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CHAPTER 6
Intergenerational learning in organisations – A research framework 109

made do slow with age, the ʻ[...] actual functions of information processing
change very little in the course of oneʼs career. Moreover, some cognitive
functions such as control of use of language or ability to process complex
problems in insecure situations, improve with age (Ilmarinen, 2001, p. 548).
So, what does this mean in regard to how older workers experience stress
and consequently leave the work organisation (early) because of it? The link
to this question lies in the way older employees experience their changing
relationship with the organisational environment. In organisational psychology
research, person/environment fit models have been consistently used to help
understand how workers experience their work environment in regard to
norms, values and individual abilities (Edwards, 1996). According to
person/environment fit models, incongruence between person and
environment leads to stress. Incongruence can be in the form of differing
expectations about workflow organisation, but it can also be in the form of role
ambiguity, role conflict, and other psychosocial stressors coming from the
organisation.
Organisational climate can also be a stressor and as such is also pertinent
to the changing roles older employees have (Schultz and Wang, 2007). For
example, stressors such as lack of intergenerational solidarity, negative
stereotypes about older employeesʼ abilities or workplace expectations about
appropriate career trajectories can seriously influence a workersʼ decision to
retire early.

6.2.2. Organisational policy issues
There are several different types of organisational policy actions aimed at
keeping workers in service longer. It seems that most policies on this topic
come from the management literature and have to do with developing
interventions based on changing reward schemes that try to make remaining
in the work organisation more attractive than retirement.
Other policy recommendations, mostly coming from organisational
psychology research, accent how organisations might rethink work flows and
organisation of work processes for older employees in the hope of reducing
the impact of organisational stressors. For example, older workers have a
need for flexibility with personal workflow organisation. Allowing older workers
to plan their own work schedules is one way organisations do this.

6.2.3. The role of guidance and counselling
A literature search on the specific topic of guidance and counselling of ageing
workers employed in knowledge-intensive organisations was rather fruitless,