Exploring the Concept of ‘Positive Ageing’ in the UK Workplace—A Literature Review

Abstract

The participation rate of older people in the labour market is forecast to increase due to demographic changes afoot. For example, low fertility rates, higher life expectancy, and increases in the retirement age will affect labour availability. The working-age population trends indicate that the age group 55–64 years will expand. This trend is bolstered by policy debate about the sustainability of economic and social support systems for the wider population and necessary strategies to keep older workers in labour markets. Within the UK, as the statutory pension age is placed now at 67, changes affecting the national default retirement age (previously age 60 for women and 65 for men) already mean that many older workers will feature in workplaces past historical expectations. A lack of sensitivity about the adjustments older workers needed, due to age-related changes in health and functional capacities, attests the demoted valuing of ageing workers. Despite a rise in the importance of wisdom across cultures, the significance of experience that comes with ageing, however, has become less revered within the UK resulting in less than the institutional promotion of Positive Ageing might depict. This paper draws from a structured review of literature (SLR) which seeks to address the question of what is currently identified as ‘Positive Ageing’ to consider what contributions can be found in current literature that may represent these changes in the UK. The paper concludes that demographic change has stimulated significant re-thinking of workplace strategies for the maintenance of health and well-being of ageing workers at national or governmental policy levels. To ensure sustainability, workability, and productivity in work, however, the concept of Positive Ageing towards later life might be furthered despite that, at the organizational level, its enactment remains incomplete currently post retirement age.

Exploring the challenges and facilitators that impact the experiences of being an older female worker in the European labour market

“…Older women reported more incidents of discrimination in the form of sexism and ageism, in the workplace across reviews of studies compared to men (Payne and Doyal, 2010;Wilks and Neto, 2013;Edge, Cooper and Coffey, 2017;Diane Keeble-Ramsay, 2018;Edge et al, 2021). This was linked to perceptions of views held by others regarding older women's incompetence and inability to cope with challenges and advancements in the workplace (Payne and Doyal, 2010).…”

“…Engels et al (2020) found that on an average, women spent about half as many years in full-time employment than men, while spending more time in part-time or domestic work. The gender employment gap could also be attributed to the fact that women tend to retire earlier than their male counterparts (Edge, Cooper and Coffey, 2017;Diane Keeble-Ramsay, 2018). In their longitudinal study, Weber et al (2019) found that men are more likely to participate in paid employment after retirement compared to women, despite equivalent baseline educational levels.…”

“…Previous reviews found that older women reported fewer opportunities for on-the-job learning and training activities when compared to men (Payne and Doyal, 2010;Diane Keeble-Ramsay, 2018). Wilks & Neto (2013) argued that implementing age-relevant training programmes for staff could be key to improving job-related subjective well-being.…”

The World Health Organization's impacts on age‐friendly policymaking: A case study on Australia

“…Beyond accessibility, such a strong emphasis on care and support services also reflects these governments' ideas of ageing, one that focuses on older persons' diminishing abilities, and as a mounting cost to taxpayers (Judd et al, 2020;Moore, 2021). Such a portrayal of older persons is in strong contrast to the increase in academic and community attention on the Third Age and on Positive Ageing, both of which highlight the active contributions older persons can make within and outside their households (Ayalon & Tesch-Römer, 2018;Keeble-Ramsay, 2018;Villar et al, 2021).…”

Challenges of Regional Development in the Context of Population Ageing. Analysis Based on the Example of Opolskie Voivodeship

“…Many studies show that, for several decades, the main reasons leading to population ageing include structural population changes, that consequently bring decline in fertility, stagnation in population growth, and new relations in sex, age and population structure [16,17]. Economic and social consequences of the process are broadly analysed [1,18,19]. Priority areas of these changes include the labour market, in which the effects of declining labour resources and their ageing are reflected.…”