Ageing in employment: challenges to workplace redesign

It is critical that workers over 45 years remain connected to their workplaces in an environment of rapid change from industrial age to information age employment. The sustainability of the Australian economy depends on available labour supply and the capacity of older workers to remain in the workforce until older ages. The older generation of workers is required to adapt to new technologies that are increasingly restructuring the content, processes and organisation of work and work environments. The chapter builds on the assumption that enabling employment for individuals as they age can develop individuals' potentialities providing that their choices and vulnerabilities are respected. Designing workplaces that enable individuals to stay working, if that is their preference, requires spaces that are comfortable for workers as they age rather than reinforcing age-bound meanings of work. Physical (and psychosocial) environments can implicitly exclude participation by conveying the meaning that as people age they no longer 'belong' in these environments. This chapter focuses on how the health and wellbeing of the older workforce can be managed to maintain employability into the future. The chapter initially discusses the productivity rationale for the employment of the older workforce. It turns next to discuss the risks of managing workers as they age, which include early retirement, disability and work injuries. The forefront of the discussion then shifts to workplace design, focusing on the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 'work ability' framework. The scope of the framework incorporates elements that extend from micro-level technology processes to the broader workplace environment. Further complementary assistive technologies can enable older workers to cope with losses of capabilities in workplaces. The Finnish framework for managing the health and wellbeing of older workers provides a nexus between the ageing demography and its capacity to remain connected to their workplaces