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Introduction
The future of the workplace is grey. Workers classified as later-career workers, that is, those over the age of 50, currently comprise 20 per cent of the European workforce and will represent 30 per cent by the end of the current decade (Fenwick, 2012a). The principal causes of workforce ageing can be attributed to improving life expectancy and the need to manage the worker–pensioner dependency ratio by extending working lives. Drawing upon projections from Eurostat, Barabasch et al. (2012, p. 310) noted that whereas, in 2011, the ratio of those considered to be of prime working age people to those over 65 was four to one, by 2060, the ratio is forecast to be just two to one. The weakening of many private pension schemes and a general trend in developed economies to delay access to state provided pensions is estimated to mean that “50-80 per cent” of the current workforce “will delay retirement for economic reasons” (Fredericksen, 2006, p. 131). However, there is some evidence that workers are also positively “wishing to participate more and for longer” (Billett et al., 2011, p. 1250). Workers perceive benefits of working later such as an extended life-expectancy compared to those retiring early (Harford, 2014).
That workers are working later and that organisations in developed economies are increasingly competing on the basis of value-adding knowledge work, so continuous learning for all regardless of age would seem to be a requirement. However, Kyndt et al. (2009, p. 376), found “significant differences” in the non-formal and informal learning experiences of employees of different age groups. Older workers have been found to be 50 per cent less likely to participate in occupational training and development than younger workers (Phillipson, 2009), and as employers look to maximise their rate of return from investments in training, the older employee might seem like a weak investment prospect (Aldridge and Tuckett, 2009). Moreover, it has been reported that older workers are “set in their ways” and only worth training as a “last resort” (Taylor et al., 2010, p. 374; Findsen and Formosa, 2011, p. 80).
However, Fenwick (2012a, p. 203) found that whilst later-career workers may, as a result of such stereotyping, be given few opportunities to participate in formal development activity,...