Social Dialogue as a Sustainable Career Development Practice to Combat (Meta)Stereotyping

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors outline how the concepts of social dialogue, employability, and (meta)stereotyping may be conceptualized and interrelated and how they play a role in the HR-process and, ultimately, affect workers' career development. This process is illustrated by a short summary of preliminary results from a study of supermarket workers in the Netherlands, particularly focusing on workers engaging in negative age-based (meta)stereotyping. In view of several interrelated trends, older workers (among other labor market categories) have become an increasingly vulnerable labor market category. On the one hand, aging and dejuvenization of the labor market have led lo a rise of the legal retirement age across the globe and, hence, the need for workers lo work longer over the life cycle. On the other, fiercer competition in globalizing markets and technological changes may cause older workers to be viewed as 'too expensive' to employ, while their skills may become obsolete, which stresses the importance of ongoing employability development. Although older and often more tenured workers may have gained more work experience and skills over the life span than their younger peers, in contemporary labor markets, this may not suffice to remain employable throughout their careers. In addition, especially in the light of ever-increasing labor market flexibility and technological developments, (lower-skilled) work becomes more uncertain which demands a more proactive labor market orientation to other career paths than older workers use to display. The chapter concludes by suggesting organizations to implement HR practices to combat negative (meta)stereotyping in general, and older workers in particular, enabling them to shape more inclusive workplaces, for example, through social dialogue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)