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The aim of this paper is to review research conducted on managing the ageing healthcare workforce and identify gaps for further research.

A systematic literature search of studies in the English language was carried out in Scopus and Web of Science databases.

The study consists of an analysis of 75 published articles. The majority of the papers were published in recent years, indicating a growing interest in the field. The authors specified the following inclusion criteria: all years, articles/reviews, English language and full text in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The authors of the paper illustrated seven major categories with different topics that were suggested for future research. It included: challenges of labor market in the healthcare field, age-related changes and their influence on work ability, training opportunities and lifelong learning among ageing health workforce, motives of early retirement, ageing and its relationship to Occupational Health and Safety. Longitudinal studies and case study strategy with mixed-methods approaches were suggested for future research by the authors.

The paper summarizes knowledge related to the management of ageing health workforce, describes topics researched and as a result, presents findings on and conclusions about the most important future implications of the ageing workforce for management in the healthcare field providing lines for further research. To the authors' knowledge, no holistic systematic literature reviews have been published in academic journals targeted specifically to ageing healthcare workers.

For many nations, their workforces are ageing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concerns and attitudes of employers to employing older workers and what information they require.

A questionnaire survey of workplaces was undertaken in the Fife region of Scotland, which in economic and demographic terms is representative of wider Scotland and other nations in Northern Europe. Descriptive analysis was undertaken to give insight into concerns and actions taken regarding ageing workforces.

Most workplaces perceive more advantages to employing older workers than challenges. Many have adapted training and work practices, but many have not. The majority surveyed believe that existing policies and strategies are sufficient. This points to the need for national and local government and employer associations to become more active to persuade workplaces to better manage future workplaces.

Generalisability is problematic and the small sample restricted the scope of statistical analysis.

The authors were unable to judge the severity of how an ageing workforce impacts on workplace performance, as employers found it difficult to conceptualise and identify the impact of ageing from market and economic pressures.

Resulting from population ageing the workforce of many societies are becoming older, this will impact on workplace relations and the social identity of those over the age of 50 years.

Little research has been undertaken to assess workplaces awareness of, and how to adapt to, an ageing workforce, and research is required to inform and guide management strategy of employers.

This paper aims to investigate a workforce policy response to the ageing workforce, emerging social and demographic trends, ongoing and rapid change, the growth in complexity and the changing nature of work.

The main method for constructing this paper is analysis of selected texts rather than the more conventional empirical studies. The approach is that of scenario construction, guided by the criteria established by Nowotny et al. Evidence is gathered of emergent trends that affect management practices and structures now and in the foreseeable future. These trends are identified and woven into a commentary that links them in a focus on the priorities for Australian organizations.

The findings from this research suggest that “command‐based” management structures of the bureaucracy, given emergent trends, present as an impediment to organizational success. Rather, a workforce policy reform agenda for both understanding and managing noted historical conditions in a coherent way is proposed.

The conclusions of this paper are significant for large organizations faced with the dynamism of the modern era and the difficulties associated with emerging demographic and social trends. They suggest a workforce policy reform agenda for both understanding and managing these historical conditions in a coherent way.

This paper deals with a topic that is exercising policy makers in all the developed economies. It offers practical advice to assist the development of workforce policy to better manage emergent trends.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the need for a Strategic Workforce Plan (SWP) in a public sector organization (PSO) confronting an ageing workforce situation.

The study is based upon an action research protocol with a view to initiating change through SWP developed in-house at a PSO that is arguably the custodian of workplace diversity.

The findings reveal a general consensus on the ageing workforce challenges at the PSO requiring the need to revisit the status quo on the recruitment and retention strategies as well as succession planning and talent management practices within the organization.

The study highlights the case of a PSO that has set about addressing the workplace demographic challenge by involving employees to become more reflexive in their engagement within the organization, which serves the dual purpose of “custodian” and “role model” for the country.

The challenge of an ageing workforce is not common occurrence in developing countries such as Kenya. However the manifestations of this unusual occurrence, and attempts to “nip things in the bud”, using an internally generated SWP with a view to changing the status quo is a demonstration of organizational learning and employee buy-in.

The population of The Netherlands will, as in other industrialized countries, continue to age in the coming decades. So far, the working‐age population has not been affected, but the ageing process is set to leave its mark on the labour force in the next 25 years. An ageing labour force and possible future policy measures in this area will have important repercussions for individual organizations. Research into future trends has shown that the percentage of people aged over 50 in public service will increase from 15 per cent in 1995 to 35 per cent in 2010. Policy measures aimed at stimulating the labour force participation of the elderly will boost this percentage even further. The elderly employees not only hold the highest positions, but also they withdraw from the workforce in limited numbers. Unless the number of jobs is increased, opportunities for promotion and entry into the Civil Service are likely to decline. The only way to counteract an ageing workforce ‐ even if only to a limited degree ‐ is to encourage the retirement of elderly employees and/or to significantly boost the number of jobs within the organization. Such measures would run counter to current political trends. An alternative would be to reassess the position of the elderly within the organization.

The purpose of this study is to identify the different research strands concerning studies related to human resource management (HRM) and ageing employees. More specifically, the paper analyses how age and gender are understood and conceptualized in these studies.

An integrative literature review concerning ageing employees and HRM with special reference to gender is the approach taken in this paper.

Recent studies relating to HRM and ageing employees were categorized and analysed. The paper concludes that there is a need for a more holistic understanding of the concept of age in studies related to ageing employees and HRM and also argues that the intersection of age and gender is under-researched in the field of HRM.

Based on literature review the paper outlined directions for how gender-neutral age management studies may be extended. A pluralist understanding of age and gender would help to understand the different needs and expectations that ageing employees may have in terms of HR practices and policies. Institutional practices and legislation can promote equality, but organizational contexts, both internal and external, should be scanned in order to recognize possible ageist or age-blind practices. Ageing women in particular have the burden of being recognized in terms of chronological stereotyped changes that might damage their work and career.

Research on ageing employees and HRM with special reference to gender is limited and therefore an integrative literature review is needed.

By 2040, 14.5% of Malaysia’s population will consist of those aged 65 years and above. The purpose of this paper is to examine the time-varying impact of an ageing population on the economy of Malaysia.

The relationship between the ageing population and economic performance was examined from the period 1971–2019. The time-varying rolling convergence estimation of 40 + k observations sample frame of the trace statistics was analysed.

The ageing population had affected the economic activities in Malaysia over all sampling time frame from 1971 to 2010, 1972–2011, …to 1980–2019. The growth in total population and economic activities also caused a significant increase in the ageing population in the long run. An improved economic performance signifies the affordability for better healthcare services and improvement in medical science technology to treat diseases.

Its ageing population has gradually slow down economic activities in Malaysia. Now is the time to be prepared and address an ageing workforce issues such as productivity, retirement policy, savings behaviour and life-long learning capabilities.

The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2021-0234.

The purpose of this paper is to assess risks and prospects for older workers and to provide a number of recommendations designed to marshal the interests of employees, business and government.

The paper examines the terrain of competing interests and dynamic complexities of workforce ageing, by elaborating on the topic of economic globalisation, the policy approaches adopted by government, the actions taken by industry and the working and life preferences of older workers.

In the absence of a deep understanding of the current relationship between demographic ageing, the labour market and economic globalisation, the policy aspirations of government face the prospect of limited success. The currently popular premise, that ageing populations go hand‐in‐hand with ageing workforces, appears to be contradicted by much of the available evidence, which points to rather more complex scenarios, in which outcomes are uncertain, but clearly where late career workers may not necessarily fare well.

The paper brings analysis to the area of ageing populations and the labour market in the context of globalization – a complex and important topic that is usually dealt with far too simply.

Although the world is rapidly ageing, the alarming explosion of youth unemployment seems to have removed the workforce ageing issue as a priority from the policy agenda. The purpose of this paper is to test and investigate the main needs and willingness to work among the older population, as well as the main advantages for organizations employing older workers.

The main research objectives were: first, to explore the effect of demographic and socio-economic predictors on an older person’s intention to work; and second, to focus on the main advantages that should induce organizations to retain older workers in their workplace. The paper is based on a survey and an interdisciplinary review of the literature.

The study indicated that educational level led to improved active behaviours in the labour market. In other words, people who obtained a higher level of education showed a greater likelihood to desire a prolongation of working life, while lower educational attainment may have lessened the willingness and capacity of older people to remain in the workforce. The main benefits for organizations with older workers are highlighted.

The survey has a number of limitations: the sample is small and was completed with reference to a single country, making it difficult to generalize results beyond this country study; the questionnaire relied solely on a few areas, while it would be better to gather additional information; the survey only targeted retired people, while it would have been interesting to also collect answers from workers nearing retirement. The association between individuals’ educational levels and their intention to work in later life suggests that continued development of educational programmes for workers could favour greater retention in the workplace.

As the ageing population is an increasing phenomenon, the participation of older people in the labour force and lifelong learning should become commonplace in the perspective of a more equitable society. The main challenge is to rethink retirement, by abolishing the mandatory retirement age and by providing more flexible work options.

Changes in national system and corporate strategies are required to meet the economic challenges of ageing populations.

This study advances research on age management because it provided evidence that educational background plays a fundamental role in determining the willingness to return to work. In addition, the paper proposes a new integrated approach of sustainable social change.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the experience of human resource (HR) professionals in managing career development for older workers. It focuses on the influence of personal, social and organisational experiences of HR professionals on (1) their approach to career development of older workers and (2) their organisation's career development practices for older workers.

Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews with 14 HR professionals from large organisations with at least half of their workforce aged 45 and above. The transcripts were analysed thematically, with the coding process informed by Ricoeur's theory of interpretation.

Three main themes emerged within the HR professionals' narratives. They identified with (1) the protagonist mindset in career development stories, (2) the enabling enforcer of individualised career development practices and (3) the agent for change in career development practices.

This study shows that a narrative thematic analysis can be used to explore how the experiences of HR professionals can affect the design and implementation of career development strategies for this cohort of workers. Further, recruiting HR professionals with a protagonist mindset can generate organisational practices inclusive of older workers.

This study is one of the first to focus on the role of HR professionals in managing career development practices for older workers and the influence of supportive managers on their attitudes and actions with older workers.