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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.

Small-scale enterprises (SSEs) are important for sustainable development in Europe and account for a significant proportion of private enterprises and their large contribution to employment. The purpose of this paper is to explore workplace health management (WHM) from the perspective of managers in SSEs in Norway and Sweden.

In-depth interviews with 18 managers in SSEs were conducted and a stepwise qualitative analysis was used.

The findings are presented as two main patterns: inter-organisational dynamics and participative leadership. Managers discussed opportunities for WHM to foster solidarity and flexibility in the workplace, the potential of employees for self-governance and a cultural environment at the workplace characterized by safety, trust, care, loyalty and humour. The managers employed a process-oriented communicator style, were all-rounders, and demonstrated dedicated and distinct management. Managers in SSEs were lone problem solvers and experienced high and conflicting work demands and work-family conflicts.

The findings should be interpreted with caution concerning representation of SSEs generally. The enterprises were recruited from an intervention project focussing on WHM and might, therefore, have a positive attitude.

The managers obtain recommended information about what to do and how to address WHM in SSEs.

This study adds important knowledge regarding the preconditions for creating health promoting workplaces in SSEs, an area for which limited research exists. The findings provide insights and knowledge about managers’ possibilities and obstacles in WHM. The findings could be transferrable to management in similar contexts if managers develop more awareness and knowledge.

Online learning becomes a trendy format for workplace training, particularly during the pandemic. This study aims to examine the effects of a technology-assisted self-adaptive training camp on employees’ learning process and acquired knowledge, and the relationship between employees’ knowledge gained and organisational growth.

The participants were 213 pharmaceutical representatives from a global pharmaceutical business in the Asia-Pacific branch who enrolled in a 21-day professional training camp. Their knowledge gained was calculated by pre-tests and post-test scores captured from an online training system. The company’s profits gained by employees were indicated by individuals’ quarter-over-quarter growth rates. Specifically, the authors applied a series of quantitative analyses to examine the relationship between employees’ knowledge gained, learning quality and organizational growth brought by individuals.

During the online training session, employees obtained increased professional knowledge significantly. The quality of employees’ learning process was a significant predictor of their learning outcomes. In addition, a positive correlation was found between the knowledge obtained by employees and the company’s quarterly growth rates. A followed-up regression analysis indicated that the greater knowledge improvement an individual achieved, the higher quarter-to-quarter growth rate brought by the individual to the organization.

The study provides educational insights for organisations to effectively train employees’ professional competency through online learning. The investigation on the 21-day camp shows that employees received higher-quality training, resulting in increased revenues and greater workplace flexibility. The findings have implications for supporting the integration of educational technology into workplace training to boost the competency development of employees.

Changes in the nature of work, social policy, and concepts of disability allow increased potential for the integration of vocational rehabilitation (VR) in the workplace. Concurrently, workplace rehabilitation programmes are becoming more popular, as organizations see the value of VR in improving workplace culture and reducing insurance premiums. Investigates the opportunities for collaboration between rehabilitation and human resource management (HRM) at policy, planning and practice levels. Failure to integrate can lead to the VR programme being marginalized and needless duplication of activities. Concludes by calling for increased cross‐disciplinary training for both HR practitioners and VR professionals as a basis for effective integrated rehabilitation at the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the next government could develop a better deal in relation to work, pensions and poverty. The paper argues that given the changing face of poverty, the next government should focus on creating better jobs if it is really to encourage people to work longer and save more for retirement. Furthermore, it could do more to support those who are currently under-saving for retirement.

The paper draws on evidence from a number of recent qualitative and quantitative JRF research reports and government statistical data.

The paper suggests policy recommendations for the next government focused on creating better jobs and helping those on lower incomes increase their pension pots. This includes: ensuring that the minimum wages is set with regard to the changing price of essentials and changing average earnings; raising awareness of the Living Wage and playing a leadership role; industrial strategies for low paid sectors; mid-life career reviews and increased rights for those aged 60 and over; the redistribution of tax relief on pension contributions and the auto-escalation of workplace pensions.

This paper looks at the issue of an ageing society, work and pensions through a poverty lens.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance for real estate organizations to measure portfolio space in a meaningful way, allowing occupancy planners to make aggressive recommendations to reduce under utilized space within a portfolio.

This paper takes the form of an office space characteristics study of nine global occupiers in four different industries, focusing on vacancy rate, density, space usage and gross versus rentable/usable square footage.

There is a disconnect between where many corporate real estate executives think they need to be on these measurements, where they think they are, and where they truly are when metrics are based on actuals, and not on targets. Also, most US occupiers are above the BOMA international density recommendation of 225 square feet per person. Per person and per seat space occupancy is lower in Europe and especially in Asia.

The paper contains suggestions on how and what portfolio spaces to measure, as well as a base for comparing major space characteristics to corporate peers. This information is valuable for helping a corporation “right size” its portfolio in occupancy planning, and provides a meaningful way for real estate executives to demonstrate support for overall corporate objectives such as cost efficiency.

This study is possibly the first ever published detailing such a large amount of office space (almost 42 million s.f. total). It provides corporate occupiers a framework for measuring their own portfolios, and a yardstick for comparison of space characteristics to others once that has been completed.

WORDS, the currency of human thought, are easily debased. Frequent repetition can empty them of serious meaning. Rightly used they can, with the brevity and directness of a road sign, provide the pith of a subject. Only when they are widely adopted and used as a label to stick on every package do they lose significance.

Industry 4.0 is assumed to yield extensive industry-spanning opportunities. However, exploiting these opportunities requires a targeted implementation of Industry 4.0. The purpose of this paper is to generate a deeper understanding of relevant implementation action. Existing recommendations are mostly general, highly aggregated and difficult to grasp. Yet, specific and concrete actions that need to be taken to accelerate the realization of Industry 4.0 are essential.

The article uses 13 semi-structured in-depth expert interviews as the source of empirical data. The interviews were conducted with managers from Industry 4.0-experienced German manufacturing companies. All interviews are analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

The study reveals relevant and targeted aspects for Industry 4.0 implementation: the development of Industry 4.0-specific know-how, securing financial resources, integrating employees into the implementation process and establishing an open-minded and flexible corporate culture. Further aspects include comprehensive planning processes, cooperation with external partners, proper handling of data interfaces, interdisciplinary communication, an adaptable organizational structure and data security.

The paper is limited to German manufacturing enterprises and should be transferred to other industries and countries.

The study supports managers to effectively implement Industry 4.0 within their organizations and consequently benefit from Industry 4.0 and derives recommendations for future research.

The paper is among the first to give specific and concrete examples for lessons learned from Industry 4.0 implementation, directly obtained from industrial application.

Machine Intelligence and the Human Window Writing in Applied Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 5 No. 1, 1991, pp. 1–10), Donald Michie of the Turing Institute, Glasgow, UK, considers Machine Intelligence and the Human Window. He says that:

Previous research has examined the effects of discrete affects on voice; however, the role of trait and state affects in voice literature has received little attention. This study aims to address this important issue from a conservation of resources perspective, by exploring the influence of daily positive affect and emotional resistance to change on the voice of employees and their resulting work outcomes.

The study collected data about 285 daily episodes from 57 employees over five consecutive days, using an experience sampling method (ESM) through mobile surveys. The study found that emotional resistance to change was negatively related to employee voice and in-role performance.

Voice mediated the negative relationship between emotional resistance to change and in-role performance. The study also found that daily positive affect buffered the negative effects of emotional resistance to change on voice.

These findings extend the research concerning affect and voice; the study provides integrative insight into how affect dynamically influences organizations.