Little is known about the relative influence of age-differentiated leadership on healthy aging at work. Likewise, the age-conditional influence of age-differentiated leadership is understudied, and especially so in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a three-wave longitudinal study, we examined the role that age-differentiated leadership plays in the prediction of work ability, as measured three times over six months (n = 1130) during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (i.e., December 2019, March 2020, and June 2020). The results suggest that although there were no systematic changes in work ability on average, there was notable within-person variability in work ability over time. Additionally, we find that a balanced approach to age-differentiated leadership that considers the needs of both older and younger employees matters most and complements the positive influence of leader–member exchange for predicting within-person variability in work ability. We also find that older employees’ work ability benefits from an approach to age-differentiated leadership that considers older employee’s needs, whereas younger employees’ work ability especially benefits from leader–member exchange and a balanced approach to age-differentiated leadership. Overall, these results provide initial support for the idea that an age-differentiated approach to leadership is important when considering healthy aging at work.

Murphy and DeNisi (2021) offer that there is scant evidence that age-based stereotypes affect personnel judgments and decisions. However, this conclusion is drawn from evidence that assumes that biased judgments follow from stereotypes, rather than from evidence suggesting that stereotypes precede biased judgments. In this reply to Murphy and DeNisi (2021), we point out the flaws in this argument and offer the counterpoint that we know very little about the influence that age-based stereotypes have for such judgments and decisions. Moreover, given this lack of evidence, we argue that any conclusions regarding the influence of age-based stereotypes in this regard are, at best, premature.

Research on job resources suggests strong links with work engagement, but less is known about its association with personal resources and possible mechanisms linking personal resources to work engagement. Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and lifespan development theories, we develop and test a model of the indirect relationships between personal resources (i.e., adaptive coping in the form of selection, optimization, and compensation and personal health in the form of subjective health complaints) and work engagement through work ability. To test this model, a sample of employees (n = 520) was recruited from a panel of employed older (i.e., aged 40+) workers. Results suggest that work ability mediates the relationships between selection, optimization, and compensation and subjective health complaints and work engagement.