European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 72

Policy and Decision to Retire in Central and Eastern European Countries

for disability retirement. Hellemans and
Closon (2013) found that, for older workers,
fair acknowledgment and consideration
and some psychosocial aspects such as an
opportunity to participate are important.

Virtanen et al. (2014) revealed the
fact that employees with a good mental
health status and a high work time control
are twice more likely to work longer than
the employees who had both psychiatric
morbidity and poor work time control. High
work time control associated with extended
employment similarly among those who had
a somatic disease and those who did not.

Similar results were given by
Robroek et al. (2015) in the study carried
out in the Netherlands. Low job control
was also related to unemployment and early
retirement.

Organizational policies. The analysis
of the organizational policy is an institutional
labor market feature, which has impact on
the decision to work or retire.

Harper et al. (2006) suggest that
employers’ attitudes toward older workers
are importantly influenced by the level
of country development. It was indicated
that the less developed countries have a
stable supply of younger workers which
makes their actual and perceived need for
older workers obsolete. Davey (2008) also
argues that employers’ attitude toward
an older employer is the one of the most
influential factors of early withdrawal
from the labor market. The studies from
Central and Eastern European countries
show examples of the engagement of the
employers into the elongation of working
life of older employers. Domadenik, Redek,
and Ograjenšek (2008) discovered that more
than half of the Slovenian employers would
like to keep their male and female employees
over the legal retirement age under a regular
job contract where legally possible.

The organizational policies toward

older people usually lay on the employers’
attitudes and stereotypes. These issues were
widely analyzed by Western authors. Ulrich
(2003) noticed that the discriminatory
phrase about older workers stating that
“you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is
common among employers. While firing
staff employers usually chose the less
productive older and younger employees.
However, the question of productivity of the
older workers can be expressed differently
depending on the sector. A qualitative study
performed by McNair, Flynn, and Dutton
(2007) revealed that in small firms the age
of employee does not matter: older workers
have more skills, more work experience, and
they are more loyal and more concerned
about the interests of the client. On the
other hand, older workers also have poor
health and they do not accept new methods
of performing a job.

Discrimination against older workers
arises due to their being stereotypes: older
people are not productive and cost more for
the employer than younger ones (Ghosheh
2008). Most employers do not consider the
training of older people as useful, whereas
the expected period of staying in the job for
them is short. The findings of ArmstrongStassen (2008) suggest that human resource
practices within organizations are important
for the decision to work longer, especially
for the decision of retirees to return to work.

However, the relationship between
age and productivity is not constant and
changes over time (Ilmakunnas et al. 2010).
If the individual work productivity is defined
through experience, motivation, mental, and
physical abilities, it is clear that these aspects
are changing during different life stages.
Experience is accumulated through the
work career; however, the physical strength
and health tend to decline. Therefore, the
work productivity in older age may even
increase depending on factors such as
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