What Happens When I Get Older? Older Workers, Late Careers and Transitions to Retirement

In this chapter, we consider what workers face when they get older. The chapter starts with a concise review regarding the demographic and economic trends in industrialized countries. The aim is to explain why aging at work is one of the main social issues that needs to be addressed by society at large. We then review age- related stereotypes and discrimination against older workers. In particular, we focus on explicating how stereotypes regarding older workers are associated with reality, discrimination, as well as interpersonal relationships at work. Next, we discuss changes experienced by older workers in terms of their performance, attitudes and motivation. Both Socio-emotional Selectivity theory and the Selection-Optimization-Compensation theory are elaborated in that section. Toward the end of the chapter, we review various organizational practices that may help address issues related to an ageing workforce. We also take the older workers’ perspective and discuss how they may smoothly transition from their main careers to full retirement through bridge employment. Specifically, we advocate bridge employment not only as useful post-retirement activity to help older workers adjust to retirement life, but also as a beneficial way for organizations to deal with talent shortage and for governments to improve the sustainability of social security benefits.