Workforce age diversity: Towards an inclusive understanding of its implications and successful management.

Organizations are challenged by radical changes in their demographic landscape. Because populations are ageing and people retire later, workforce age diversity is higher than ever and still on the rise. Never before had so many different ages worked together, all with other values, needs, knowledge and experience. What are the implications of workforce age diversity and how can firms manage them? This is the encompassing question guiding this project, as productively dealing with age-diverse workforces is necessary for the future prosperity of firms and economies overall. Thus far, research has established that workforce age diversity can have both positive and negative effects on firm performance. However, there is little understanding of how and when the opposite effects come about. As a result, it is unclear how firms can capitalize on the benefits and avoid the drawbacks of age diversity. We take four steps to better understand the implications and successful management of organizational age diversity. First, we uncover the key intergenerational mechanisms underlying the performance effects of age diversity. Second, we examine the multilevel effects of workforce age diversity, proposing the effects depend on firms' work structure (who works with whom?). Third, we investigate how employees' perceptions of age diversity influence these effects. Fourth, we study the success of age-inclusive management in managing workforce age diversity.

Keywords:ORGANISATION MANAGEMENT, AGEING SOCIETY, AGEING, DIVERSITY

Disciplines:Organisational management

Project type:Collaboration project