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Working environment and work retention

The Nordic Council of Ministers funded the project "The impact of the working environment on work retention of older workers" to prepare a comparative overview on the current knowledge on determinants of work participation for older workers in the Nordic countries, with particular emphasis on the impact of the working environment.

23. januar 2018

The project shows that working environment is rarely the sole cause of early retirement, but working environment factors may explain a large fraction of the transition to disability pension in particular. Several working environment predictors of early retirement are well-documented in the Nordic countries, but workplace policies and activities to retain older workers rarely aim to improve the working environment.

There may be great potentials in developing workplace interventions which combine prevention of working environment risk factors (e.g. risk factors for accidents, strenuous work/high physical work demands, insufficient recovery between work shifts, quantitative work demands, conflicts at work and bullying/harassment, and age discrimination) with increment of job satisfaction through increased control/influence, possibilities for development and recognition from management.