Challenges of Active Ageing (eBook)

Simonetta Manfredi is Professor of Equality and Diversity Management and Director of the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She has published and led several externally funded projects focusing on age discrimination and retirement policies, gender and careers and work-life balance. Lucy Vickers is Professor of Law at Oxford Brookes University, UK. Lucy’s main research area is the protection of human rights within the workplace and aspects of equality law. She has written extensively on issues relating to religious discrimination and age discrimination at work. 

Dedication 6
Foreword 8
Preface 10
Acknowledgements 18
Contents 20
Notes on Contributors 24
List of Figures 26
List of Tables 28
Part I: The Development of the Law at EU Level 30
1: Setting the Scene: Development of the CJEU Jurisprudence on Age Discrimination in Employment 31
1 Introduction 31
2 European Age Discrimination Legislation 34
2.1 The Preamble 34
2.2 The Provisions 35
3 Development Through the Case Law of the CJEU 37
3.1 A Strong Principle in Mangold 37
3.2 Approval of Compulsory Retirement in Palacios 39
3.3 A Cold Shower? Rosenbladt 40
3.4 Right to Work? Georgiev, Fuchs and Hörnfeldt 41
3.5 Age-Related Pay or Employment Rights and Seniority: Kücükdeveci and Hennigs 43
4 Discussion 44
4.1 The Relative Importance of Age Discrimination Law 45
4.2 The Subsidiarity and Proportionality of Age Discrimination Law 46
4.3 The Interdisciplinarity of Age Discrimination law 49
4.4 The Dilemmatic Nature of Age Discrimination Law 50
4.5 The Collective Nature of Age Discrimination Law 51
4.6 The Economic Paradigm of Age Discrimination Law 52
5 Conclusions 54
2: A Freedom Under Supervision: The EU Court and Mandatory Retirement Age 56
1 The Judgments on Mandatory Retirement Age 58
1.1 Judgments Rejecting National Measures 60
1.2 Judgments accepting or Opening the Way to Accept National Provisions 63
2 External Factors: ‘The World Out There’ 71
3 Conclusion 72
Part II: The Issue of Retirement 73
3: Retirement and the Pension Crisis 74
1 The Role of Neoliberal Ideology and Discourse 78
1.1 A Brief Overview of Current Pension Provision in the UK 81
1.2 The Manufacturing of a Pensions Crisis 83
2 New Policy Changes 88
3 Compulsion, Non-Retirement, and Longer Working Lives 93
4 Conclusion 95
4: The Challenges of Active Ageing in the UK: A Case Study of the Approach to Retirement in the UK 96
1 Introduction 96
2 The Challenges of Active Ageing in the UK 97
3 The UK Legal Framework 102
3.1 Justifying Retirement 104
4 Meeting the Challenges of Active Ageing? 105
4.1 Challenging the Justification of Retirement 106
Dignity or Collegiality 107
General or Individual Justification? 107
4.2 Reinstating Retirement Through the Backdoor? 110
5 Alternative Means to Meet the Needs of Older Workers 112
6 Concluding Remarks 115
Part III: The Challenges of Extending Working Lives 118
5: Intersectionality as a Tool for Analysing Age and Gender in Labour Law 119
1 Introduction 119
2 An Intersectional Approach to Age and Gender in Labour Law 120
3 Demographic Developments and Older Women’s Position in the Labour Market 122
4 The Active Ageing Agenda in EU Employment Policies 123
5 EU Law on Work Life Discrimination 126
6 Age and Gender in Working Life and Labour Law: Intersectional Observations 132
7 Conclusions 138
6: Active Ageing in Italy: Labour Market Perspectives and Access to Welfare 140
1 Introduction 140
2 Retirement Age 141
2.1 Active Ageing and Retirement Policies 141
3 Age and Termination of the Employment Contract 143
3.1 Mandatory Retirement 144
Private Sector 144
Public Sector 146
3.2 Clauses on Automatic Termination of Employment 147
3.3 Age as Selection Criterion for Dismissal of Redundant Employees 148
3.4 Judges’ Reluctance to Rely on Anti-­discrimination Law Tools 149
4 Early Retirement Schemes and Other Early Exit Pathways 150
5 Inclusion Measures Aimed at Extending Working Life 151
5.1 The Legal Perspective: Is Labour Law Too Inflexible to Promote Active Ageing? 151
6 The Contractual Perspective: Trade Unions’ Lack of Interest at National and Company Level 153
6.1 The National Contract 153
6.2 Company-Level Contracts 155
7 Are Trade Unions Losing Ground in Corporate Governance? 156
8 Is the Local Dimension the Right Perspective for the Future? 157
9 Conclusions 160
7: Older Workers in the Nursing and Midwifery Profession: Will They Stay or Will They Go? 162
1 Introduction 162
2 Debates About Older Workers and Extending Working Lives 164
3 Extending Working Lives in the NHS 167
4 Will They Stay or Will They go? 170
5 Responses from Nurses and Midwives 171
6 Senior Clinical Managers’ Perceptions of Older Workers 173
7 Retaining Older Workers and Flexible Working 177
8 Concluding Remarks 178
8: Emerging Options for Extending Working Lives: Results of a Delphi Study 182
1 The Delphi Method 183
2 Research Procedures 185
3 Means of Analysis 189
4 Scenarios and Results 190
4.1 Round 1 Scenarios 190
Each Industry Develops a Work Ability Strategy to Be Implemented by Individual Workplaces 190
Each Workplace Adopts an Age Management Approach to Its Workforce 191
Each Employee Is Given the Right to Request Flexible Working Arrangements 192
Easily Accessible Information and Guidance About Managing and Working in an Ageing Workforce Is Available to Employers and Employees 193
Effective Leadership Ensures the Ageing Workforce Is an Issue of High Priority 194
A National Dialogue Regarding What Rights, Obligations and Privileges Should Be Granted to Individuals at Different Ages Is Undertaken 194
Employers Have a Positive Duty to Achieve Employment Equality, Including for Older Workers 195
Employers Have a Responsibility to Consult with Employees and/or Their Representatives in Relation to Equality Matters 196
4.2 Round 1 Results 196
4.3 Round 2 197
Reworded Scenarios 197
Repetition of Scenarios 199
New Scenarios 199
Implementation Scenarios 200
5 Analysis and Conclusions 203
Part IV: The Perspectives of Workers 207
9: Extended Working Lives: What Do Older Employees Want? 208
1 Employment Patterns Among the  Over-­50s in the UK 209
2 Reinvention in Retirement 213
2.1 Reinvention Activities 214
2.2 Reasons for Reinvention 215
2.3 Barriers to Reinvention 217
3 Flexible Work and Extending Working Lives 218
3.1 Overview of Prevalence of Flexible Working 219
3.2 Reason 1: No Appetite to Work Longer in Any Capacity 219
3.3 Reason 2: Quality of Flexible Work Options 221
3.4 Reason 3: No, or Limited, Opportunities to Work Flexibly 222
3.5 Reason 4: Mismatch Between Employers and Employees 223
3.6 Reason 5: Narrowness of Notions of ‘Flexible Work’ 224
4 Discussion and Policy Implications 226
10: Work and Careers: Narratives from Knowledge Workers Aged 48–58 230
1 Introduction 230
2 Bringing the ‘Narrative Turn’ to Older Worker Research 231
3 Insights from Existing Narrative Research 232
4 The Field Research 234
5 Some Core Similarities in Participants’ Narratives 235
5.1 Changing Meaning of Work 240
6 Core Differences Between Participants’ Narratives 242
6.1 Narratives of Renewal 243
6.2 Narratives of Seeking Progression 244
6.3 Narratives of Winding Down 244
6.4 Narratives of Reorienting ‘Self’ Away from Work 245
7 Potential 246
8 Retirement 248
9 Conclusion 250
11: Function, Flexibility, and Responsibility: Differences Between the Former Professional Job and Post-retirement Activities 252
1 Introduction 252
2 Post-retirement Activities 257
2.1 Conceptualization of Post-retirement Activities 257
2.2 From the Former Career Job to Post-retirement Activities 259
2.3 Determinants of Post-retirement Activities 260
3 Study 1: Qualitative Approach 263
3.1 Method for Study 1 263
3.2 Results for Study 1 263
4 Study 2: Quantitative Approach 265
4.1 Method for Study 2 265
4.2 Results for Study 2 268
5 General Discussion 271
6 Conclusion 273
Part V: The Perspective from Practice 275
12: BMW Group Case Study: Help a Workforce to Age 276
1 Introduction 276
2 Creating an Ergonomically Friendly Work Environment 277
3 Managing Health and Offer Preventative Health Care 278
4 Changing Working Patterns and Responding to the Needs of Associates 279
5 Training to Keep Up the Skills of the Workforce 280
6 Supporting Associates with Plans for Retirement 281
7 Conclusions 281
13: Managing Older Workers in a Local Authority: The Case of Oxford City Council 282
1 Introduction 282
2 Managing the Workplace Without Mandatory Retirement 283
2.1 Turnover 284
2.2 Opting Out from the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) 284
2.3 Second Jobs 285
2.4 Pay Directly Linked to Productivity 285
3 Alternative Work Trajectories for Employees as They Get Older 285
3.1 Part-Time Employment 285
3.2 An Alternative Job or Role Within the Council 286
4 Conclusion 287
14: What Scope for an Employer Justified Retirement Age? A View from Practice 288
15: Extending Working Lives: A Trade Union Perspective 295
1 Choice and Flexibility Around Retirement 297
2 Positive and Early Interventions by Employers 299
3 Better Support for Carers 301
4 Midlife Career Reviews 302
5 Conclusion 304
16: ‘Changing Step’: The Transition from the Regular Army to Civilian Life and Work 305
1 The Move from ‘Resettlement’ to ‘Transition’ 309
2 Current Resettlement Provision 313
3 Conclusions 314
Bibliography 317
Legislation, Treaties and Charters 317
Cases 318
Books, Journals and Conference Papers 320
Index 350