1. Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work
Eurofound update
Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work
6 December 2017
Oscar Vargas Llave

2. Highlights of Eurofound update
Eurwork – European Observatory of Working Life –
Developments in working life in Europe, pay inequalities experienced by posted workers and extending working lives
Concept paper on the digital age : opportunities and challenges for work and employment
European working conditions survey:
Report exploring self-employment in Europe
Report working time patterns for sustainable work
Report working conditions of workers of different age
EurWORK, the European Observatory of Working Life has published its annual report “developments in working life in Europe ”on 25th of September. Its annual update on working time was published on 16 August Topical updates published deal with “religion at the workplace”, “pay inequalities experienced by posted workers” and “extending working lives”. A number of topical updates are in preparation such as “burn out”, and “work on demand”.
The literature reviews and concept paper on “the digital age : opportunities and challenges for work and employment” will be published by the end of the year.
The report ‘exploring self-employment in Europe’ has been published on 21 September 2017.
The report examines the heterogeneity of self-employed looking at their profiles, job quality and quality of working lives, explores the situations of ‘economically dependent workers’, ‘bogus self-employment’ and Member States policy answers to regulate these situations, analyses the challenges related to the social protection rights and representation of the self-employed.
The report “working time patterns for sustainable work” has been published. The report documents the evolution of working time in Europe, work life balance across the life-course, analyses employees working time preferences and determinants, and explores the relationships between working time, health and well-being and sustainable work.
The report “working conditions of workers of different age”, a secondary analysis of the European Working Conditions Survey (the EWCS) will be published before the end of the year. The report confirms the importance in all age groups of good working conditions which support sustainable work over the life course and therefore contribute to the ability and motivation to work until old age. Italso highlights the specific conditions affecting more different age groups. Furthermore the report highlight occupational and countries differences.

3. Report: working conditions of workers of different ages
Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work
6 December 2017
Oscar Vargas Llave

4. Working conditions of workers of different ages - what does the report include?
Provides knowledge with regard to the factors which promote or inhibit sustainable work over the life-course
Describes working conditions at different age groups in the context of ageing work-force
Investigates differences in working conditions from the life-course perspective by occupation
Explores sustainable work at country level
Report content
Introduce Eurofound concept of sustainable work - This emphasises the relevance of the quality of a worker’s job and their working environment over the entire course of their working life. ‘Sustainable work over the life course’ means that working and living conditions are such that they support in engaging and remaining in work through an extended working life

5. European Pillar of Social Rights
10.b
Workers have the right to a working environment adapted to their professional needs and which enables them to prolong their participation in the labour market.
European Pillar of Social Rights – 10.b and relation with Eurofound concept of sustainable work.
Eurofound concept of sustainable work - This emphasises the relevance of the quality of a worker’s job and their working environment over the entire course of their working life. ‘Sustainable work over the life course’ means that working and living conditions are such that they support in engaging and remaining in work through an extended working life

6. Working conditions of workers of different ages
Factors associated to sustainable work outcomes (EWCS 2015 Multivariate analysis)
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
HEALTH
PROSPECTS
Career prospects
Employability
Job security
Working time flexibility
Support from colleagues
Management quality
Subjective well-being
Work-life balance
Management quality
Support from colleagues
Training
Type of contract
Mention literature review – Among the factors which enable workers to prolong their participation in the labour market we found work-life balance, health and career prospects in general. And these factors are associated with some working conditions that can contribute to participation in the labour market and prolong working life.
Job demands
Long hours
Job demands
Adverse social behaviour
Physical risks

7. Work environment factors with an impact on health by age
Indices of physical risk
Exposure to physical risks declines with age but not considerably. It is only after 55 years of age when the prevalence of exposure to physical risks drops dramatically. And this pattern is similar to other work environment factors with an impact on health (eg. work-life balance, working time, job strain).
It is not necessarily the result of an improvement of working conditions but a consequence of “healthy (and not motivated) worker effect” and the indication that some workers (who can opt for –early- retirement only continue working under a good working conditions.

8. Work environment factors with an impact on health by age
Quantitative job demands
Interestingly, while physical risks exposure does not change much until 55 years of age, the prevalence of experiencing high level of job demands continuously decreases with age, which suggests that overall some workers might continue being exposed to risks, however, they are less and less exposed to high level of demands. A situation that can make their work more bearable with age.

9. Work environment factors with an impact on health by age
Adverse social behaviour
The third factor, affecting negatively the health of workers is adverse social behaviour where there is a clear age and gender differences: young and older women more subjected to adverse social behaviour than men.

10. Working conditions of workers of different ages: differences between occupations
Mid and low level occupations present worse working conditions over the life course, but with exceptions
Accumulation of poor conditions over the life course results in poor outcomes at older age
Lower occupational levels associated with poor health and stronger deterioration with age
Occupation findings
Mid and low level worse working conditions. However, secondary analysis demonstrated that there are exceptions to these general findings when occupational groupings are investigated more deeply, at the ISCO-08 two-digit level). Working time and work– life balance are not necessarily related to socioeconomic status, since production and service managers and business associate professionals are found to report worse conditions for these indicators. Physical risks and the perceived negative impact of work on health mostly follow similar patterns to the broader occupational groupings at ISCO-08 one-digit level – appearing worse for middle- to low-level occupations – but health professionals prove an exception to this rule, since they are as likely as lower level occupations to report a negative impact of work on health. Examining the working conditions for specific occupations at ISCO-08 two-digit level also exhibited different age patterns by occupation, underscoring the findings from Chapter 3 that employees experience working conditions differently throughout the life course.
Another important factor is the accumulation of risks over the life course. The impact of the accumulation of experiences in workers ability to continue working after 55 can be so strong that it might be too late for the worker to be motivated and to be capable of working until retirement age.
Employees generally register poorer health at older ages. This tendency becomes more pronounced when occupations are examined, as in general health and well-being indicators are worse for older employees in middle- and low-level occupations. These groups of employees may suffer the consequences of cumulative job strain at older ages; this is especially the case for those working in agriculture, craft workers, and plant and machine operators, for whom the negative impact of work on health is higher throughout their working life. Broader occupational comparisons of psychological well-being do not yield strong differences across ages, and differences between occupations are small. Role of socioeconomic status. Example of plant and machine operator in relation to health, work-life balance and prospects.

11. Working conditions of workers of different ages – country comparison
Self-reported health
Work-life balance
Prospects
Explain selection of countries and specific situation in relation to the various sustainable work outcomes

12. Working conditions of workers of different ages – country comparison
Duration of working life (LFS2015) and sustainable work (EWCS2015)

13. Conclusions
Better working conditions = more sustainable work = enabling participation in the labour market (Social Pillar)
Holds true for all ages: advocates life course perspective, but differences in working conditions by age
Reducing psychosocial risks at least as important as reducing physical risks (Arduous jobs)
Special attention to lower level occupations
Working conditions and institutional settings play a role in prolonging participation in the labour market
Changes in the in the world of work and consequences fort sustainable work?
1. Good working conditions in all age groups shape sustainable work over the life course and therefore contribute to the ability and motivation to work until old age. Nevertheless, there are specific conditions affecting more different age groups and therefore the policies aiming at improving working conditions has to consider worker’s stage in life.
2. At younger age job insecurity is more prevalent, which is related to having temporary contracts. If the situation is prolonged, it can have a negative impact on long-life career and skills development.
A critical issue for prime age workers is work life balance, which is related to work longer hours and having care responsibilities.
Improvements of on-the-job training after 45 years of age would improve the chances of workers to prolong working life.
There are some conditions of work like good physical environment, lower quantitative demands and working time autonomy that increases the likelihood of workers continuing working when they are older than 55. It is, precisely at that age, when participation at work strongly declines.