Older Workers

by

Hannes Zacher

• LAST MODIFIED: 24 October 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0326

Introduction

In times of demographic change, researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in the group of “older workers.” Due to population aging in most developed and also many developing countries, members of this group make up a growing proportion of the workforce. Older workers are typically distinguished from the group of “young workers” and sometimes also from the group of “middle-aged workers.” The cut-off used to distinguish the group of older workers from the groups of young and/or middle-aged workers varies across literature sources and institutions that use such cut-offs, from as young as forty years to forty-five or fifty years and older. Typically no upper age cut-off is specified, and older workers belong to this group until they retire. Numerous sources in the literature describe the individual characteristics and actual and desired work characteristics and working conditions of the group of older workers. Moreover, many sources distinguish older workers from other age groups in terms of individual characteristics (e.g., physiological and cognitive abilities, personality, motivation), actual and desired contextual characteristics (e.g., work characteristics, working conditions, leadership, human resource practices, organizational culture and climate), and work-related outcomes (e.g., job attitudes, work performance, occupational health and well-being). This Oxford Bibliographies article provides an overview of the most important general overviews, edited books, and academic journals on older workers.

Edited Books

Several edited books cover research on older workers in the context of an aging workforce. Hedge and Borman 2012 presents a comprehensive edited handbook that includes a section on “the older worker,” including chapters on physical capabilities and occupational health, cognitive capabilities, work attitudes, job performance, age stereotypes and discrimination, job loss and job search, and the role of technology. Field, et al. 2013 outlines several key topics with relevance to older workers and the aging workforce, including performance management, late-career employment, care work, and training. Finkelstein, et al. 2015 provides a multicultural, interdisciplinary, use-inspired, person-centric, and future-oriented perspective on older workers and the aging workforce. Burke, et al. 2015 focuses on the challenges and opportunities that accompany the multi-generational and aging workforce. Antoniou, et al. 2017 includes chapters on various topics related to older workers and the aging workforce, as well as organizational practices and initiatives to develop and retain older workers. Parry and McCarthy 2017 includes a section on older workers, including chapters on healthy aging and well-being, volunteering and entrepreneurship, bridge employment, and retirement. Rudolph, et al. 2018 includes papers of a special issue on advances in research on age in the workplace and retirement. Baltes, et al. 2019 adopts a lifespan developmental perspective on older workers and aging at work. Shultz and Adams 2019 includes several chapters relevant to the study of older workers, including recruiting and retaining, diversity issues, age bias, legal issues, performance management, work attitudes, development, career embeddedness, occupational health, technology, work-family issues, retirement, and global perspectives. Finally, Zacher and Rudolph 2022 presents advances in theory, methods, and practice regarding older workers and aging at work.

• Antoniou, A.-S., R. J. Burke, and C. L. Cooper, eds. 2017. The aging workforce handbook: Individual organizational and societal challenges. Bingley, UK: Emerald.

  Covers the topics mental health, subjective well-being, attitudes toward work, work ability, job performance, job attitudes, healthy aging, job insecurity, job loss, and reemployment of older workers; discrimination and intergenerational relations of older workers; as well as human resource practices and organizational initiatives to develop and retain older workers.

• Baltes, B. B., C. W. Rudolph, and H. Zacher, eds. 2019. Work across the lifespan. London: Academic Press.

  Coalesces theoretical, empirical, and practical perspectives on older workers and aging at work. Lifespan developmental theories are applied to work, organizational life, and careers. Chapters focus on cognitive aging, personality development, socioemotional and motivational development, action regulation, careers, work design, performance management, training, recruitment and selection, occupational health, work-nonwork interface, discrimination, teamwork, psychological contracts, work values, leadership, stress and conflict management, organizational climate, and the work-to-retirement transition.

• Burke, R. J., C. L. Cooper, and A.-S. G. Antoniou. 2015. The multi-generational and aging workforce: Challenges and opportunities. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

  DOI: 10.4337/9781783476589

  Includes chapters that cover various topics relevant to older workers and the aging workforce, including unemployment, economic uncertainty, age discrimination, eldercare, workplace learning, and person-job fit of older workers.

• Field, J., R. J. Burke, and C. L. Cooper, eds. 2013. The SAGE handbook of aging, work and society. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

  Outlines several key topics with relevance to the aging workforce, including performance management, late-career employment, care work, and training.

• Finkelstein, L. M., D. M. Truxillo, F. Fraccaroli, and R. Kanfer, eds. 2015. Facing the challenges of a multi-age workforce: A use-inspired approach. New York: Routledge.

  Provides a multicultural, interdisciplinary, use-inspired, person-centric, and future-oriented perspective on the aging workforce and older workers.

• Hedge, J. W., and W. C. Borman, eds. 2012. The Oxford handbook of work and aging. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

  Presents a broad overview on the topic of work and aging, including demographic perspectives, theoretical and methodological perspectives on workforce aging, a section dedicated to “the older worker” (including chapters on physical capabilities and occupational health, cognitive capabilities, work attitudes, job performance, age stereotypes and discrimination, job loss and job search, technology), organizational strategies for an older workforce, as well as individual and societal perspectives on work and retirement.

• Parry, E., and J. McCarthy. 2017. The Palgrave handbook of age diversity and work. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

  DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-46781-2

  Includes section on perspectives on age, aging, and age diversity; older workers (including healthy aging and well-being, volunteering and entrepreneurship, bridge employment, retirement); younger workers, ageist attitudes; age diversity; and managing and age-diverse workforce.

• Rudolph, C. W., H. Zacher, and S. Scheibe, eds. 2018. Advances in research on age in the workplace and retirement. n.p.: Frontiers Media.

  Includes several chapters that were part of a special issue in the academic journal Frontiers in Psychology on advances in research on age in the workplace and retirement.

• Shultz, K. S., and G. A. Adams, eds. 2019. Aging and work in the 21st century. New York: Routledge.

  Originally published in 2009, this book includes chapters on recruiting and retaining older workers, diversity issues, age bias, legal issues, performance management, work attitudes, development of older workers, career embeddedness, occupational health, technology, work-family issues, retirement, and global perspectives.

• Zacher, H., and C. W. Rudolph, eds. 2022. Age and work: Advances in theory, methods, and practice. SIOP Organizational Frontiers series. New York: Routledge.

  Presents advances in theory (including alternative age constructs, intersectional effects, paradoxes, generational identity), methods (including observational methods, team and organizational level studies, longitudinal and diary methods, experiments and interventions, qualitative methods, archival data), and practice (including job crafting, knowledge exchange, work-nonwork interface, healthy aging, organizational meta-strategies) regarding age and work.