Which Personnel Measures are Effective in Increasing Productivity of Old Workers?

48 Pages Posted: 17 Oct 2010

See all articles by Christian Goebel

Christian Goebel

Catholic University of Louvain (UCL); ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Thomas Zwick

Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW); University of Würzburg - Business Administration & Economics; Maastricht University - Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA)

Date Written: 2010

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the effect of five specific human resource measures for old employees (SMOE) on their relative productivity. Despite the fact that SMOE are applied in the majority of establishments, this is the first representative study on the effectiveness of these measures. We find that the relative productivity contributions of old workers are significantly higher in establishments that provide either specific equipment of work places or age-specific jobs for old workers. In establishments that apply mixed-age working teams the productivity contributions of old and of young employees are significantly higher than in establishments without this measure. Working time reductions and specific training for old employees are not associated with higher relative productivity of these employees. Our paper provides a joint explanation for two recent findings, the only modest decline of the productivity contributions of old workers and the high variance for estimates of age-productivity profiles.

Keywords: ageing workforce, age-productivity-profile, personnel management, HRM

JEL Classification: J11, J14, J21

Suggested Citation

Goebel, Christian and Goebel, Christian and Zwick, Thomas and Zwick, Thomas, Which Personnel Measures are Effective in Increasing Productivity of Old Workers? (2010). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 10-069, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1692643 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1692643

Christian Goebel (Contact Author)

Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) ( email )

Place Montesquieu, 3
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://homepages.econ.ucl.ac.be/goebel/

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Thomas Zwick

Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

University of Würzburg - Business Administration & Economics ( email )

Sanderring 2
Wuerzburg, D-97070
Germany

Maastricht University - Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, MD6200
Netherlands

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