Job Design to Extend Working Time: Work Characteristics to Enable Sustainable Employment of Older Employees in Different Job Types
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Working Longer and Job Design
1.2. Job Design Theories
1.3. Motivational, Social, and Contextual Job Characteristics
1.4. Older Workers in Different Job Types
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Sample
2.2. Method
2.3. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Work Characteristics Per Job Type
3.1.1. Operational Job Type
“I want to do representative work for clients; helping people and pleasing them, making them happy.” (O5) “Because of their life experience, older employees have more sense of service provision to customers.” (O2)
“I think it is important that I can set my own priorities. I want to determine what is important now and what needs to be done quickly. Basically I want to decide what my day looks like.” (O4) “As an older employee I don’t want anything imposed on me. It is nice if you can work independently.” (O2) “I want clearly defined tasks.” (O3)
“If my responsibilities change radically, my job satisfaction would be gone.” (O3) “I want to keep doing the same tasks, because I can keep it up.” (O6)
“It is more fun when certain tasks are done by younger colleagues.” (O1)
“I could use some backup, someone who can take over some tasks.” (O3)
“Ideally, I would like a fairly quiet workplace in the office, alternated with spending some work time away from the office.” (O4) “I am not a fan of open-plan offices.” (O3) “I would like to work at one location, instead of two.” (O2) “I don’t want to be just indoors, but also like to be outside.” (O1)
“Support from my manager becomes increasingly more important as I get older. I especially expect clear open communication with mutual discussions. (O2) “I must have a sympathetic relationship with my supervisor. If that’s not right, I wonder what reason I would have to keep working.” (O5)
3.1.2. Professional Job Type
“I want to be flexible and do not mind working an extra hour, but I would like to start later on another day.” (P3) “I think a good daily routine is important.” (P7) “Flexibility works both ways, sometimes I work a little less so that I can recharge, and if necessary I work an extra day.” (P10) “I no longer want to work 60 h, there must be a balance between work and personal life.” (P8)
“I will have to keep in touch with customers otherwise I will not be able to work.“ (P1) “I want to give support and help others, so that people can call on me.” (P6) “I now feel calmer in my interaction with clients due to my increased knowledge and broader experience in dealing with people.” (P5)
“I want to continue to perform my core tasks.” (P3) “If I have extra tasks that I enjoy, the work will also be easier for me.” (P1) “I would like to get rid of some regulation, registration, and administrative tasks.” (P9) “I would like to do more consultancy work to use my brain more.” (P10)
“I would like to help colleagues with my knowledge and experience, I teach them something and advise them, so they can do it themselves.” (P5) “In addition to my normal work, I would like to mentor interns. There is nothing more fun than that.” (P7) “I firmly believe in the student–apprentice–master principle. Therefore, the last phase of my career will be successful if I can help with grooming younger staff.” (P6) “I think it is important to look beyond the boundaries of my role, to take on additional tasks, such as supervising interns, and then I will be able to last longer in my job.” (P4)
“I think that large service organizations have a need for knowledge transfer.” (P6) “I would like people to use my knowledge, but it is their choice whether they do so.” (P10) “Listening to my experience is important to me, not to be proved right, but to have the discussion.” (P9) “I will have to continue to use my knowledge and experience; otherwise I will not be able to work.” (P1)
3.1.3. Managerial Job Type
“I enjoy discovering talent and to develop younger colleagues.” (M1) “I want to energize people and be a good teacher.” (M4) “I like to explain things to my colleagues so they get excited and know what to do.” (M5)
“Working with colleagues is important, we’re in it together, we depend on each other, need each other, and together we can determine if things are going well.” (M2) “I want to connect people, do it together, then you can make progress.” (M6) “I want to facilitate a team where people have a lot of expertise.” (M4)
“Autonomy is important for everyone who works: it is the degree of control over what you do, your own freedom and responsibilities.” (M1) “I need freedom, to be autonomous, to plan and prioritize my own work.” (M6)
“I want freedom to think about what I want to achieve.” (M2)
“I want to focus on tasks that have a visible result, that lead to a clear improvement that is important for the organization.” (M6) “I like to keep my core tasks, finish the work, and deliver quality.” (M4) “I would like to perform analyses to solve problems or conduct an interim project.” (M1)
“I want to continue developing myself, to obtain ideas, and get inspiration to keep going; I need that boost.” (M5) “Participate in a think-tank so that I get a lot of inspiration and perspectives.” (M1) “Sometimes I need to be alone to read a book, to get new ideas.” (M6)
3.2. Similarities and Differences between Job Types
4. Discussion
4.1. Operational Job Types
4.2. Professional Job Types
4.3. Managerial Job Types
4.4. Limitations and Future Research
4.5. Implications for Theory and Practice
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Operational Jobs | |||
---|---|---|---|
Work Characteristic | Current Job | Future Job | Description |
Motivational | 2.Autonomy | 2.Autonomy | Work independently; not having anything imposed upon them; not being continuously checked. |
- | 3.Tasks | Keep core tasks; meaningful work; tasks taken over by backup; no radical changes in the range of duties. | |
6.Expertise | - | Be point of contact for others for general knowledge; apply practical and life experience. | |
Social | 1.Clients | 1.Clients | Help people and please them; representative work for clients; customer friendliness; deliver quality. |
3.Colleagues | - | Social contact; sharing personal things; supporting each other; getting assistance; team spirit; solidarity. | |
4.Supervisor | 5.Supervisor | Receive appreciation; open communications and discussion; sympathetic relationship. | |
Contextual | 5.Work hours | - | More hours but fewer days; later start times; flexible holidays. |
7.Workspace | 4.Workspace | Comfortable furniture; quiet workplace with minimal noise; limited number of locations; some time outside. |
Professional Jobs | |||
---|---|---|---|
Work Characteristic | Current Job | Future Job | Description |
Motivational | - | 3.Tasks | Continue doing the same tasks; mix of thinking and execution tasks; fewer admin tasks; more ancillary/advisory tasks; special projects. |
3.Expertise | 5.Expertise | Recognized for substantive work; use of experience; innovative, creative; informal/structured ways of knowledge and skills sharing. | |
7.Autonomy | - | Set own priorities; certain degree of freedom; accountability for work outcomes; own responsibility. | |
9.Workload | - | Reasonable psychological workload; realistic goals and less time pressure; no work to take home. | |
Social | 2.Clients | 2.Clients | Intensive client contact; helping, supporting; focus on customer target group; more time with individual clients. |
4.Mentoring | 4.Mentoring | Teaching, advising, so others can do it themselves; help people discover; share practical stories; grooming young people. | |
5.Colleagues | - | Working in teams; working with younger people who have the latest informative and knowledge; exchanging ideas. | |
6.Supervisor | - | Good contact with manager; involvement in management decisions | |
Contextual | 1.Work hours | 1.Work hours | Fewer hours; later start and end times; fewer weekend/night shifts; schedule own hours; longer holidays; work–life balance. |
8.Job aids | - | Tools to relieve physical activities; massage chair to reduce stress. |
Managerial Jobs | |||
---|---|---|---|
Work Characteristic | Current Job | Future Job | Description |
Motivational | 2.Autonomy | 3.Autonomy | Being own boss; freedom; accountable; plan and prioritize; take decisions; to be able to say “no.” |
4.Challenges | - | Mentally demanding tasks; creativity, problem solving; new ideas; variety; work in a modern way. | |
- | 4.Tasks | Phasing out certain core tasks; letting go; contribute; perform problem analysis; interim work; organizing chaos; focus on goals. | |
6.Personal development | 5.Personal development | Gather new ideas; inspiration; self-study; get a boost; reading books, attending seminars, courses outside of work. | |
Social | 1.Mentoring | 1.Mentoring | Energize, enthuse people; teaching; people development; give advice; discover talent. |
3.Colleagues | 2.Colleagues | Bring people together for a common cause; facilitate processes between people; help others do better; teamwork. | |
Contextual | 5.Work hours | - | Later start times; longer periods off work; more time to relax. |
7.Technology | - | Keep up with IT developments; use range of software and gadgets. |
Current Job | Future Job | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Work Characteristic | O | P | M | O | P | M |
Motivational | ||||||
Autonomy | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
Expertise | 6 | 3 | 5 * | |||
Tasks | 3 | 3 | 4 | |||
Challenges | 4 * | |||||
Personal development | 6 * | 5 * | ||||
Workload | 9 * | |||||
Social | ||||||
Colleagues | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 * | ||
Mentoring | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||
Supervisor | 4 | 6 | 5 * | |||
Clients | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
Contextual | ||||||
Work hours | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 * | ||
Workspace | 7 * | 4 * | ||||
Technology | 7 * | |||||
Job aids | 8 * |
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den Boer, H.; van Vuuren, T.; de Jong, J. Job Design to Extend Working Time: Work Characteristics to Enable Sustainable Employment of Older Employees in Different Job Types. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4719. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094719
den Boer H, van Vuuren T, de Jong J. Job Design to Extend Working Time: Work Characteristics to Enable Sustainable Employment of Older Employees in Different Job Types. Sustainability. 2021; 13(9):4719. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094719
Chicago/Turabian Styleden Boer, Hiske, Tinka van Vuuren, and Jeroen de Jong. 2021. "Job Design to Extend Working Time: Work Characteristics to Enable Sustainable Employment of Older Employees in Different Job Types" Sustainability 13, no. 9: 4719. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094719