Work, Resources and Attitudes to Continuing Working
– a study of 45-59-year-old women employed in the public sector

by Leena Eskelinen, August 2000

• Report available in Danish

Summary

The study concerns the 45-59-year-olds’ resources at work, i.e. the question how work – the content of the work, the working environment and other working conditions – shapes and affects the resources and work expectations of individuals throughout their working life.

The two general assumptions of the study are

• that work is of importance for the individual’s way of functioning and thereby for the individual’s resources for work,

• that the resources are created in a long-term interaction between the individual and the environment and that, therefore, it is relevant to consider the resources of the individual in the age group 45-59 in a life perspective.

The present situation of the 45-59-year-olds is thus related both to the history of their working life and their expectations with regard to future work.

The study consists of a questionnaire study and an interview study. The questionnaire study is aimed at women employed in the public sector in four large occupational groups with different qualification requirements, viz. nurses, office employees, home care workers and cleaners – a total of almost 3,000 45-59-year-olds from these occupational groups from all over Denmark. The respondents were selected from among those participating in the questionnaire study so that they represent working women with many and few resources, respectively.

Resources of 45-59-year-olds seen in relation to their work

»Resources for work« are described in the study by means of indicators such as self-estimated capacity for work and self-estimated health, motivation for work and work commitment and attitude to learning something new within their own field of work, i.e. the respondents’ own evaluation of their qualifications and competence in relation to their work.

The first step was to analyse how the resources for work are related to occupational groups (the study covered four occupational groups with different job and qualification requirements, i.e. cleaners, home care workers, office employees and nurses) and different age group (three groups of 45, 50 and 55 years, respectively).

General trends in relation to occupational group and age group

Resources for work appeared to be different among those of the same age in the four occupational groups and another characteristic was that those employed in the four occupational groups stated many or few resources, respectively, concurrently for several indicators. Those who had many resources, typically evaluated changes in personal resources during the past ten years positively and at the same time they were confident that they could manage their jobs in the future.

The differences between the occupational groups were by and large as anticipated. Within cleaning where the work can be physically very hard and only to a minor extent challenging as far as the content of the work is concerned, personnel typically have a reduced capacity for work and their health is impaired and at the same time they have relatively few resources also in other respects. The nurses, on the other hand, assess both their health and capacity for work as good and they are motivated for work and prepared to learn something new. The assessments of office employees with regard to their capacity for work and health were mainly positive, while the assessments of home care workers were the second lowest after those of cleaners. This indicates that jobs involving primarily physical job requirements and monotonous tasks, possibly combined with a high working tempo often become problematic with age. Uncertainty about how they would manage their present job in five years’ time and concern that their health would deteriorate were considerably more outspoken in this study among cleaners and home service workers than among nurses and office employees. It can be expected that few resources and one-sided work experiences will give only slight possibilities of developing one’s work situation or seeking another job as well as an increased risk of the individuals not being able to continue in their jobs until retirement age.

The differences in resources among the three age groups of 45, 50 and 55 years, respectively, were not significant as frequently as the differences between the occupational groups. The greatest age difference was in the assessment of capacity for work. The other indicator for which the age difference is noticeable was self-estimated health. On the other hand, no age differences were found in the motivation for work or the attitude to learning something new that were used as indicators of how development-oriented the individuals are. Age differences in self-estimated capacity for work and health are understandable when seen in the light of the fact that normal ageing leads to gradual physiological changes. On the other hand, age group differences in self-estimated capacity for work and self-estimated health can also be due to the fact that with age there is a larger discrepancy between the preconditions of the individual and the job requirements.

At the individual level, the question of impaired health and capacity for work as well as lack of motivation to learn something new may be regarded as a sign of »premature ageing« by way of physical attrition, insufficient qualifications and loss of motivation. As far as resources are concerned, the cleaners of the study are clearly worse off than those of the same age in other jobs. The same chronological age appears to be of different importance in different jobs and it is the jobs with mainly physical and/or uniform work requirements that are »critical« in the sense that it is more difficult for those holding these jobs to preserve their resources.

Under what conditions is it possible to use or develop resources?

The assumption in the study was that the occupational group could be used as an indicator for the requirements of the job in general, but that it is not a sufficiently varied indicator to describe the connection between the work of the individual and the resources of the individual. Therefore, a considerable part of the survey concerned more specific aspects of work and working conditions, including requirements with regard to the content of the work, individuals’ influence on their own work situation, working climate and the interaction of various forces at the place of work, the individual’s attitude to work (e.g. how important a part work is in the life of the individual) and the nature of the work in the jobs the individuals have had throughout their lives (e.g. the possibility of using their knowledge and experience and whether the working environment has been safe and healthy).

The main finding of both the questionnaire study and the interviews was that several of the work-related circumstances mentioned are related to the resources of the 45-59-year-olds, i.e. that different working conditions lead to different preconditions in the later years of their working life.

The main finding is that several work-related circumstances are related to the resources of those involved in all three analyses. The correlations are strongest in self-estimated capacity for work and motivation for work. The factors that are most important for self-estimated capacity for work are requirements with regard to the content of the work (e.g. the possibility for those involved of using their knowledge and experience), the previous nature of the work (e.g. the possibility of learning something new and the possibility of influencing and shaping the work involved in the jobs performed throughout a lifetime) and factors that describe the relationship between the individual and work (e.g. whether the work requires so much energy that it has an adverse effect on private life). The motivation for work is mostly influenced by the requirements with regard to the content of the work, working climate and working relations (e.g. that the employees are encouraged to present ideas and their possibility of receiving help/assistance from the management) at the place of work and the previous nature of the work. It also appeared that as far as the attitude to development was concerned, there was a logical correlation with work-related factors, but mostly in relation to whether the work is varied and whether the work is an important part of life. This was the main finding of the analyses in which work-related factors were analysed together with factors that can also be expected to be of importance for resources, i.e. individual preconditions (e.g. age, occupational group, health, vocational qualifications) and other conditions of life (backing from the nearest relations, financial circumstances).

Thus it was possible to identify factors in relation to work that are important with a view to creating better preconditions for the 45-59-year-olds and thus better possibilities for them of continuing in their jobs during their later working years. Several of the factors for which there appeared to be a correlation with resources have been described as characteristic of »good work« or »stimulating work« (i.a. Graversen, 1992). The fact that work experience is of importance for the resources of the 45-59-year-olds indicates that the first twenty years of working life are not unimportant for the later years. It is important to secure good working conditions throughout life. Furthermore, the findings indicate that positive working conditions can to a certain extent compensate for the negative effects that are, for example, related to impaired health. Thus those with impaired health experience their capacity for work as being better than do their colleagues, if some of the above-mentioned positive working conditions exist (e.g. that the work is varied, that the work makes it possible for them to use their knowledge and experience and that with their present work they have found their niche to such an extent that they would choose the same job if it were offered to them now). An important finding is also that working conditions are not solely dependent on the job, but that the individual place of work plays an important role in creating good working conditions. Working conditions are conditions that can be influenced and therefore it is interesting that a person with impaired health can benefit from favourable working conditions to such an extent that it affects the individual’s capacity for work and motivation for work.

How long will the 45-59-year-olds continue working?

There is a tendency that the 45-59-year-old nurses and office employees will more often than cleaners and home care workers of the same age continue working after they have reached the age of 60. It also appears that they have more choices during their later working years. They more often state that they would like to try something new rather than continue in their present job as long as possible.

It appeared that both work-related factors and resources are related to the wish of staying on in the labour market (»continue working after the age of 60« as opposed to »stop working before the age of 60« or »stop working at the age of 60«). The fact that work is an important part of life and that the individuals in question have found their niche with their present jobs and that the work does not require so much energy that it has an adverse effect on private life are factors that increase the likelihood that an individual will stay on longer on the labour market.

At the same time, the »norm« among the 45-59-year-olds appears to be that they stop working at the age of 60, which was the »age of voluntary early retirement pension« at the time of the study. Thus, there are employees who have many resources and confidence in the future, but who in spite of this opt for voluntary early retirement pension »as early as possible«. This gives food for thought seen in relation to the fact that for most 45-59-year-olds work is important in other respects than the wage alone, i.e. because of personal satisfaction with the work or the social life at the place of work. In spite of this, they do not want to remain on the labour market longer than to the age of 60. This raises the question what role and influence work has on the life of human beings in general and in the later working years in particular. »Premature ageing« can be a natural cause for retiring early. However, when a large group with good resources wish to leave the labour market at the age of 60, it lies near at hand to ask whether this is to be taken as criticism of the work.

Special circumstances of the 45-59-year-olds

The study covers only the 45-59-year-olds, i.e. it does not contain comparisons with those who are younger and doing the same work. The current situation of the 45-59-year-olds is described in their own life perspective – i.e. in relation to how they assess their previous working life and what expectations they have for the coming years. Instead of age comparisons, the study concerns the contexts that the 45-59-year-olds experience between the present, the past and the future. Thus, importance is attached to a life phase rather than a specific age.

It could be imagined that the matters relating to work that appeared to be important for the resources of the 45-59-year-olds are more or less important for everybody, i.e. characteristics of good work at all ages. However, the study was also aimed at identifying as far as possible whether there are any special characteristics of good work for the 45-59-year-olds. This theme touches on the question whether there are specific expectations and preconditions in the life phase of the 45-59-year-olds. The question is of great importance with regard to promoting the possibilities of the 45-59-year-olds in working life so that they can utilise their individual resources in the best possible manner in their respective jobs.

Among the positive characteristics that – according to the 45-59-year-olds themselves – have intensified with age is that with age they have become more well-balanced and that they have a better sense of occasion and better judgment. They are prepared to take on more responsibility and they know their own limits and are better judges of character than when they were younger. The element that most describe as problematic with age is the tempo and that it is not possible to live up to the same physical performance requirements as earlier. The result of this can be stress, tiredness, reluctance and physical disabilities – as well as uncertainty as to whether they can keep their job. With regard to this question, there is more flexibility in certain environments than in others, among other things because some occupational groups have better options with regard to specialising in tasks that are adapted to the individual.

The expectation that the 45-59-year-olds have of their work is that it should be meaningful with regard to content or form part of a meaningful context. Many people actually experience tasks that are related to human beings as being meaningful. Therefore, many have ended up performing service or care tasks even though they did not originally plan this. This can have the effect that the 45-59-year-olds wish to be selective in relation to their tasks – they want to be free to give priority to the tasks, for which they are best suited. This can be an attempt at finding a balance between their own preconditions and the work requirements. The environment at the place of work plays an important role for the scope that the individual has.

The question of »special characteristics« of the 45-59-year-olds is often discussed from the perspective of »protective jobs« – that is to say that the older employees must be given less demanding and less responsible jobs. This attitude has been based not only on the view that with age people have less possibility of coping with physical work requirements and a high working tempo, but also, among other things, on the view that with age it becomes more difficult to learn something new. This study is based on another perspective that has received less attention earlier, namely that ageing can involve the development of qualities that younger people do not yet possess. This raises the question of flexibility and regard for the individual in job planning so that the 45-59-year-olds have a real possibility of making use of their qualifications.

Conclusion

The 45-year-olds are approximately halfway in their working life if the starting point is a working life until the official retirement age. Analyses of this group therefore make it possible to discuss the resources of individuals from a different perspective than analyses that are concerned with individuals in their first and last working years, respectively. The current situation of the 45-59-year-olds is related in the study both to the history of their working life and their expectations with regard to future work.

The conclusions with regard to the main findings of the study are as follows:

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