Women’s experiences of menopause at work and performance management

Presenting findings from our global evidence review of menopause transition and economic participation emboldened us to establish a menopause policy at the university where we all worked at the time. Our report was published in July 2017 and the policy was in place by November that year. Our critical reflection on this activism focuses on issues that are not commonly recognized around such interventions, and which we ourselves have only been able to acknowledge through engaged action. Challenges remain in normalizing menopause in organizations, specifically around gendered ageism and performance management. In drawing on Meyerson and Kolb’s framework for understanding gender in organizations, we highlight how policies are both vital and yet insufficient in and of themselves in revising the dominant discourse around menopause at work. At the same time, we highlight the importance and shortcomings of academic activism within these processes

Age Discrimination in Hiring Decisions: A Factorial Survey among Managers in Nine European Countries

This article analyses old-age discrimination in managers’ hypothetical hiring decisions. We expectthat older job candidates are less likely to be hired than equally qualified younger candidates.Statistical discrimination theory argues that when recruiters have more information about the candi-date’s skills, age is less important for hiring decisions. Given inconclusive results of previous studies,we elaborate on the theory by focusing on the content rather than the amount of information. Weargue that information is primarily influential if it debunks, rather than confirms, ageist stereotypes.To test this argument, a factorial survey was conducted among 482 managers in nine European coun-tries. The findings show that older candidates indeed receive lower hireability scores, and this findingis robust across countries and sectors. However, we do not find that stereotype-rejecting informationmoderates age discrimination: it does not matter whether recruiters have information that debunks orconfirms ageist stereotypes; age is equally important in both situations. Our findings suggest that forhiring decisions, the valuation of applicants’ skills and their age are largely independen

The use of HR policies and job satisfaction of older workers

Against the backdrop of aging populations and policies to extend working lives, this study advances prior research by examining how job satisfaction of older workers is associated with not only own, but also coworkers' usage of 3 human resource (HR) policies: phasing out (i.e., lighter workload, additional leave, and semi-retirement), demotion, and training. Exploiting unique, linked organization-department-employee data from the European Sustainable Workforce Survey (ESWS), hypotheses derived from the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and relative deprivation theory are tested with 3-level regression analysis. The findings show that demotees are less satisfied with their job compared to older employees who were not demoted, whereas participation in phasing out arrangements is not related to older workers' job satisfaction. Older employees who received training are more satisfied with their job than those who did not. Moreover, in departments where coworkers participated in training, older employees who did not receive training are more satisfied than those in departments where training is unavailable or in which training is offered, but not used. Phasing out and demotion of colleagues are not associated with job satisfaction of older workers. These results are largely in line with the JD-R model, as demotion would decrease motivation and, in turn, job satisfaction, whereas training would increase job resources and motivation and, in turn, job satisfaction. This study concludes that providing training to older workers is a fruitful HR strategy for employers to stimulate job satisfaction among their older employees and facilitate longer working lives