Prolonging the careers of older information technology workers
Continuity, exit or retirement transitions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11200528 |
|---|---|
| Authors | LIBBY BROOKE (Swinburne University of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 237-256 |
| Publication date | 2009-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ageing and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0144686x0800768x |
| OpenAlex | W2012081183 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 27 |
The article explores the ways in which older workers' career trajectories influenced their exit from or continuity of employment in the Australian information technology (IT) industry. The data were collected through qualitative interviews with 71 employees of 10 small and medium-sized IT firms as part of the cross-country Workforce Ageing in the New Economy project (WANE), which was conducted in Canada, the United States, Australia and several European Union countries (the United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands). The analysis revealed that older IT workers' capacity to envisage careers beyond their fifties was constrained by age-based ‘normative’ capability assumptions that resulted in truncated careers, dissuaded the ambition to continue in work, and induced early retirement. The workers' constricted, age-bound perspectives on their careers were reinforced by the rapid pace of technological and company transformations. A structural incompatibility was found between the exceptional dynamism and competitiveness of the IT industry and the conventional age-staged and extended career. The analysis showed that several drivers of occupational career trajectories besides the well-researched health and financial factors predisposed ‘default transitions’ to exit and retirement. The paper concludes with policy and practice recommendations for the prolongation of IT workers' careers and their improved alignment with the contemporary lifecourse
Business · Demographic economics · Dynamism · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · European union · Geography · Labour economics · Normative · Pace · Political science · Resizing · Retirement age · Workforce · Employment and Welfare Studies · Finance · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Law · Retirement, Disability, and Employment
Age Discrimination in Turbulent Times
Providing Digital Technology Training as a Way to Retain Older Workers
Men and Women Expecting to Work Longer
Age management for older worker research evolution and trends
How older adult information and communication technology users are impacted by aging stereotypes
The impact of technostress on older workers seeking knowledge from younger colleagues
Technical Change and the Un/Troubling of Gendered Ageing in Healthcare Work
How Do Users Discover New Tools in Software Development and Beyond
Closing the age gap? Age, skills and the experience of work in Great Britain
Ageing Organisations and the Extension of Working Lives
Life course dynamics
Retirement Patterns From Career Employment
Sustaining the New Economy
Work in the New Economy
Comparative Patterns of Retirement
Older Workers and Retirement
Reasoning With Case Studies
I saw the handwriting on the wall”
Dualisms, Hierarchies and Gender in Engineering
Intersections of age and masculinities in the information technology industry
Pathways to early retirement
Age and Structural Lag
I'd rather keep running to the end and then jump off the cliff’. Retirement Decisions
Letting the “Computer Boys” Take Over
New Technologies, Organisation and Age
Project Time in Silicon Valley
Social risk management through transitional labour markets
Work and Life Integration
| Citations per year | 0.63 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2010 - 2026 (17) |
| Highly cited | No |