European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 84

Policy and Decision to Retire in Central and Eastern European Countries

100%
Not at all important
80%

Not very important

60%

40%

Fairly important

20%
Very important
0%
LT

LV

EE

HU

PL

SK

CZ

SI

BG

RO

Figure 9. Respondents by the variable “aged 55+ stop working: family care obligations” (%, Eurobarometer 76.2)
Organizational Strategies

the supervision of other employees
reflects the higher formal position in the
organization and, respectively, higher
remuneration, which increases chances to
stay longer at the job. However, the other
different human resource practices (e.g.,
the transition of the skills and knowledge
to the younger colleagues, active
involvement/participation activities, fair
acknowledgment, and consideration) that
show the positive attitude of the employer
toward older employees may also positively
influence the decision to prolong working
life (that proves the findings from Davey
2008; Harper et al. 2006; Hellemans and
Closon 2013; Santa, 2011).

An opportunity to get training at
work can possibly influence the decision
to stay or withdraw from the labor
market in older age. A higher number
of those, who noted that the job offered
good training opportunities, preferred
to continue in paid work was in Estonia,
Hungary, Slovenia, Poland. However, the
opposite distribution of respondents was
in Lithuania, Slovakia, and the Czech
Republic.

Human resource practices. A
higher level of responsibility at work has
an influence on the longer working life.
In almost all analyzed countries (except
Slovakia, Poland, and Estonia), the share
of the respondents that are responsible
for supervising other employees is higher
among those who are willing to continue
in a paid work. The willingness is related
not only to the higher autonomy at work
but also to the higher salaries that people
responsible for supervising get from work.

Participation in organizational
activities (variable “allowed to influence
policy decisions about activities of
organization”) is more important for
working life prolongation in Slovenia,
Lithuania, and Bulgaria as well. The
importance of showing own initiative
at work is more important for longer
working life for the respondents from
Bulgaria and Estonia (variable “important
if choosing a job: job enabled you to use
own initiative”) (ESS5).

In the case of older employees,
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