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Managing older worker exit and re‐entry practices: A ‘revolving door’?
Author(s) -
Shacklock Kate,
Fulop Liz,
Hort Linda
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/1038411107073603
Subject(s) - workforce , exploratory research , work (physics) , qualitative research , economic shortage , business , qualitative property , labour economics , public relations , demographic economics , economic growth , sociology , political science , economics , engineering , mechanical engineering , social science , linguistics , philosophy , machine learning , government (linguistics) , anthropology , computer science
This paper reports findings from an Australian study about the post‐employment experiences of older persons who had left the full‐time workforce (either voluntarily or involuntarily). It examines their perceptions about seeking re‐employment in terms of their desires to remain in or return to work, and what employment conditions might entice them to remain in or return to work, including how organisations might help or hinder such re‐entry to the workforce. A qualitative approach using exploratory semi‐structured interviews was chosen to explore this relatively underresearched area. Participants from a mix of employment histories, industries, occupational categories and ages (but all over 45 years of age) formed the sample. A key finding of the study was the lack of planning on the part of employers to consider these older workers as a potential future pool of employees. The study points to some important lessons for the management of older workers to meet the predicted looming labour shortage in Australia.