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Becoming an "old worker": a statistical survey of 45-55 year olds in an occupational health service

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This article proposes to identify, on the basis of a local statistical survey, the characteristics of the professional career of employees in the second half of their career, likely to influence their perception of their own work capacity and their place in the company. Three aspects of perceived ageing are explored, on the basis of a few questions: "product" ageing, seen as the feeling that work "makes me age prematurely"; "ordeal" ageing, relating to the constraints or nuisances of the job which are judged to be "more difficult with age"; and "image" ageing, when those around me at work "make me feel that I am old". The results relate to the answers of 594 employees aged 45 to 55 years followed by an inter-company occupational health service. Each facet of perceived ageing was related to membership of the socio-professional categories of blue-collar and white-collar worker and to the duration of exposure to physically demanding work, to shifting hours and to "monotonous" work. Uncertainty about one's professional future and about one's future work capacity is also associated with these three aspects; however, the accentuations are significantly different according to the aspects considered. These results underline the importance of the experience of working life in perceived ageing, and question the parametric reforms of pensions in the light of working conditions and health at work and their consideration throughout the career.