
PL-8 X X
PL-9 X X X X
PL-10 X X
PL-11 X X X
PL-12 X X X X
PL-13 X X X X
PL-14 X X X X
PL-15 X X X X X
PL-16 X X
PL-17 X X X X
Source: own data; based on accounts of personnel managers or relations of shop stewards and analysis of
collective agreements.
Flexibilisation of working hours and rules of promotion were not taken into consideration in the analysis.
Just as was the case with the German firms in my sample, externalising measures and
measures which treat older workers as a group in need of care (right side of Table 21)
X
52 In difference to Table 16 in section 4.2.2., I did not include the column on ´personnel deployment´ and ´ageadequate
workplaces´, as none of Polish firms had policies in those fields, and the column ´protective
measures´ was extended here to ´social benefits to older workers´.
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