THE AGING WORKER IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT - ORGANIZATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL ISSUES

The impact of an aging workforce raises the biggest issues facing empl oyers today. Middle age and older workers will become increasingly pre valent in the work place. In this article using five approaches to def ining older workers as an organizing framework we review a number of t hese employment issues, The approaches include chronological, function al, psychosocial, organizational and life-span. physical and cognitive changes are addressed. Research supports the notion that older worker s have the capacity to continue making contributions at work. A primar y theme, regardless of the specific issue, is the predominant importan ce of individual differences. A lifespan approach accommodates individ ual differences in career patterns. The prevailing viewpoint is that a dult and older adult workers need to be considered on an individual ba sis both in terms of career choices and planning as well as in terms o f employment or promotional opportunities. Attention is given to the h uman resource policies that may impact older workers such as performan ce management, selection and training. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc,