Work design and management--the older worker.

It will soon be important to retain older workers in the workforce for longer and to ensure they are both healthy and productive. This paper argues, on theoretical and empirical grounds, that in doing so it is important to consider the role of work design and management. This is an under-researched area of work and organizational psychology. Based on a review of the available evidence and on a consideration of the methodological challenges involved, it is proposed that a future research agenda should (1) establish life span models of work design and management as opposed to "age-free" models; (2) place more emphasis on contextual research, and less emphasis on broad-brush, epidemiological models; and (3) embark on more evaluated workplace interventions, and less on cross-sectional studies.