The New Dynamics of Ageing

Alan Walker, Walker, Alan, Alan Walker

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781447314776
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gerontology
• Index: Social Sciences

This volume and its companion, The new dynamics of ageing volume 2, provide comprehensive multi-disciplinary overviews of the very latest research on ageing. It reports the outcomes of the most concerted investigation ever undertaken into both the influence shaping the changing nature of ageing and its consequences for individuals and society.

This book concentrates on three major themes: active ageing, design for ageing well and the relationship between ageing and socio-economic development. Each chapter provides a state of the art topic summary as well as reporting the essential research findings from New Dynamics of Ageing research projects. There is a strong emphasis on the practical implications of ageing and how evidence-based policies, practices and new products can produce individual and societal benefits.

Part One

Active and healthy

THREE

Working Late: strategies to enhance productive and healthy environments for an older workforce

Cheryl Haslam
Working Late team: Cheryl Haslam, Myanna Duncan,
Aadil Kazi, Ricardo Twumasi, Stacy Clemes, Diane Gyi,
Roger Haslam, Alistair Gibb, Elaine Yolande Gosling,
Lois Kerr, Colette Nicolle, Martin Maguire, Rachel Talbot,
Becky Mallaband, Kevin Morgan, Hilary McDermott

Introduction

Demographic changes, including increased life expectancy and falling birth rates, are reflected in the increasing age of the workforce. Current estimates suggest that by 2020, over a third of the workforce will be aged 50 years or over (DWP, 2013). The increasing age of the workforce presents new opportunities and challenges for government and other agencies, employers and occupational health services, as well as for individual employees and their families. It is now essential to facilitate extended working lives by promoting health in the workplace. The Working Late project investigated the policy issues associated with later life working and developed interventions and design solutions to promote health, productivity and quality of working life of older people. Working Late was conducted between 2008 and 2013 and was uniquely placed to explore the impact of major legislative changes such as increasing the pension age and removing the default retirement age on older workers’ employment opportunities and experiences.

New policies are needed to achieve the change in culture necessary to encourage and enable people to work longer (Walker and Maltby, 2012). Improved older worker integration and enhanced employment outcomes among older workers will be key means for enabling economies to adjust to the pressures of population ageing (Banks, 2006). A number of barriers to later life working have been identified, including health conditions or disabilities, caring responsibilities, lack of relevant work experience and vocational skills, transport difficulties and age discrimination (Crawford et al, 2010). Research has shown that age discrimination is still prevalent. Using a matched job application methodology, Riach and Rich (2007) and Tinsley (2012) found significant age discrimination in the job application process regardless of legislation (2006 Employment Equality [Age] Regulations and 2010 Equality Act) against age discrimination in employment.

Previous studies have indicated that age-related decline in health is a major contributor to early exit from the workplace (Strijk et al, 2012). The ageing workforce creates a demand for research to support evidence-based policy and practice promoting and maintaining the health, quality of life and employability of older workers. The workplace is an ideal arena for delivering health education and intervening to promote healthy lifestyle change. It is widely recognised that most adults do not perform sufficient levels of physical activity (Troiano et al, 2008; Conn et al, 2009), yet there is there is compelling evidence to indicate that individuals who are physically active live longer and have lower morbidity that those who are inactive (Allender et al, 2007). Economic advances and industrial innovation have resulted in large numbers of people employed within sedentary occupations (Stamatakis et al, 2007), and data suggests that most adults now spend half their waking hours in the workplace (Church et al, 2011). Recent research has demonstrated that workers spend more time sitting at work than they do sleeping at night (Kazi et al, 2014). Worksite interventions have the potential to reach large numbers of individuals (Pratt et al, 2007) and overcome one of the most widely cited barriers to increasing physical activity: lack of time (Abraham and Graham-Rowe, 2009).

There is growing recognition of the role of occupational health (OH) services in promoting the health of workers across the life course (Ilmarinen, 2006, 2010; Crawford et al, 2010). OH providers are already facing important challenges, including the prevention of work-related diseases; reductions in work performance due to chronic diseases; and the promotion of health and workability (Ilmarinen, 2006). OH services are likely to play a key role in ‘healthy ageing management’ in the workplace, offering considerable scope for improving employee health outcomes and improving the quality of working life.

Workplace and work systems design are also important in supporting the ageing workforce, with these needing to adapt to accommodate changing physical and cognitive abilities across the life course (Moyers and Coleman, 2004). While such an approach has intuitive appeal, little work to date has focused on the needs of older workers. Stubbs (2000) recommended a multidisciplinary approach to workplace design incorporating ergonomics and occupational medicine, using participatory design techniques to allow users to communicate their needs and aspirations. Workplace design can have a substantial influence on working practices and an individual’s ability to undertake certain aspects of work. Loch and colleagues (2010) reported the adaptations made by car manufacturer BMW, which developed a pilot line of production workers with a mean age of 47, the mean age projected for BMW plant workers by 2017. Seventy changes were made, such as managing healthcare, enhancing workers’ skills and the workplace environment, and instituting part-time policies and change management processes. These changes resulted in a 7% increase of productivity in one year. With demographic changes transforming the structure of today’s workforce, there has never been a more pressing need to develop new tools and resources supporting the inclusion and wellbeing of older workers.

Aims and methods of the research

Working Late explored the practice and policy issues associated with later life working. The research investigated later life working across three main contextual themes: employment context, occupational health context and the work environment. The project developed and evaluated interventions and design solutions to promote health and quality of working life across the life course.

The project aims were:

• to adopt continuous and active engagement with agencies, employers and older workers to guide the research process and deliver effective and wide-ranging dissemination of the findings and outputs;

• to identify barriers and facilitators to working late, including examination of work participation and organisational policies, the impact of age discrimination legislation and the logistics of the journey to work;

• to identify optimal, evidence-based occupational health provision and collate current best practice in occupational health services accommodating the older worker;

• to develop, implement and evaluate workplace interventions to promote the health and workability of workers across the life course, and produce evidence-based interventions and innovative health education materials to promote health at work;

• to focus on work environment design to develop the Organiser for Working Late (OWL), a web-based resource to facilitate the design of work systems, equipment, tools, technologies, facilities and the built environment to achieve inclusive, productive workplaces.

The Working Late research comprised a series of interlinked projects. The research involved a mixed-methods approach, comprising focus groups, interviews, surveys and interventions. The project was underpinned by extensive user engagement to inform the research process. Users were defined as those individuals ultimately affected by the research, as well as individuals who use the findings. User engagement involved a bottom-up approach to the research process, ensuring the research incorporated input from older workers rather than being just ‘about’ older workers. Throughout the research, user engagement forums were held with older workers, representatives from industry and trade unions and members of the New Dynamics of Ageing programme’s Older People’s Reference Group (OPRG). Involving users in the research process provided a wide range of benefits, including added perspectives and expertise of user groups, new contacts and organisational links, and help with recruitment and dissemination.

To ensure wide distribution of the research outputs, a mixed-media dissemination strategy was employed whereby findings were shared with the scientific community, organisations and policymakers through journal articles, conference papers, press releases and news reports, videos, the Working Late website (www.workinglate.org) and social media promotion. A Working Late newsletter was produced on a six-monthly basis. The final research outputs were presented and the project resources launched at the Working Late showcase event held at the BT Auditorium in London in March 2013.

Dynamics of later life working

Many legislative changes have occurred in recent years in response to the ageing population. These include age discrimination legislation, removal of the default retirement age and equalisation of men’s and women’s state pension ages. Given the widespread impact of these changes, the Working Late research sought to identify the practice and policy implications of later life working. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to inform the development of the interview schedules used in the research. To further inform the development of the interview schedule, user engagement panels were conducted with representatives from trade unions, Age UK and the OPRG.

A total of 110 interviews were conducted, comprising 51 employees aged over 50 years, 20 employers, 27 jobseekers over the age of 50, and 12 recently retired individuals. Following data transcription and analysis, the findings were presented and discussed at a series of four expert panels with human resources (HR) professionals, OH experts, line managers, employment lawyers, trade union representatives, civil servants and academics. The aim of the expert panels was to explore the practice and policy implications of the findings.

The journey to work

Issues with the journey to work may be a factor influencing workers’ decisions about whether to continue working in later life. This aspect of the Working Late project examined the journey to work from the perspective of older workers and explored the problems that older workers may experience with their commute to work and the strategies they adopt to mitigate travel issues.

The first stage of the research involved identifying the main issues associated with the journey to work and their influence on employment. This was achieved by holding user engagement discussions with experts, employer representatives and older workers. The discussions served to inform the development of a questionnaire that aimed to examine the extent to which the journey to work may prove a barrier to older workers. A total of 1,215 completed questionnaires were returned, which provided insight into travel difficulties encountered as well as potential future travel difficulties anticipated. In order to gather more detailed information on problems with the journey to work and strategies that employees may use to overcome them, 36 interviews were conducted with employees over the age of 45. Finally, 12 employers were interviewed to assess the ways in which employers may assist employees with their journey to work. The findings were presented to an expert panel to explore the practical implications.

Occupational health provision

The research also aimed to evaluate the strategies used by OH services to promote health and wellbeing at work. This was initially guided by a literature review that suggested that there is a need for occupational health provision and intervention that takes account of the older workforce (McDermott et al, 2010). Fifty-one preliminary interviews were conducted with OH experts and stakeholders in order to identify current workplace health promotion initiatives. These interviews helped inform the development of a survey targeted at employees that aimed to explore access to, and experiences of, OH services. The survey, completed by 1,141 employees, also provided detailed information on employees’ physical activity levels, sitting time, work ability, general health and job attitudes. Finally, six focus groups were conducted (four with employees and two with OH representatives) to assess the barriers and facilitators to delivering health interventions, and to explore opportunities for future workplace health promotion activities. This phase of the research served to inform the development of the workplace intervention.

Walking Works Wonders intervention

The findings from the OH provision research were used to guide the development of a 12-month multidimensional physical activity health intervention that promoted incidental walking, active commuting, exercise at work and pedometer-based initiatives. The intervention was targeted at employees of all ages.

A total of 1,120 employees took part in the intervention. Participants were recruited from 10 different worksites across the UK: Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and Ipswich (three sites) and were drawn from two different organisations (one medium-sized public sector and one large private sector organisation). The 10 worksites were each assigned one of three conditions: staged intervention, standard intervention or control group. In the staged intervention group, the health information received was tailored according to recipients’ readiness for change. Those thinking about increasing their levels of physical activity were given practical advice about changing behaviour, whereas those not thinking about increasing their physical activity levels were targeted with awareness-raising information about the risks of sedentary behaviour and the benefits of physical activity. In the standard condition, participants received generic physical activity promotion material already available via health promotion organisations. All participants, including the control group, received Working Late pedometers to record daily step counts.

Participants received one-to-on...

Table of contents

• Coverpage
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• Preface
• List of contributors
• One Introduction
• Two Modelling ageing populations to 2030: financing long-term care in England
• Part One: Active and healthy ageing
• Part Two: Designing for an older population
• Part Three: Global ageing