Australia's population and workforce are ageing. The reason for an ageing population is the post World War II baby boom, followed by low birth rates in subsequent generations. Combined with healthier lifestyles, advances in medical science and the subsequent increase in longevity, this means that there are more older people than ever before and this trend will continue for several more decades. However, workforce demographics are also affected by ageing, and Australian organisations will need to employ more older workers in the near future to meet predicted shortfalls of skilled workers. Although there have been studies examining the current low employment rates of older workers, the identification of negative stereotypes associated with older workers, and related problems and challenges (such as age discrimination), no study of the working intentions of older Australian workers has been reported. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore the meaning of working for older workers to better understand whether and why older Australian workers might want to continue working. In particular, this thesis explores what it is about working that makes some people want to continue beyond the traditional age of retirement, while others wish to cease work as soon as they are able. There are clear implications for individuals, organisations and public policy emanating from the extension to working lives. The research aims and objectives were best met within a phenomenological approach, and the data collection consisted of four studies. The setting for the research was a single organisation; an Australian university. Three of these studies were qualitatively-driven, within an interpretivist paradigm: (i) in-depth interviews with older employees (aged 50 years or older) to determine their meanings of working; (ii) interviews with managers to determine whether there were any organisational factors encouraging older workers to retire early; and (iii) interviews with retirees to determine their meanings of working and retirement. The fourth study was quantitative and examined the demographics of the organisation and the relevant HRM policy documents. The thesis uses the meaning of working as the initial theoretical conceptual perspective, and derives a new conceptual perspective for managing older workers, which is outlined in the last chapters. The research draws from two perspectives - the organisation and the individual. The organisational perspective examines the management of organisational staffing in the context of future demographic changes. The individual perspective is explored via the meaning of working to older workers. The key findings from the research in the chosen university suggest that despite the Commonwealth Government's attempts to encourage older workers to continue working, the majority of the older workers, irrespective of employment category, did not want to continue working beyond the traditional retirement age of 65 years. Reasons included wanting to spend more time with a life partner, becoming more involved with interests outside of work, and removing themselves from the negative circumstances in the organisation. However, of those who wanted to continue working, the majority was from the academic employment category (both employees and retirees), and the minority was from the administrative or general employment category. Additionally, the academic participants rated working in their lives as important or very important; higher than the ratings provided by the general staff participants. Explanations are offered as to reasons for such differences between the employment categories. The consequences of these findings include the need for a new approach to managing older workers, and particularly at the end of their working lives and into retirement. Australian organisations cannot afford to continue losing staff to early retirement, yet this trend appears to continue. Suggestions to meet this challenge are made at three levels: public policy, the organisation and the individual. Implications for future research are presented in the final chapter.

Organizational memory has significant potential for companies’ competitive advantage, with mentoring considered a particularly effective method of transferring this knowledge. Older workers are often considered ideal mentors because of their experience and alleged willingness to pass on their knowledge. There is an associated assumption that these workers anticipate and experience positive outcomes from mentoring others. This thesis tested if these assumptions hold up in 21st century workplaces - some discriminatory practices towards older workers and a career contract that no longer guarantees employment, may discourage knowledge sharing. An organizational memory scale was constructed to help test the assumptions and an exploratory factor analysis involving 143 employees from eight companies resulted in 21 items and five correlated factors including socio-political knowledge, job knowledge, external network, history, and industry knowledge. Two confirmatory factor analyses, the first involving 287 employees and the second 115 retirees, found support for five correlated first-order factors and a second order factor, organizational memory. In a third study involving 134 employees, support was found for a model of organizational memory and empowerment. Age was found to relate to organizational memory but this relationship was mediated by organizational tenure. In turn, organizational memory was found to relate to psychological empowerment and the frequency with which participants were requested to share knowledge at work. Organizational memory, empowerment and request to train and mentor others also positively related to organization-based self-esteem. In the fourth study, an organizational case study involving 78 employees, support was found for a model of organizational memory and the intention to mentor within the context of an aging workforce. Generativity and the expected cost of the time and effort involved in mentoring mediated the relationship between organizational memory (specifically, socio- political knowledge) and the intention to mentor. Furthermore those participants with high scores on both organizational memory and occupational self-efficacy anticipated more cost in time and effort, and indicated less intention to mentor, than those with high organizational memory but low occupational self-efficacy. These findings challenge the assumption that experienced workers are, as a matter of course, willing to mentor others. In a final study involving 96 retired individuals, there were no significant differences found between retirees with and those without experience as a mentor, in career satisfaction and unwelcome work ruminations. However notably, the study showed that participants did experience unwelcome work ruminations even (as in the case of some) well into retirement. The thesis concludes with a summary of findings as they relate to the assumptions under examination, an outline of the overall implications of the findings for future research and for organizational practice, and closing remarks about the overall research contribution of the thesis.

Luleå kommun står inför en stor generationsväxling kommande år, där efterfrågan på arbetskraft kommer vara större än utbudet. En allt äldre befolkning gör att de som arbetar måste försörja fler. Om äldre arbetskraft arbetar längre skulle det ge stora effekter på den framtida sysselsättningen och försörjningsbördan. Studiens syfte har därför varit att undersöka pensionspreferenserna hos äldre gymnasielärare inom Luleå kommun och identifiera de olika bakgrundsfaktorer som påverkar deras önskemål gällande ålder för ålderspensionering. Målsättningen med studien har varit att skapa en förståelse kring äldre arbetskraft som ska generera i ett underlag för Luleå kommuns arbete med äldre arbetskraft och möjligheten att förlänga arbetslivet. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra gymnasielärare och två rektorer har resultatet visat att majoriteten av lärarna är inställda att arbeta fram till 65 års ålder. De faktorer som påverkar pensionsbeslutet är hälsan i första hand men även påverkansmöjligheter och ekonomin. Lärarna är i stort positiva till att kunna förlänga arbetslivet men för att stanna kvar längre vill de få vara delaktiga och kunna påverka sin arbetssituation där arbetskraven anpassas efter arbetsförmåga. Lönepåslag eller möjlighet att gå ner i tid ökar även förutsättningen för att lärarna kan tänka sig att stanna kvar i arbetslivet längre.