Do Older Employees Suffer More from Work Intensification and Other Intensified Job Demands?

This paper by Saija et al., considers how intensification is driven by technological acceleration. These phenomena also affect working life by intensifying job demands, possibly imposing new job stressors on the workforce. At the same time the workforce is aging, raising a question how older employees manage to cope with these work life changes. This study examined intensified job demands and their effects on occupational well-being from the age perspective utilizing Finnish survey data from upper white-collar workers (N = 2,200). Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance and hierarchical regression analyses and revealed that older employees experienced more work intensification and intensified knowledge- and skill-related learning demands, whereas younger employees experienced more intensified career-related planning and decision-making demands. Intensified job demands were related to occupational well-being (job burnout, work engagement), but were rarely age-specific. It concludes that aging does not necessarily mean higher intensified job demands, yet work intensification and intensified learning demands can be more common among older employees.

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