Abstract

In many developed countries, the baby boomer generation will retire in the coming years. In addition, the age structure of the working population is shifting towards older cohorts. This means that both the trend towards a shrinking labor supply and the shift in the age structure are continuing. In other words, the labor supply will change qualitatively and decrease quantitatively. This development poses at least two challenges for companies: on the one hand, the workforce is aging and, on the other hand, employees are retiring in increasing numbers. As a result, an increasing operational replacement requirement meets a shrinking labor supply. In the project, we want to examine the personnel-strategic reactions to the demographic challenges: 1. Which companies are affected by demographic change and to what extent (differences according to company size, WZ, region, etc.)? How has the age composition of the workforce in the companies changed over time? 2. Are operational decision-makers aware of the demographic challenges? Do the challenges differ according to company type and if so, how? 3. With which personnel policy instruments or strategies, understood as strategy types, are decision-makers trying to cope with the demographic challenges? 4. Do these personnel strategies differ according to company type and if so, how? 5. Does the success of these HR strategies differ? The first question is examined using the data from the Establishment History Panel (BHP). We cluster the companies based on the age structure of their workforces and look at the distribution of the different age profiles by industry (WZ), company size, company age, etc. and over time (1999-2018). There are considerable differences between the economic sectors in terms of the composition of young and old companies in terms of age structure, as well as differences in the development over time of the proportions of the various "age types". With a subsequent survey, the remaining questions should be answered. The strategies of companies from different clusters are identified with which they already meet or want to meet the challenges caused by demography. In doing so, we are guided by the theoretical concepts of the AMO and HPWS literature on strategy bundles. Approximately 9,000 companies with 20 or more employees subject to social security system in three economic sectors were contacted for the survey. The survey results are to be linked to the administrative data in order to examine the connection between the age structure profile, personnel strategies and company development.