Age friendly organisations: the role of organisational culture and the participation of older workers

© 2016 Dr. Arti AppannahPopulation ageing is a global phenomenon that has become prominent in international discourse over the past few decades. This discussion is often coupled with the economic implications of population ageing through reduced workforce participation of the older age group, increased government spending on health and pensions and reduced government income from taxes. A means of mitigating the economic costs of ageing is to lift the proportion of older individuals in the workforce and prolong working lives. This brings to the forefront an important point regarding the need for organisations to undertake changes so as to better enable the employment of older individuals and to cater for an ageing workforce. This study investigates older workers’ perceptions of an age-friendly organisational culture, in order for strategies and practices directed at older workers to be effective. Both interpretive and functionalist perspectives were adopted in the examination of an age-friendly work culture. The study was conducted across three organisations in Australia, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Within the qualitative phase of the study, 32 people across the three organisations were interviewed in order to construe older workers perceptions of an age-friendly organisation. Four main themes emerged from these interviews relating to organisational policies, organisational culture, leadership and job design. A survey was also constructed from the qualitative data and disseminated to the three organisations, yielding 155 useable responses. Exploratory factor analysis extracted eight factors from the survey data that represented a shared view of an age-friendly organisational culture, according to the older workers. These eight factors were labelled as fairness and equality, ease in accessing flexibility, enjoyment of work, managing older workers, access to training and development, job design, health and wellbeing and recognising older workers. Differences in perceptions of these eight factors based on age, gender, employment level, and sector were also explored and reported on in the study. Finally, both qualitative and quantitative data were integrated into a conceptual model of an age-friendly organisational culture from within the functionalist perspective that may help to assist with culture change initiatives. Policy and practice implications suggested by the findings are discussed. Study limitations and possible directions for future research are also addressed