The Oxford Handbook of Work and Aging

The area of work and aging is complex and multi-faceted. Its foundation is formed by a wide array of disciplines that both contribute to the complexity of its understanding, and offer fertile promise for research, development, and application in the years ahead. With an ever-growing population of older workers, many of whom are suggesting they will likely continue to work past traditional retirement age, it becomes all the more important to increase efforts to develop a more thorough understanding of older workers, the nature of their interactions with work and the organizations for which they work, and the process of transitioning to retirement. Clearly, there are huge societal and global challenges that will both inform and influence research and application at the individual and organizational levels. This publication examines the aging workforce from individual worker, organizational, and societal perspectives. It offers both an integration of current cross-disciplinary knowledge, and a roadmap for where research and application should be focused in the future to address issues of an aging workforce. The six core sections cover: demography, theoretical and methodological issues, the older worker, organizational strategies for an older workforce, individual and organizational perspectives on work and retirement, and societal perspectives with an aging workforce. Bringing together authors from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, this book presents new approaches to recruiting, workplace flexibility, and the right mix of benefits and incentives as a way of engaging with an older workforce.