Job crafting and motivation to continue working beyond retirement age

What is it about?

Given today’s aging and shrinking workforce, older employees working beyond their official retirement age are a necessity for organizations’ functional capability. This study demonstrates that organizations and management should acknowledge besides top-down, management-driven (e.g., HR-practices) efforts also bottom-up, employee driven job redesign behaviors as a resource in motivating older employees to continue working after retirement age. Organizations should encourage their employees to use so called promotion-focused job crafting behaviors (i.e., increasing job resources and challenging job demands). Promotion-focused job crafting behaviors enable employees to perceive their work as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful, which keeps them healthy and motivates older employees to continue working after retirement age. Moreover, organizations should limit the use of so called prevention-focused job crafting behaviors (i.e., attempts to decrease hindering job demands). Prevention-focused job crafting behaviors let employees perceive their work as less comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful, which attenuates health and demotivates older employees to continue working after retirement age. For example, organizations can reduce hindering job demands through top-down job redesign, or where this is not possible should provide employees with the necessary job resources (e.g., social support) to deal with such hindering job demands.

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Why is it important?

Given today’s aging and shrinking workforce, older employees working beyond their official retirement age are a necessity for organizations’ functional capability.