EXTEND: Social inequalities in extending working lives of an ageing workforce

Europe is currently undergoing significant demographic change, with an ageing population, shrinking workforce, and increasing life expectancy. In this context, it is necessary to raise the activity rate of older workers in a way that is healthy and productive for workers, employers and countries as a whole. A major issue in extending working lives is that those in different circumstances will be affected differentially by any proposed changes. EXTEND is a cross-national collaborative project which therefore aims to examine inequalities in relation to extending working lives. It addresses inequalities in relation to a number of pertinent issues, including changes to retirement and pension policies, the health and well-being of older workers and retirees, workplace factors, employee skills and training, and regulative and legislative frameworks. The project will take the social services sector as a particularly important example due to the barriers faced by health and care professionals. The evidence base will be generated by drawing on the varied expertise of its partners across five EU countries, employing a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, including policy analysis, panel data methods, natural experiments, a field trial, case studies, interviews and focus groups. We will engage numerous stakeholders with our findings, including policy makers, the business community, workers and their representatives, older people, the general public, and practitioners in the social services sector. The EXTEND project is strongly solution-driven, and has the overall aim of reducing inequalities in retirement structures.

Europe is currently undergoing significant demographic change. People are living longer and governments need evidence on the implications for the European workforce. EXTEND is an international multi-disciplinary collaborative project which will generate knowledge on employability, retirement and health. An inequalities focus will provide evidence on how policies on extending working lives can be implemented to minimise an increase in, or reduce, inequalities. The University of Sheffield is the UK project partner and will work to maximise research impact in the UK.

The overall EXTEND objective will benefit numerous stakeholders. First and foremost, extending working lives is a policy area that has implications for the general population. Changes to policies on pensions and retirement - such as a raised pension age - affect the general population and have varying consequences for different occupations and circumstances. Such policies therefore have the potential to increase inequalities. Policy makers need to understand how to extend working lives without increasing inequality. There are also consequences for the wider economy as business productivity is potentially influenced by age-friendly work policies. The project will disseminate findings direct to departments and key individuals in the policy sector. Those in local government and special interest organisations will also be included.

The employability of older workers also affects the quality of life of both workers and their families. Workers need work environments and policies which will enable healthy and equitable longer working lives, or retirement, which is informed by evidence. A focus on the wellbeing on older people is a key part of the project. Given the demographic focus on EXTEND, older people and their representatives are essential stakeholders. The University of Sheffield will draw on its long-standing expertise in engaging older people to disseminate findings of the project to this demographic. In this sense, EXTEND aims to close the gap between science and society on this important issue. Information will be available to citizens, and experts, on how to promote health and wellbeing for those affected by policies on extending working lives. The project will benefit from the involvement of older people's charities and social groups.

A key stakeholder in EXTEND is the business sector, which will help to generate evidence on best practice, and in turn will be informed of innovations and strategies for working conditionings to help sustain a productive, healthy and equitable workforce. One particularly significant sector is social services, which has high rates of early work exit, disability and absenteeism. This has implications for extending working lives for the whole workforce since caring responsibilities in older age impact significantly on retirement decisions. EXTEND will engage with the business community including business support organisations, chambers of commerce, and professional associations. The project will specifically engage with social care professionals, education and training organisations, government departments and health networks.

EXTEND will use multiple methods to reach its various audiences. The project will hold stakeholder events to disseminate targeted findings to key audiences, including one event specifically focussed on the social service sector. A social media and web presence for the project will be established early on. Mailing lists will be collated and paper and e-newsletters tailored to different stakeholder groups will be shared regularly.

EXTEND represents a substantial opportunity to inform evidence-based policy and best practice on extending working lives, a very important topic in the context of demographic change. It will be beneficial to a wide range of stakeholders who will be engaged with comprehensively.