Bridge Employment

With the long-term trend toward earlier retirement slowing, and the majority of older workers remaining in employment up to and beyond statutory retirement age, it is increasingly important that we understand how to react to these changes. Bridge employment patterns and activities have changed greatly over the past decade, yet there is little information about the benefits of the various different forms this can take, both for employees and employers. This comparative international collection provides the first comprehensive summary of the literature on bridge employment, bringing together experiences from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. It identifies the opportunities, barriers and gaps in knowledge and practice, whilst offering recommendations on how organisations and individuals can cope with future challenges in aging and work. Written by international experts in the field, each chapter also makes substantive and contextualized suggestions for public policy and organizational decision-makers, providing them with a roadmap to implement and integrate bridge employment into policies and practices designed to prolong working life - a priority for workers, organizations and societies in the coming decades. This unique research handbook will be useful to a wide range of readers with an interest in the new concept of bridge employment and the extension of working life, and of interest to researchers and practitioners in organizational behavior, labor market analysis, human resource management, career development/counselling, occupational health, social economy and public policy administration

Carlos-María Alcover, Gabriela Topa, Emma Parry, Frnaco Fraccaroli, Marco Depolo

1. Introduction Part I: Bridge Employment in Europe 2. Bridge Employment in the Netherlands: Who, What and Why? 3. Bridge Employment, a Swedish Perspective 4. Bridge Employment in Belgium: Between an Early Retirement Culture and a Concern for Work Sustainability 5. Flexible Transitions from Work to Retirement: Evidence from Poland 6. Bridge Employment in Spain: A Possible Option to Postpone Retirement 7. Career Transitions at Retirement age in the United Kingdom: Bridge Employment or Continued Career Progression? 8. No Bridge and no Employment? Problems and Challenges for Older Workers in Italy 9. Flexible Transitions from Work to Retirement in Germany Part II: Bridge Employment in America 10. Bridge Employment in the United States 11. Promoting Active Aging: The Canadian Experience of Bridge Employment Part III: Bridge Employment in the Asis-Pacific Region 12. The Role of Partial Retirement in Organizational Policy Making in Australia 13. Japanese Approach to Bridge Jobs 14. Bridge Employment: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects for Research and Practice