Elders – Elder Employees in Companies Experiencing Restructuring: Stress and Well-Being
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Associazione per gli Studi Internazionali e Comparati sul Diritto del lavoro e sulle Relazioni industriali FINAL REPORT PRESENTED TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ELDERS – ELDER EMPLOYEES IN COMPANIES EXPERIENCING RESTRUCTURING: STRESS AND WELL-BEING Modena, 2009-2010 Consortium Adapt – Associazione per gli Studi Internazionali e Comparati sul Diritto del lavoro e sulle Relazioni industriali BAuA – Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin ESADE – Instituto de Estudios Laborales, Universidad Ramon Lull FIOH – Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Ibw – Institut für Bildungsforschung der Wirtschaft Middlesex University, Business School Letter of support from AGE Platform Europe Businesseurope Co-funded by the European Commission Budget Heading 04.04.01.03 Restructuring, well-being at work and financial participation CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2009 VP/2009/010 - Agreement no. VS/2010/0186 Addendum to VS/2009/0556 Adapt Associazione – c/o Centro Studi Marco Biagi, Viale Berengario n. 51 – 41100 Modena, [email protected] – www.adapt.it The project is jointly organized in consortium with With support from the European Union This report is supported under the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (2007-2013). This programme is managed by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission. It was established to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy goals in these fields. The seven-year programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-27, EFTA-EEA and EU candidate and pre-candidate countries. PROGRESS mission is to strengthen the EU contribution in support of Member States’ commitment. PROGRESS will be instrumental in: • providing analysis and policy advice on PROGRESS policy areas; • monitoring and reporting on the implementation of EU legislation and policies in PROGRESS policy areas; • promoting policy transfer, learning and support among Member States on EU objectives and priorities; and • relaying the views of the stakeholders and society at large. For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/progress/index_en.html. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission. The sole responsibility of this report lies with the author and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. THE ELDERS PROJECT SECTION I THE INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK I - Restructuring, age and stress: General overview and international literature review 1. The issue of restructuring: drivers of change 3 2. Managing restructuring processes 8 3. Older workers during restructuring: introduction 11 4. Workplace interventions 28 5. Conclusion 36 II - New risks and psychosocial issues related to stress at work 1. Work-related stress: an overview 37 2. Restructuring and job insecurity in the current scenario: psychosocial and economic causes of stress at work 41 3. Effects of stress on individuals and organisations 47 4. Aging and age-related psychosocial problems 51 III - Age-related loss of skills and ergonomic issues 1. Context 57 2. Aging and Ergonomics 58 3. Relation between age and performance 61 Literature and References 63 III SECTION II THE EU FRAMEWORK: OUTCOMES FROM DESK AND FIELD RESEARCH IN AUSTRIA, FINLAND, GERMANY, ITALY, SPAIN AND THE UNITED KINGDOM I – Austria 1. Public policy and labour market context 79 2. Vocational further training of older employees 89 3. Company programmes for older employee 93 4. Evidence on organisational restructuring, workers’ working conditions and work related health 94 5. Results from the ELDERS survey 104 6. Austrian national seminar 142 7. Austrian training session 144 8. Best practices 151 9. Recommendations 152 10. Literature review and references 154 11. Appendix 155 II - Finland 1. Changes in work life and the situation of the elderly workers in Finland 161 2. Policy issues 171 3. National projects 174 4. Current political actions 179 5. Good examples 180 6. Field research and national seminar 183 7. Conclusion 187 8. Recommendations 189 9. Literature review and references 190 III – Germany 1. Introduction 199 IV 2. The changing organisation of work 200 3. Restructuring of work 201 4. Health and restructuring 204 5. Older workers in restructuring 212 6. Research on restructuring, stress and older workers 220 7. Best practice: Deutsche Bank 223 8. German results from the ELDERS survey: survey design & sample characteristics 227 9. Survey results 228 10. Strategies of prevention and compensation 242 11. Recommendations 243 12. German national seminar 246 13. Literature review and references 252 IV - Italy 1. A Statistical framework: Italy vs EU 259 2. Social security system and older workers prevention clusters 283 3. Good practices in social security reform 296 4. Vulnerable workers, workforce diversity management and the OSH regulatory reform 303 5. Age, risks and loss of skills: how to tackle these issues 316 6. The guidelines on work-related stress assessment: good practices and future development 323 7. OSH participation model and collective agreements 326 8. The tripartite cooperation and the “Organismi paritetici" 341 9. Training policies and contractual tools 345 10. Field research: outcomes from questionnaires and interviews 362 11. Good practices 393 12. Italy national seminar 402 13. Literature review 408 V – Spain 1. Spanish legal framework with regard to elder employees 475 2. Social context in Spain with regard to elder employee (Part I) 481 V 3. Social context in Spain with regard to elder employees (Part II) 484 4. Results of the ELDERS survey in Spain (Catalonia) 490 5. Spain national seminar summary 507 6. Recommendations for policy makers and managers 509 7. Literature review and references 514 VI - The United Kingdom 1. Introduction 517 2. Labour market context 519 3. Public policy context 523 4. Case study 533 5. Good practice 541 6. Conclusion 543 7. UK national seminar summary 545 8. Recommendations 547 9. Literature and references 549 SECTION III THE ROLE OF SOCIAL DIALOGUE, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: A COMPARATIVE PROSPECT 1. Definition and phases of social dialogue and the role in the European policy 553 2. Forms, stakeholders of social dialogue and relationship with industrial relations 557 3. Definition and principles of collective bargaininig 559 4. The role of collective bargaining in transfer of undertakings and in collective dismissals in Italy 570 5. Transnational collective bargaining in industrial restructuring: the role played by European Works Councils 574 6. The “season” of participation in Italy 586 7. Good practices and policy recommendations 591 VI SECTION IV CONCLUSIONS: A SET OF CASE STUDIES, GOOD PRACTICES AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS I - Prevention Management for Elderly Workers: Organisational Implications and Stressors Detection 1. Work-related stress prevention 599 2. Preventive approaches to work-related stress 600 3. The good practice model in stress prevention 604 II - Future development: good practices and final recommendations 1. Examples of good practices 609 2. SSAB Tunnplåt: occupational health and well-being 609 3. DSM, Netherlands: a comprehensive approach 611 4. Siemens AS: career mobility and ageing employees 616 5. Realkredit Danmark: recruitment of employees over 50 618 6. The Thales-EMF agreement 621 7. The Prima-EF project 622 8. CEZ Bulgaria AD 624 9. Participative restructuring in the Florence leather district 627 10. Systematise good practices 630 III - From analysis to action: the ELDERS recommendations 1. General recommendations 633 2. Possibilities of prevention for companies 637 3. Possibilities of prevention for employees 639 4. For well-being & stress 640 VII Section I THE INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK Part I Restructuring, age and stress: General overview and international literature review 1. The issue of restructuring: drivers of change Nowadays, the need for enterprises to tackle changes featuring economies and societies worldwide is widely acknowledged. Some of the main trends and drivers of change affecting enterprises today can be summarised as follows: The slow recovery from the economic crisis. The truly distinguishing characteristic of this recession is a globally synchronised banking crisis, multiplied by high financial volatility at global scale, which has led to a remarkably severe global recession (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2009). The following figure illustrates how the trend towards the recovery is slower in advanced economies, and this applies particularly to several European countries. THE INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK Figure 1: Global GDP growth, quarter over quarter, annualised (%) (Source European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, page 5, 2009, based on IMF staff estimates) The crisis and the sluggish recovery have also had severe consequences on employment. Employment in the European Union declined by 2.5 million persons between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. The largest relative, and absolute, declines were observed in manufacturing and construction: as a result, it is mainly