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CHAPTER 2
Do European employers support longer working lives? 33

As for the benefits of ageing, most employers in the five countries expect
an increase in know-how and experience. Other benefits are less obvious in
the eyes of employers. The increase in know-how apparently does not
translate directly into higher productivity as most employers do not associate
an ageing personnel structure with a higher productivity level. The discrepancy
between know-how and productivity is largest for Dutch employers: only 7%
of them expect an increase in productivity. From a cost/benefit perspective
this finding is probably the most worrisome: labour costs increase, costly
organisational changes may be necessary, but productivity cannot hold pace
with these expected developments.
Employers may not only judge older workers on their own merits. It may be
important to compare their views on older and young workers. Employers in
the survey were asked to evaluate characteristics of workers of age 50 and
over and workers 35 years and younger. In Table 2.3 we present for each
country the differences between the scores of the ʻyoungʼ and the ʻolderʼ age
category.

Table 2.3. Differences in judgements of employers on functioning of
older (50 years and older) and young (35 years or younger)
workers (%)

(Strongly) applicable EL ES HU NL UK
Social skills 11 29 5 50 34
Reliability 17 32 10 47 42
Commitment to the organisation 25 43 27 44 48
Accuracy 7 11 12 43 23
Customer-oriented skills -6 15 -4 26 25
Mental capacity -13 -12 -18 -22 -1

Productivity -33 -9 -3 -37 9
Creativity -44 -37 -14 -41 -9
Flexibility -29 -22 -13 -49 0
Willingness to be trained -48 -58 -37 -77 -36
Physical capacity -57 -61 -26 -78 -36
New technology skills -65 -63 -37 -84 -52

Source: Fair play employer survey, 2005; OFA fair play employer survey Hungary, 2008.