Project

Work ability and early exit from the labour market of older workers

The work ability of older workers is affected by various factors, such as aging, lifestyle risk factors and psychosocial stressors at work. As these risk factors increase, the work ability decreases and workers with impaired work ability are more likely to quit their jobs before the retirement age. This project will examine how reduction in three different types of risk and their combination can help older workers keep their work ability and delay their retirement.

A younger and more senior people talking and looking at a laptop.

Timetable

1/2024–12/2026

Objectives

So far, there are not enough sufficiently effective interventions to help older workers maintain their work ability and stay in the workforce longer. Previous interventions focused on single aspects such as health education, health promotion, ergonomic adjustments or working time improvements and were not successful in enhancing work ability sufficiently. Therefore, more multidimensional interventions are needed to address multiple risk factors at both the individual and the workplace level to prevent the decline of work ability and postpone early retirement.

This project will examine how reduction in three different types of risk and their combination can help older workers keep their work ability and delay their retirement. The risk groups include personal health risks, psychosocial stressors at work and non-optimal working hour characteristics. The goal of the project is to find out what kinds of prevention strategies can be applied at the individual and the workplace level to enhance the work ability of older workers and delay their retirement from the workforce.

The project has three main objectives:

To identify the personal and work-related factors that lead older workers to leave their jobs early (by taking early old-age retirement, receiving disability retirement, becoming unemployed, or intending to quit).
To examine the effectiveness of workplace interventions that can help older workers reduce their sick leave days, working when sick and productivity loss, and improve their work ability, and facilitate their return to work after illness.
To assess how reducing individual health risks, psychosocial stressors at work and non-optimal working hour characteristics can enhance the work ability and decrease the retirement plans of older workers.

Data and methods

This project conducts systematic reviews of existing studies to identify the factors that affect early exit from work among workers aged 45 years or older and the interventions that can help older workers to maintain their work ability and remain in employment. It also conducts original studies that simulate randomized controlled trials to examine different interventions.

The project reviews international studies and conducts quasi-experiments on the factors and interventions that influence the work ability and retirement of older workers. We systematically search PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library from their inception until 2024 for observational and intervention studies.

We determine the risk factors of early old-age retirement, disability retirement, and unemployment among older workers and identify effective interventions to enhance work ability, decrease sickness absence, presentism (working when sick), and productivity loss and to facilitate early return to work after sick leave. In our quasi-experiments, we simulate randomized controlled trials to examine the effects of reducing individual health risk factors, psychosocial stressors at work and non-optimal work schedules on work ability and early retirement of older workers.

About survey data

We use the Finnish Public Sector (FPS) survey data and the Working Hours in Finnish Public Sector (WHFPS) payroll data. FPS surveys were conducted in 2017/2018 (N=73,096), 2019/2020 (N=78,131) and 2021/2022 (N=65,955).

We investigate the reduction in excess body mass and alcohol consumption, and improvement in leisure time physical activity and sleep quality as individual health risk factors. We also investigate the reduction in job demands and work effort and the increase in job control, worktime control and job rewards as psychosocial stressors at work.

Moreover, we evaluate the effects of reduction in short shift intervals (<11-hour), long night shifts (>10-hour), consecutive night shifts, long weekly working hours (>40-hour) and increase in individual days off between shifts on current work ability and early retirement intention of employees aged 45 or older.

Results and impact

The project evaluates how lowering individual health risk factors, psychosocial stressors at work and non-optimal working hour characteristics or their combinations can enhance the work ability of older workers and reduce their early retirement.

This project provides evidence-based recommendations for feasible workplace programs that can be applied in Finnish workplaces to support the work ability of older workers and to prolong their working careers.