TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘I Find it Daunting . . . That I’m Gonna Have to Deal with This until 60’
T2 - Extended Working Lives and the Sustainable Employability of Operational Firefighters
AU - Egdell, Valerie
AU - Hussein, Rima
AU - Harrison, Deborah
AU - Bader, Anna Katharina
AU - Wilson, Rob
N1 - Funding information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/ or publication of this article: The research on which this article is based was funded by the participating UK-FRS (who we do not specifically identify for purposes of anonymity). The analysis in this article reflects the views of the authors alone.
PY - 2023/6/1
Y1 - 2023/6/1
N2 - While operational firefighters in the UK fire and rescue service traditionally retired in their 50s, their working lives are now extending. However, external pressures and the emotional and physical demands of firefighting work, lead to questions about whether operational firefighters will be able to extend their working lives. In this article, we engage with Van der Klink et al.’s sustainable employability model, which focuses on situations that allow individuals to make valuable contributions through their work and reveal how working lives can be extended. We consider implications of the characteristics of operational firefighting work, individual circumstances and contextual factors for the extension of working lives. Drawing on interviews conducted with firefighters, crew managers and watch managers working in a UK fire and rescue service, we highlight the unsustainability of many future working lives because of wellbeing and organisational pressures.
AB - While operational firefighters in the UK fire and rescue service traditionally retired in their 50s, their working lives are now extending. However, external pressures and the emotional and physical demands of firefighting work, lead to questions about whether operational firefighters will be able to extend their working lives. In this article, we engage with Van der Klink et al.’s sustainable employability model, which focuses on situations that allow individuals to make valuable contributions through their work and reveal how working lives can be extended. We consider implications of the characteristics of operational firefighting work, individual circumstances and contextual factors for the extension of working lives. Drawing on interviews conducted with firefighters, crew managers and watch managers working in a UK fire and rescue service, we highlight the unsustainability of many future working lives because of wellbeing and organisational pressures.
KW - extended working lives
KW - fire and rescue service
KW - firefighters
KW - sustainable employability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117026929&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/09500170211041300
DO - 10.1177/09500170211041300
M3 - Article
SN - 0950-0170
VL - 37
SP - 721
EP - 739
JO - Work, Employment and Society
JF - Work, Employment and Society
IS - 3
M1 - 095001702110413
ER -