Older Workforces

"Domini Bingham's book 'Older Workforces: Re-imagining Later Life Learning' creatively challenges received wisdom about the management of older adults in the workforce. Deficit-based approaches start with an assumption that older workers capabilities atrophy or become out of date. Consequently, human resource interventions often focus on skills updating or capability management approaches, alongside the use of counselling as covert means of encouraging retirement. Few organisations examine how far their working practices might be part of the problem rather in its solution, and even fewer question the stereotypical assumptions that are made about older workers and their suitability for advancement or enhanced roles. Domini Bingham's book switches the focus from deficits and problems to view older workers as assets and holders of untapped potential. Finding ways in which older workers can flourish through learning and development requires us to reimagine workplaces as environments that can capitalise on older workers' possibilities at a time of profound changes in work organisation associated with digitisation.

The central propositions of this book have been developed though a deeply reflective approach to evidence gathered through the author's doctoral research, subsequently expanded through further research in a wider range of private and public sector organisations. The argument extends into future workforces as well as strategic implications, featuring innovative thinking about human flourishing, intergenerational and intragenerational learning. Beyond shifts in strategic processes in organisations, the book calls for a societal change in how we view older people and how older people refer to themselves. The take-up of these ideas beyond the academy and internationally is indicative of the power of the author's approach to explain, engage and influence. The book represents thought leadership in action, and I commend it to all those interested in human development, organisational processes and workplace learning in practice." - Professor Karen Evans, Emeritus Professor, UCL Institute of Education