The role of employers opinions for older workers

What is it about?

In the paper we investigated the employers’ perception of productivity of older workers in Poland with comparison to the younger ones. We examined whether various factors including employee's skills and company policies play a role. The findings were compared with situation in the Netherlands, discussing the differences.

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Why is it important?

In case of older workers, higher assessment of soft skills is the most influential factor for explaining the assessment of productivity, while hard skills play smaller, yet not minor, role. In case of younger workers the relation is reversed. Age management aiming at improvement of older workers’ job performance correlates with higher rating of their productivity. The paper brings forth important implications for policy makers and employers who will have to deal with the challenge of an aging and shrinking workforce. They refer to lifelong learning, system of public health, age management. The most important conclusion concerns the negative influence of age-related stereotypes for the labor market situation of older workers.

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