‘Als het getij verloopt, verzet men de bakens’. Sustainable employability policy as being part of Strategic Human Resource Management ‘Als het getij verloopt, verzet men de bakens’. Sustainable employability policy as being part of Strategic Human Resource Management Ageing and dejuvenization of the working population urge us to pay directed attention to sustainable employability policy as being part of Strategic HRM. In this shortened version of my inaugural lecture, a positive psychological approach is used to deal with the possibilities both employees and working organizations have to stimulate employees to develop healthy, prosperous, challenging, and productive careers until retirement age or even after that. The strength of seniority will explicitly be focused on. Moreover, this manuscript will deal with possible threats and shortcomings that ageing workers may encounter. Given the enormous diversity in perceptions people may have towards life and career success a non-normative framework has been used. In consideration of the more pluriform working population, this contribution is structured around four career-related questions: how long do I have to go on for; how long will I be able to; how long will I be allowed to; and how long do I want to go on for?

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The relationship between job demands, job resources, strain, and work enjoyment: a matter of age? The relationship between job demands, job resources, strain, and work enjoyment: a matter of age? Drawing on the Selection-Optimization-Compensation theory and the Job Demands-Resources model this study addresses the following research questions: (1) are there mean differences in the perceived levels of particular job characteristics between employees from different age groups; and (2) to what extent does the relationship between job characteristics and work outcomes (i.e., job strain and work enjoyment) differ across age groups? Data were collected from a sample of 15,464 employees, of which 3,850 were younger than 35 (young group), 7,273 were between 36 and 45 (middle group), and 4,341 were older than 45 (old group). Significant age differences were found in the levels of job characteristics: Young employees are most positive about their relationships with their colleagues and direct supervisor, and report to have the lowest levels of workload; employees from the middle group report to have the highest levels of role conflict; employees from the oldest age group perceive to have the highest levels of autonomy, and perceive more than other employees to be confronted with hindering changes at work. In addition, the strength of the relationship between job characteristics and work outcomes differed across age groups, although differences were rather small. From this we conclude that HR management should focus on creating high-quality jobs for all employees, young and old.