Working conditions and job retention of older workers: the challenge of "decompartmentalizing" approaches and practices.

Summary France, like many Western countries, has been confronted for the past thirty years with an aging population in general, and an aging working population in particular. With a view to balancing pension systems, European Union directives, which have been implemented in each country in the form of national agreements or plans, have repeatedly aimed to raise the retirement age and promote the employment of older workers. This article presents the results of an empirical study carried out in France, at the request of the Conseil d'Orientation des Conditions de Travail (COCT), among thirteen companies of various sizes and in various sectors of activity which have included dimensions relating to working conditions in their "seniors" plan or agreement. The monographs thus produced are intended to shed light on public policies from the perspective of a comprehensive approach that favors an integrated approach to the issue of maintaining older workers in employment. They make it possible to point out the very limits of the categorizations that might be attempted ("seniors", "working conditions", etc.) and the associated risks of compartmentalization. They also make it possible to determine the vitality of decompartmentalized approaches, their impact, and the lessons that can be drawn for public policies.