https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211041300Work, Employment and Society2023, Vol. 37(3) 721 –739© The Author(s) 2021Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissionsDOI: 10.1177/09500170211041300journals.sagepub.com/home/wes‘I Find it Daunting . . . That I’m Gonna Have to Deal with This until 60’: Extended Working Lives and the Sustainable Employability of Operational FirefightersValerie EgdellNorthumbria University, UKRima HusseinNorthumbria University, UKDeborah Harrison Newcastle University, UKAnna Katharina Bader Northumbria University, UKRob WilsonNorthumbria University, UKAbstractWhile 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 Corresponding author:Valerie Egdell, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, City Campus East 1, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK. Email: [email protected]1041300WES0010.1177/09500170211041300Work, Employment and SocietyEgdell et al.research-article2021Article
722Work, Employment and Society 37(3)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.Keywordsextended working lives, fire and rescue service, firefighters, sustainable employabilityIntroductionPublic policy internationally has encouraged extended working lives (EWLs) beyond ‘traditional’ retirement ages (Sinclair et al., 2013). ‘Early’ retirement ages previously incentivised many working in the fire and rescue service (FRS) (Bracken-Scally et al., 2016). However, reforms to the firefighters’ pension scheme in the UK over the last 20 years have seen normal and deferred pension ages rise from 50 and 55 years to 60 and 65 years, respectively (HM Government, 1992, 2006, 2014; National Assembly for Wales, 2007, 2015; Northern Ireland Assembly, 2007, 2015; Scottish Government, 2007, 2015). Consequently, the UK-FRS workforce is ageing, as firefighters retire later and fewer (younger) firefighters are recruited (Bateman et al., 2016; NFCC, 2016). There are ques-tions regarding the ability of firefighters to perform operationally in their 60s (Graveling and Crawford, 2011; Williams et al., 2013; Wrack, 2019). Existing research has dis-cussed the issues facing, and contributions, of older firefighters (Bracken-Scally et al., 2016; Kragt, 2019; Kragt et al., 2017; Pickerden, 2013, 2018). However, there is a pau-city of research on the implications of an ageing UK-FRS workforce. While there is service-level acknowledgement of workforce ageing (NFCC, 2016), no consideration has been made of how to sustainably achieve EWLs.In this article, we respond to calls from Lain et al. (2020) to consider whether and how individuals can (and want) to extend their working lives. Prior research has discussed the challenges associated with EWLs, including older workers’ ability to work longer (Lain et al., 2020; Wainwright et al., 2019). While some public sector organisations are consid-ering how to foster EWLs (e.g. the NHS Working Longer Review, 2014), consideration by the UK-FRS is lacking despite the extensive physical and psychological demands of firefighting work. We argue that in the UK-FRS, EWLs can only be achieved if firefight-ers have the capabilities to remain in work and perceive firefighting work as a valuable functioning (i.e. they are able and willing). We propose Van der Klink et al.’s (2016) sustainable employability model (SEM) as providing a valuable lens to reveal the factors that influence perceived ability and willingness to sustainably extend working lives. Applying this novel theoretical lens is an important theoretical contribution to EWLs literature as it allows us to integrate and categorise the interplay of factors that promote EWLs, the complexity of which is neglected by policy (Egdell et al., 2020). Building on the SEM and drawing on interviews undertaken with 99 firefighters, crew managers and watch managers (referred to here as ‘operational firefighters’) in a UK-FRS, we develop a theoretically informed understanding of the interplay of state, organisational and indi-vidual factors (Egdell et al., 2020; Lain et al., 2019; Phillipson, 2014, 2019; Phillipson et al., 2019) that shape ability and willingness to extend working lives in the UK-FRS.