According to a study published by Eurofound on the retention of experienced workers, flexible working arrangements and part-time work are not yet sufficiently widespread and democratized in the Member States, which has a negative impact on their ability to remain in the labor market.
The case of the Czech Republic is representative of this lack of alternative arrangements for flexible working. Older workers who “cannot or do not want to work full-time, due to age, health problems or other causes, have been driven out of the labor market for lack of flexible work options.” Employers are reluctant to offer flexible working arrangements, locking people into a (non-) choice between “working full-time or not working at all”. The labor market therefore needs to become more flexible to respond to the social realities of older workers and offer them the opportunity to remain integrated into it. The government is trying to encourage employers to create part-time jobs, but without succeeding. Indeed, the reduction in employers’ social security contributions for part-time employees over 55 was not an attractive enough measure to convince them. As a result, their only option is to switch from full-time work to full retirement without any transition. Yet many would prefer to remain in the workforce if they could benefit from suitable employment conditions. Gradual retirement remains the exception rather than the rule, even though it helps preserve social ties and a sense of purpose. This “full-time or nothing” policy contributes to their exclusion from the job market and social isolation.
An additional challenge concerns digital technologies and skills. The introduction of digital technologies into the workplace disproportionately affects older workers, often due to internalized stereotypes about their skills. Some of these technologies have been implemented to “improve the employability of older workers”, but they can become barriers if they are not “designed in a user-friendly way”. They need to be introduced to and trained in the use of new technologies. Research in Austria, Denmark and Poland reveals persistent prejudices that “older workers are incapable of learning or opposed to new technologies”. The most important issues remain factors such as “system and data quality, organizational suitability and training.” They can determine whether technology is perceived as a “factor of exclusion or professional enhancement”.
The contribution from Eurofound’s correspondents for France (IR Share), points to age discrimination. It is more complicated for these experienced people to re-enter the job market, as they face discrimination in employment opportunities. Particularly in the tech and digital sectors, where digital skills are crucial. In particular, a group of older employees filed a lawsuit against the IT services group Atos “alleging age discrimination” in a reorganization that favored the departure of older employees, “and claiming that the company’s actions violated French labor law and the European Union’s anti-discrimination directives.”
Among the recommendations made to France to meet these challenges, the authors of the national contribution suggest investing “more in and promoting opportunities for further training and learning (training, courses, etc.).” As well as “pairing older and younger workers, to encourage knowledge exchange while keeping older workers engaged.”
