Job Design for Age-inclusive Workplaces

In this chapter we explore how designing jobs for an ageingAgeing workforce can help to create age-inclusive workplaces, with benefits for both the organisation and the workforce. Job design involves assessing the needs and capabilities of workers of all ages, genders, and job types, and considering the physical and ergonomic aspects of the workplace, training and development opportunities, and alternative work options. In this way, the needs and requirements of the organisation are met and, importantly, the personal circumstances and life stages of individual workers are taken into consideration. Drawing on our research with our case study organisations (CSOs), this chapter examines the extent to which they implemented job design policies and how this varied by age and gender. We identify the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model as a suitable framework to understand and assess job demands and resources across diverse workforces, and then evaluate the evidence on how job design was incorporated and addressed in the CSOs. Using examples from our CSOs and other organisations, we explore some flexible work design practices to better meet the needs of a multigenerational workforce and consider the benefits as well as challenges associated with a focus on job design in building an inclusive and productive workforce.