Future work skills for older workers
K. Dijkstra
Full text PDF 
( Download count: 3556)
AbstractA consequence of the increase of the retirement age to 67 years in the Netherlands is that employees are required to work at least 2 years longer than before. This increase in the retirement age, but complex working conditions, such as open-plan offices and the use of new technology, pose challenges for older workers to continue performing optimally at work. One of these challenges are age-related change in cognitive domains, such as attention, working memory, and flexibility, that take place during the normal human aging process (Mozolic et al., 2011). These age-related changes result from a decrease in neural connectivity in the brain, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is relied upon for complex cognitive processes. A cognitive training program could limit these changes and optimize capabilities that contribute to the sustainable employability and future work skills of older workers (Dahlin et al., 2008). We therefore developed an online Future Work Skills training for older workers to make them resilient to these age-related changes at an age (50 and above) when they may not experience them fully yet. We expected more improvement in performance among older workers who participated in the future work skills training group than the older workers who only received general information about cognitive functioning.Keywords: cognitive aging, memory, flexibility, older workers, online training
K. Dijkstra (2024). Future work skills for older workers. Gerontechnology, 23(2), 1-1
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2024.23.s.962.opp