Bilateral (Hong Kong): Age Diversity: Applying the Capabilities Approach to Career Development Across the Life Course
Lead Research Organisation:
Middlesex University
Department Name: Business School
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Alfred Chan (Author)
(2011)
Applying the capabilities approach to retirement and career development across the life course
Davies EMM
(2017)
Job Satisfaction, Retirement Attitude and Intended Retirement Age: A Conditional Process Analysis across Workers' Level of Household Income.
in Frontiers in psychology
Flynn M
(2015)
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology
Flynn M
(2017)
The Palgrave Handbook of Age Diversity and Work
Flynn M
(2017)
Managing the Ageing Workforce in the East and the West
Flynn M
(2016)
Delaying Retirement
Flynn M
(2017)
Managing the Ageing Workforce in the East and the West
Hofäcker D
(2017)
Managing the Ageing Workforce in the East and the West
HOFÄCKER D
(2015)
Trends and Determinants of Work-Retirement Transitions under Changing Institutional Conditions: Germany, England and Japan compared
in Journal of Social Policy
| Description | This project had two primary objectives: 1) Using Amartya Sen's Capability Approach (CA), to explore the relationship between choices which older workers have in work and retirement outcomes. Due to increased longevity and strains on pension systems across the developed world, governments and employers are interested in developing interventions to facilitate longer working lives include flexible working hours, lifelong learning, healthy workplaces, job rotation, and pension financial intelligence. The effectiveness of such changes is dependent on management process to raise awareness of, encourage and enable older workers to take up changes in work routine as an alternative to early retirement. These include "age aware" senior managers, awareness and understanding of workplace rights as enshrined in employment law and HR policies, the ability to communicate work and retirement plans with one's line manager, and having access to support from colleagues and union representatives. To explore the relationship between work choices and retirement outcomes, we use CA as a conceptual framework in conjunction with life course theory. CA provides the evaluative space with which to explore the freedoms of the individual in pursuing the good (work) life. It emphasizes both freedoms and diversity in exploring agency. More importantly, CA locates agency at the nexus between an individual's commodities (i.e. the set of skills, abilities, experience, etc. which (s)he possesses) and conversion factors which constrain and enable that individual. The purpose of the project therefore is to explore how employer HR policies enhance and/or constrain older workers' choices in work and how such dynamics impact upon retirement plans. Key findings: • Recent changes to both state and occupational pensions in both the UK and Hong Kong as well as in the UK laws prohibiting age discrimination and mandatory retirement have been introduced to increase individual choice and encourage extended working life. However, in both contexts, significant minorities of older workers have only impressionistic understanding of the retirement incomes they will depend on once they leave work. Further, measures to restrict early retirement in the UK's public sector pension schemes have led to worries amongst older workers and unions of being "pushed" out of work for performance and capacity reasons. • Older workers who have remained in work beyond retirement age (64.6 for men and 62.3 for women) tend to articulate greater choice in terms of work than the overall population of people in work 45+. They also reported higher quality of life and greater satisfaction with work and life choices. • The relationship between workplace choice and retirement outcomes is complex and contextualised by labour market position: those with higher education, higher family income and have uninterrupted career histories articulate more career choices than their contemporaries. • Individual commodities within the realm of career management is positively associated with extended working life. In qualitative interviews, older workers with a high number of positive work transitions (such as changing employers for a better job) expressed greater confidence in retirement planning and managing late career job transitions than those who had made few transitions. Recent initiatives in the UK such as NIACE's Career Review at 50 programme are geared towards supporting older workers in making job transitions late career. • Some evidence of collective capabilities was articulated by older workers in three UK case studies (banking, education and migrants) but not the third (social care). In the fourth case study, older workers spend little working time together and therefore had fewer opportunities to act in a collective way. Collective capabilities play out through shared retirement planning, coordinated approaches to managers about work processes, and trade union representation. 2) We have sought to compare age management practices in the UK and Hong Kong. We have found that government in the two governments have taken a largely volunteerist "business case" approach to employer engagement. There has been relatively little cross national comparative research on age, work and retirement, and there have been several calls for more research on employer practices in countries representing different institutional regimes. Previous ESRC research within Europe and between the US and Europe have shown that employers and governments have taken "path dependent" approaches to age diversity shaped by their respective business and welfare systems. Key findings: • Government and employers in both economies are taking similar approaches to managing age by shifting responsibility for retirement savings and extended working life to the individual rather than employer. This is played out both within the welfare state (e.g. the development of universal second tier pension funds) and employment law. • Both economies are facing significant challenges in responding to ageing demographics particularly in terms of skills and labour shortages. . In Hong Kong, manpower projections to 2018 mean an extra 320,000 workers will be required over the next four years but there will only be an increase of 290,000 people in the same period. In the UK, According to the UK Commission on Employment and Skills UKCES , over the next decade, 13.5 million vacancies will open up, but only seven million school leavers will be available to fill them. • Public policies in both contexts are primarily geared toward shifting responsibility for savings and retirement planning toward the individual. Governments in both contexts have established universal second-tier defined contribution pension funds (Mandatory Provident Fund rolled out in 2000 in Hong Kong and the National Employment Savings Trust now being rolled out by 2018 in the UK) with a level of compulsory contribution by employees (mandatory and opt-out respectively) and employers. In both contexts, access to defined benefit schemes are being squeezed by a combination of financial regulations and tax rules as well as employers' reluctance to take on the risks of financing longer retirements. • Government engagement in both context have been primarily based on taking a light touch approach toward encouraging employers to adopt age positive HRM. The UK government has introduced anti age discrimination regulations (now part of the Single Equalities Act 2010) but this was mainly to transpose the EU Employment Equality (Age) Directive 2001. The UK's introduction and eventual abolition of the Default Retirement Age may offer a pathway for Hong Kong to gradually encourage large employers to raise and eliminate mandatory retirement ages. In addition to meeting these two objectives, we were able to add a third in exploring the experiences of older migrants and e barriers which they face in terms of employability in later life. We found that they employment barriers in terms of multiple discrimination, acculturation and language. We also found that ethnic community organisations can play an important role in supporting members back into work. Key findings: • Older Hong Kong migrants face significant barriers to employment including those concerning language, acculturation, discrimination and transferability of skills. Of particular importance is how the intersectionality of ageism and racism play out. Economic migrants who have "aged in place" face difficulties in managing unexpected turning points like having to delay retirement for financial reasons. • Community activism through ethnic centred organisations plays an important role in supporting older constituents plan for and manage retirement through disseminating information on pension and employment rights; promoting intergenerational social cohesion; and replicating "neighbourhood enclaves" to promote employability within the community. Methodology and data collection The project was carried out in three stages. First, interviews with national stakeholders were carried out in both economies. Through discussions with informants in government, trade unions, age advocacy groups and professional associations, we explored how government, employers and NGO's are responding to changing age demographics. Interviews were conducted with the following organisations: UK Department for Work and Pensions Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Employers Network on Equality and Inclusion Trades Union Congress Age UK Resolution Foundation The Age and Employment Network National Institute for Adult Continuing Education Hong Kong Civil service Efficiency Unit Hong Kong Institute of HRM Hong Kong Council of Social Services Helen Hamlyn Centre Second, six employer case studies were conducted across three industries. Two of the case studies were selected as representing industrial sectors facing skills shortages (secondary schools and social care services). A third case study was conducted in a multi-national financial institution in two regional offices in the UK and Hong Kong. Within each case study, interviews were conducted with senior managers and HR/line managers. We also conducted group discussions with older workers themselves in which we investigated employment barriers faced by older employees in the respective sectors. Union representatives were also interviewed where available. We also carried out a case study based within a city based community group on older Hong Kong migrants in the UK and employability. In total, seven case studies were completed. The full list of interviews and group discussions can be found here: www.agediversity.org/esrc. Finally, we conducted two matched surveys of older employees in the Hong Kong and the UK (800 responses in each country 1600 responses total). The surveys include 186 variables with questions drawn from the Labour Force Survey; European Social Survey, International Social Survey Project, National Adult Learning Survey, and European Working Conditions Survey. Modelled on the Capability Approach, the survey explores the relationship between career trajectories; choices in employment and work autonomy; skills and commodities; employer practices and HR policies; retirement outcomes and quality of life. The surveys were conducted across the UK (including all four nations) and Hong Kong using a stratified methodology to ensure representativeness. |
| Exploitation Route | We are now working with the DWP, ENEI, Trading Times and Age Action Alliance to use the UK survey data for employer engagement. Specifically, we are developing industry specific literature which will inform employers about the interventions which will enhance older workers' quality of working life as well as encourage phased retirement and/or extended working life. Specifically, we are using the data generated from the survey for the following initiatives: • A briefing report for trade unions on representing older workers: http://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/RepresentingAnAgeingWorkforce.pdf • Industrial specific employer briefings on older workers' views on extending working life to be distributed by AAA • A good practice age management guide for the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to be distributed by DWP, CIPD, ENEI and other organisations. One PhD student is currently enrolled at Middlesex University and is being jointly supervised by Professor Chan and Dr. Flynn. The student, Henry Shei, is conducting research on regulating private sector eldercare in Hong Kong and his research will be used as the basis for a code of practice to be disseminated by the Hong Kong Elderly Commission. Two students have applied to enrol in Newcastle University's PhD programme. The first student has proposed a study on the experiences of older Hong Kong migrants and employability. Her research will build on our study which has identified the central role of community activism in helping older migrants prepare for retirement. The second student has proposed conducting a study within mainland China on work and eldercare using Life Course theory. As part of a joint conference between Newcastle and Xiamen Universities scheduled for June 2015 entitled China in the Global Economy, we will be conducting a three day workshop with colleagues from across mainland China (XJLU, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Nankai University as well as Newcastle University Institute for Ageing) with the aim of developing a research team to carry out cross disciplinary research on ageing, work and eldercare in China. The research team is now applying for research funding from China's NSFC for a project on eldercare in China led by XJLU with Newcastle University as an international partner. With colleagues from University of Duisburg-Essen, Mannheim University and Vienna University, we are now organising an application for a special issue on age diversity from an East-West perspective for Human Relations. The proposal is based on symposium which we had organised for IAGG 2013 which drew papers on age and work in the UK, USA, Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan. We have also invited academics from both the UK and China (including Hong Kong) with an interest in age and work to explore the survey data with us through two workshops at Newcastle and Lingnan Universities. The aim is to use the data as the basis for an international network of academics from the two countries with a focus on extended working lives from an East/West perspective. Researchers from Manchester, Hull, Cranfield, Middlesex, Huddersfield, Lingnan, Newcastle, and Liverpool Universities, as well as Hedmark University Norway, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Holland, Vienna University Austria, Boston College USA and XJLU China have responded to our call to use our data explore topics including career management, the experiences of older carers, union representation on the age agenda and the regional dimension of ageing in the UK. Dissemination has been carried out through the following outlets: • Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&cluster=15238909105724042553) (now being developed for a paper for the Gerontologist • A presentation to Age Friendly Cities, Leeds www.agediversity.org/leeds.pdf • A presentation to the British Gerontological Society, 2014 www.agediversity.org/bsg.pdf • A presentation to DWP Silver Fox symposium, November 2014 • International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics 2013 (symposium and two papers) A paper on age management in the UK, Hong Kong and Taiwan is now being developed for HRMJ www.agediversity.org/iagg.pdf • A book chapter on age management public policies in Hong Kong and the UK for Handbook on Age Diversity and Work, Palgrave • Journal of Social Policy: Paper published in 2014 on public policies on older workers' employability in the UK and Japan • Gerontological Society of America: Paper on Capability Approach and Older Workers www.agediversity.org/capabilities.pdf • Teaching modules for students at Xibei, Lingnan and Newcastle Universities www.agediversity.org/xibei.pdf Finally, we are working with Wai Yin to develop further work on employability and older migrants with a focus on the role which community groups like Wai Yin can play in helping older migrants overcome employment barriers later in life. |
| Sectors | Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| URL | http://www.agediversity.org |
| Description | Our collaborative partners, Community Business and Employers Network on Equality and Inclusion have worked with us to engage businesses on ageing workforce issues in both the UK and Hong Kong. We have contributed to workshops, good practice guides and other outreach activities. The Hong Kong PI is now the Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (Hong Kong) and is using the data to inform consideration of public policy such as regulations on age discrimination. |
| Sector | Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | Reprt to TUC on ageing workforces as a negotiating issue |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Report for unions on ageing workplaces |
| URL | http://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/RepresentingAnAgeingWorkforce.pdf |
| Description | Newton Advanced Fellowship |
| Amount | £66,140 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AF160205 |
| Organisation | The British Academy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2017 |
| End | 02/2019 |
| Description | Program operacyjny wiedza edukacja rozwoj |
| Amount | £11,418 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | WND-POWR.04.03.00-00-W302/15 |
| Organisation | European Funds Portal Poland |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Poland |
| Start | 09/2016 |
| End | 08/2018 |
| Description | Social differentiation in later life: Exploring the interaction between wealth, education and retirement trajectories in Japan and the UK |
| Amount | £24,230 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/S013695/1 |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2019 |
| Description | VP/2016/004 - Improving expertise in the field of industrial relations. |
| Amount | € 333,592 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | VP/2016/004/0132 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2017 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Description | Community Business: Workshop on ageing workplaces |
| Organisation | Community Business |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | I participated in a one day seminar on ageing workforces in Hong Kong sponsored by Community Business and Thomas Reuters. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Community Business and Thomas Reuters organised the event attended by thirty Hong Kong businesses. |
| Impact | One day seminar discussion |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Newcastle 2020 |
| Organisation | Newcastle City Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Newcastle 2020 is a city wide initiative to enhance employability and social inclusion of older people within regeneration areas. I am part of the project group and the research findings have been used to identify approaches to encourage local businesses to support older job seekers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | I am part of a team which includes representatives of NGO's, the DWP and the City Council |
| Impact | Still in the process of developing interventions |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | 48th St. Gallen Symposium: Talk on age management |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | I am giving a talk to St. Gallen's symposium 3-4 May |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Age at Work Workshop organised by Business in the Community Northern Ireland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One day workshop of employers on ageing workplaces. I spoke on the subject on a three person panel. See: http://www.bitcni.org.uk/blog_do-older-workers-respond-positively-to-active-ageing/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.bitcni.org.uk/blog_do-older-workers-respond-positively-to-active-ageing/ |
| Description | CROW/TAEN/LSE Seminar Series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A half day seminar on ageing workplaces organised at University of Hull |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Gender and health impacts of policies extending working life in western countries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A training programme organised by COST Action IS1409. I am giving a training session on older workers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | TAEN/LSE Seminar on ageing workforces from an international perspective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | LSE/TAEN Seminar at which i presented research on UK and Hong Kong planned retirement ages |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.taen.org.uk/events/view/63/Seminar-An-International-Discussion-on-Retirement-and-Active-A... |