ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES FOR OLDER WORKERS: FIRST INSIGHTS INTO THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE LATER LIFE WORK INDEX

• Published in: Innovation in aging 2018-11, Vol.2 (Suppl 1), p.993-994
• Main Authors: Wilckens, M, Wöhrmann, A, Deller, J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abstracts
• ISSN: 2399-5300
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igy031.3672

Later life work is on the rise in most developed countries because of increased retirement ages and an increasing number of retirees who remain employed. The extension of working lives requires organizations to successfully employ older employees by providing appropriate employment conditions. Appropriate conditions have to be beneficial not only for the individual, but also for the organization. However, this has rarely been investigated with regard to extended working lives. We integrated two perspectives on good organizational practices for employees nearing retirement age and beyond: A German perspective based on qualitative expert interviews (Wöhrmann, Deller, & Pundt, 2018) and a U.S. perspective based on the “Age Smart Employer Award”, which identifies advanced employers regarding organizational practices for older employees in New York City. The resulting Later Life Work Index (LLWI) consists of nine dimensions covering age-friendly organizational culture and leadership, as well as more specific age-friendly practices regarding work design, health management, individual development, knowledge management, transition to retirement, continued employment options, and health and retirement coverage (Inter-coder reliability .65 to .92). The index is indented to serve organizations as a self-assessment tool and allow for benchmarks among peers. We operationalized each dimension to be assessed with short scales on the organizational level. Reliability and criterion validity was ensured upon existing scales for the various domains in pilot studies with 30–50 organizations. We aim to validate the effects of the index on organizational outcomes (performance, retirement age, illness absence) within a study among Germany companies by the end of 2018.