HR policy plays important role in preventing early exit of elderly employees with health problems

Personal and work-related predictors of early exit from paid work among older workers with health limitations Due to the current strict retirement regulations, workers are expected to continue
working to increasingly older ages, regardless of their health status. To achieve extension of working lives, insight into both personal and work-related predictors of early exit from paid work (EEPW) is needed. So far, research on predictors has addressed on the overall working population and has not specifically focused on the group of older workers with health limitations. Our study is intended to address this gap. Using data from the 2013 cohort of the Dutch population-based Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (ages 55-64, n=1,023), we selected workers with at least one chronic disease and/or a physical performance test score below the median. Among those who had not reached the statutory retirement age at the time of follow-up three years later (n=297), we first examined the bivariate association between independent variables and EEPW using logistic regression adjusted for age. Second, we constructed a multivariable prediction model. By the time of the follow-up, 22.9% had exited from work. Informal caregiving, a larger social network, low self-esteem, and a low educational level were predictors of EEPW. Persistence in the face of adversity (a component of self-ef-ficacy), repetitive movements at work, and variation of activities at work were not selected into the final prediction model, but they showed bivariate associations with EEPW.
Our findings suggest that EEPW in older workers with health limitations may be prevented by enhancing the self-esteem and self-efficacy of workers, adapting the work environment of informal caregivers, increasing social contacts at work, providing higher variation in activities, and ensuring less repetitive movements at work.