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

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.

[1]  Sandra E. Black,et al.  How to Compete: The Impact of Workplace Practices and Information Technology on Productivity , 1997, Review of Economics and Statistics.

[2]  Thomas Zwick,et al.  Age and Productivity - Evidence from Linked Employer Employee Data , 2009 .

[3]  P. Ilmakunnas,et al.  Diversity at the Workplace: Whom Does it Benefit? , 2011 .

[4]  John Van Reenen,et al.  The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Evidence from British Panel Data , 2005 .

[5]  Thomas Zwick,et al.  Employee participation and productivity , 2004 .

[6]  Måns Söderbom,et al.  Adjustment costs and the identification of Cobb Douglas production functions , 2005 .

[7]  Thomas Zwick,et al.  The Employment Consequences of Seniority Wages , 2008 .

[8]  Bo Malmberg,et al.  Productivity Consequences of Workforce Aging : Stagnation or Horndal Effect? , 2005 .

[9]  M. Arellano,et al.  Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models , 1995 .

[10]  Mika Maliranta,et al.  Age, Technology and Labour Costs , 2006 .

[11]  Casey Ichniowski,et al.  The Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Productivity , 1995 .

[12]  Uschi Backes-Gellner,et al.  The Impact of Workforce Age Heterogeneity on Company Productivity , 2009 .

[13]  R. Blundell,et al.  Initial Conditions and Moment Restrictions in Dynamic Panel Data Models , 1998 .

[14]  Hermann Gartner,et al.  The imputation of wages above the contribution limit with the German IAB employment sample , 2005 .

[15]  Thomas Zwick.  The Impact of ICT Investment on Establishment Productivity , 2003, National Institute Economic Review.

[16]  Uwe Jirjahn,et al.  Hiring older workers and employing older workers: German evidence , 2010 .

[17]  Fei Peng,et al.  Skill bias, age and organizational change , 2009 .

[18]  John Van Reenen,et al.  Human Resource Management and Productivity , 2010 .

[19]  Thomas Zwick,et al.  Works Councils and the Anatomy of Wages , 2006 .