Include, Individualize, and Integrate: Organizational Meta-strategies for Mature Workers

Abstract

In this commentary, we synthesize the literature on mature workers in organizations to support the development of an intervention-focused research program. We identify 3 broad approaches, or “meta-strategies,” which theory and research suggest organizations can use to reap the benefits associated with a mature and age-diverse workforce. “Include” involves strategies to create an inclusive climate in which mature workers are welcomed and fairly treated and is based on theories such as optimal distinctiveness theory. “Individualize” involves strategies to adapt the work to meet the individual needs and preferences of an aging workforce, such as work redesign and is based on theories about how people change over the life span. “Integrate” involves strategies to address the greater age diversity that comes with an aging workforce, such as how mentoring schemes enable younger and older workers to better learn from each other, and is based on theories such as those concerned with team diversity. We believe that this framework will help organizational decision makers to think more broadly and more proactively about how to manage, and harness the benefits of, an aging workforce. Our framework also challenges researchers to give more attention to intervention studies, including considering what configurations of strategies might be most helpful, as well as whether sequencing of strategies is important.

The influence of human resource practices on perceived work ability and the preferred retirement age: A latent growth modelling approach

“…In future research this issue may be overcome by using company data on the usage of HR practices or by adding a more elaborate description for each HR practice. Finally, Parker and Andrei (2020) distinguish between three different HR strategies towards older workers: include (i.e., age‐inclusive HR practices, see e.g., Boehm, Kunze, & Bruch, 2013), individualise (i.e., age‐specific HR practices, such as the HR bundles of Kooij et al, 2014) and integrate (i.e., HR strategies aimed at facilitating interaction between age diverse colleagues, see for example Burmeister & Deller, 2016). In this study, we focused particularly on the individualisation strategy.…”

Experience, vulnerability, or overload? Emotional job demands as moderator in trajectories of emotional well-being and job satisfaction across the working lifespan.

“…For instance, they can attempt to create working conditions that allow employees to capitalize on the adaptive emotion regulation strategies they gain as they age (Hertel et al, 2015; Scheibe et al, 2016). Parker and Andrei (2020) introduce meta-strategies for mature workers, one of them including the adaptation and redesign of work to meet the needs of older workers. Managers could attempt to reduce the quantity and frequency of very emotionally effortful work, for instance, through job and task rotation (Campion et al, 1994).…”

Putting successful aging into context

“…To guide organizations in creating a workplace that empowers workers to successfully age at work, we draw on a framework of three broad metastrategies for supporting mature workers, namely the 3I model of include, individualize, and integrate (Parker & Andrei, 2020). We briefly describe this framework and provide in Table 1 examples of how each strategy can be used to support the additional pathways proposed above.…”