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Promoting Older Workers’ Job Retention and Health by Working Hour Patterns

  • Chapter
Sustainable Working Lives

Part of the book series: Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being ((AHSW))

Abstract

This chapter reviews the current evidence and possibilities to promote older workers’ job retention and health by working hour patterns. Epidemiological studies indicate that shift work, poor possibilities to influence working hours and exceptionally long working hours (>55–60 h) increase sickness absence, morbidity and disability pensions. Working hours are also associated with work-life balance and general work satisfaction. Different characteristics of working hours are related with attitudes and decisions to extend work career after the normal retirement age. Especially the possibilities to influence personal working hours can be seen as a positive option to regulate work load and to increase the attractiveness of working life while ageing. Older people with disabilities or those with decreased work ability can often benefit from part-time work or partial sick leave to maintain sufficient work ability. Intervention studies are only few but they also support the conclusion that improvements in shift ergonomics and possibilities to influence working hours improve health and well-being. Considering the increase of individual differences according to ageing, the promotion of health and work ability of the heterogeneous older work force should be based on individual working hour and other solutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Development of Work and Organizations, Helsinki, Finland

    Mikko Härmä

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  1. Mikko Härmä
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Correspondence to Mikko Härmä .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Development of Work and Organizations, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland

    Jukka Vuori

  2. TNO Sustainable Productivity and Employability, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Roland Blonk

  3. Department of Psychology, Organizational Studies, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Richard H. Price

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Härmä, M. (2015). Promoting Older Workers’ Job Retention and Health by Working Hour Patterns. In: Vuori, J., Blonk, R., Price, R. (eds) Sustainable Working Lives. Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9798-6_14

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