This presentation engages with the ageing workforce global debate and the occurrence  of discrimination on the grounds of age in the workplace. It identifies current issues which are associated with ageism, highlighting potential solutions to address ageist structures, attitudes and  practices in th workplace. Conducted over a seven month period, this research consists of a systematic literature review  of 108 selected studies  in the realm of older workers. This encompassed macro level and organisational level educational and other workplace contexts which were inclusive of policy and practice of older workers. This included recruitment, training, promotional opportunities, intergeneratioal organisational initiatives, heath and well-being and experiences of ageism. The analysis of the selected studies generated a series of recommendations on how to effectively address ageism and promote an intergenerational workplace which has benefits for both older and younger workers. While this research has implications, in particualr at a global level, it has many implications for the ageing workforce across Europe. This is in particular because of the new phenomenon of people living longer, opportunites to avail of good health care systems across Europe and the growing inerest of an ageing population across Europe to continue to remain cognitvely and physically active in the workplace and in their communities. 

The increasing institutional concern with active ageing in western industrialised nations appears as a positive shift towards the recognition of older people's human rights and productive capabilities.  However, older workers are frequently precludied from availing of opportuntiies to be active in the workplace or to reach their full potential . Opportuntiies for them to continue to work can be limited with precarious employment possibilities. Moreover the lack of reasonable salary scales and the limited recruitment pathways into new employment are normalised for many older workers across Europe.  After the age of 50, older workers can frequently find themselves at risk of unemployment. This is given the increasing higher retirement age in Europe as well as the new required skills to engage with technological advancements. 

Factors such as good health,  the perception that older people's work is of value, flexibility and choice, and the need for an ongoing conversation across the lifecourse facilitate working life extension. On the other hand, poor health, negative impacts of work, not feeling valued, feeling lonely in the workplace, ageism and ageist attitudes can make older workers feel that they need to leave the workplace. Other factors such as a lack of respect feeling invisible,can leave older workers feeling like that despite their wanting to remain in the workplace, they are required to leave. This is further impounded by lack of organisational support and the perceived barriers to encourage older workers to remain in the workplace. 

Research has demonstrated that health does not change significantly for those who formally retire because of choice, but worsens considerably for those who leave the labour market for other reasons. This has a significant impact on older people when they retire in terms of their overall health and well-being. This is contributed to when they experience feelings and attitudes associated with ageing. as a negative time in their lives. This is particulary if they leave the work place with a sense of feeling not valued, invisible, no purpose, or not belonging to a community of people and place. 

The findings of this study highlight that when organisations and academia come together through research, policy and practice,ageism in the workplace can be addressed and eradicated. This begins with  an inclusive partnership approach.  Organisational Educational  leadership leads in this important area of health and well-being. This is in educational  practices promoting positive ageing policy aacross Europe.

This study is a stand alone systematic literature review (Templier& Pare, 2015) that aims to make sense of the body of existing literature (Rousseau et al., 2008) about the reality of older workers and ageism. To do so, a descriptive, textual narrative synthesis approach (Xiao & Watson, 2019) was applied. Such a descriptive review evaluates the current state of the literature focusing on specific topical areas (ibid) The predefined thematic areas concerning the work universe of older people are as follows 1. State policies in relation to older workers and 2.Organisational policies which promote older workers in a diversity of workplaces 3. Recruitment of older workers 4. Opportunities for upskilling and continuing professional development. 5. End of career opportunities 6 Intergenerational learning opportunities between older and younger workers for example reverse mentoring 7. Health and well-being of older workers during their time in the workplace. 8. Experiences of ageism. These pre-defined topics helped to organise the selected literature. This was conducted as a textual narrative synthesis. It is characterised by applying a standard data extraction format by which different characteristics of the literature such as the findings and context are the focus of the review (Popay et al., 2006, Lucas et al., 2007) . Due to this standardised nature of the review, both quantitative and qualitative studies related to each topic area were included. For transparency purposes, the PRISMA guidelines (Page et al., 2021) guided the employed methodology. PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. To ensure an objective and transparent review, this approach recommends applying the PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. To ensure an objective and transparent review, this approach recommends applying the PRISMA statement containing a checklist. The PRISMA 2020 Flow-Diagram (adapted from Page et al., 2021) was used for this study. This was to ensure validity and reliability of the data investigated within the literature review across European countries and in a global context. The overall methodology employed for this study was to develop a partnership approach. This was developed between January 2021 to November 2021 between the Irish Research Council, the project was awarded under the New Foundations Research national scheme with the council. This was in partnership with the organisation Age & Opportunity. This included their expertise and experience of working with older people. It was in partnership with the Anti-Bullying Centre, Dublin City University Dublin.

The comprehensive literature review conducted for this research project highlighted the issues associated with ageism and stereotypes of older people in the workplace. It found that there is an extensive breadth of ageism and ageist attitudes in particular associated with the recruitment and training of older workers. It provided a solution oriented approach by advocating for an ethical framework in all organisations so that older workers can feel valued in relation to meeting their needs in training or upskilling should the need arise. It also advocates for greater awareness by both employers and employees of the existing legislation which prevents ageism and ageist attitudes in the workplace. The findings also advocate that governments across Europe need to re think and re design policy to enhance the understanding and scope of healthy ageing. This is to value older people in the cultural, social, educational and economic sectors of their communities and countries. This is to value older people not despite of but because of their age and life experiences. The findings advocate that there should be increased opportunities for older adults to engage with technology. This is through the provision of continuing professional development opportunities. The findings also advocate for greater opportunities to promote reverse mentoring opportunities between older and younger people. For example younger workers can learn from the life experiences of older workers while older workers can learn from the technological competences and lived experiences of younger workers. The findings advocate for greater partnership opportunities between academia, organisations and community partnerships to assist in the design and development of policy frameworks which support and promote positive ageing. In addition it advocates for greater opportunities to develop an educational organisational leadership approach which has the potential to be disseminated across a wide variety of disciplines as thought leaders in education.

Achenbaum, W.A. (2021) Dr Robert Butler's Legacy in Defining and Fighting Ageism. University of Toronto Quarterly, 902 (2) Baska, A., Kurpas, D., Kenkre, J., Vidal-Alaball, J., Petrazzuoli, F., Dolan, M., & Robins, J. (2021). Social Prescribing and Lifestyle Medicine-A Remedy to Chronic Health Problems? International Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 18 (19) Baumann, I. &Madero-Cabib, I. (2021) Retirement Trajectories in Countries with Flexible Retirement Policies but Different Welfare Regimes. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 33 (2), 138-160. Butler, R. N. (1969) Age-ism. Another Form of Bigotry , Gerontologist 9(4) 243-46. Cappelli, P., Novelli, B.(2013) Managing the older worker. How to prepare for the new organizational order. Harvard Business Press Ciampa, E. & Chemesky, R. (2021). Creating Supportive Workplace Environments for Older Workers . In Brownell, P. & Kelly, J. (eds) Ageism and Mistreatment of Older Workers Current Reality, Future Solutions. Springer London Conley, C. (2018) Wisdom@work: the making of a modern elder. New York: Currency Corrigan, T. & Morgan, M. (2020) Ageism and Bullying in the Workplace : Implications for Policy and Practice. Dublin City University. Anti-Bullying Centre. Dublin Crozier, S.E., & Woolnough, H. (2020) Is age just a number? Credibility and identity of younger academics in UK business schools. Management Learning, 51 (2), 149-167. Fasbender, U. & Drury, L. (2021). One plus one equals one: age-diverse friendship and its complex relation to employees' job satisfaction and turnover intentions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 31 (4), 510-523. Goecke, T. & Kunze, F. (2020). ' How old do you feel today at work? ' Work-Related drivers of subjective age in the workplace. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 29 (3), 462-476. Salomao Filho, A. & Tillmanns, T., & Corrigan, T. (2022) POWER Ageing: Addressing Ageism in the Workplace Report. Age & Opportunity, The Irish Research Council & The Anti Bullying Centre, Dublin City University, Dublin. Scheibe, S. (2021). Employee age moderates within-person associations of daily negative work event with emotion regulation,attention, and well-being. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30 (6) 872-886. Reed, C., & Thomas, R. (2021). The generation game: Governing through bio-politics. Management Learning, 52 (1) , 47-64.