INTHEBLACK September 2026 - Flipbook - Page 23
“Continuing work can be associated with higher wellbeing
indicators such as life satisfaction and better physical
health — but that only applies where there is a choice.”
DANIELA ANDREI, CURTIN UNIVERSITY
move into leadership roles. In others, senior
leaders approaching retirement are asked
to stay on to help prepare their successors.
During this handover period, providing the
right support and empowerment is critical.
“A smooth transition is important for
business continuity,” Tan says. “A big part
of leadership is developing others to take
over when you leave. I take that responsibility
seriously, and I believe every member
of my senior team is at least as capable
as I am.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
For employees, the psychological impact
of delaying retirement depends on
several variables.
“Continuing work can be associated
with higher wellbeing indicators such as life
satisfaction and better physical health — but
that only applies where there is a choice,”
says Daniela Andrei, associate professor in
the School of Management and Marketing
at Curtin University. “Our data shows that
about one third of retirees consider their
retirement involuntary irrespective of their
age when they retire. These people typically
have worse mental and physical health
indicators and adjust less well to retirement.”
For those who do choose to work, the
culture of the organisation is critical to
both their wellbeing and their productivity.
“In research, we call this successful ageing
at work,” Andrei says. “Professor Sharon
Parker and I developed a framework to
support this: Include, Individualise, Integrate
[see breakout].
“In my view,” she continues, “employers
need to encourage leaders to create and
support environments where [cultural]
issues are not tolerated.” ■
A FRAMEWORK FOR
SUCCESSFUL AGEING
AT WORK
Daniela Andrei, associate professor
in the School of Management and
Marketing at Curtin University,
and her colleagues developed
a framework to support successful
ageing at work. The framework has
three pillars: Include, Individualise
and Integrate.
Include means creating an environment
in which workers are welcomed, accepted
for their uniqueness and fairly treated.
Individualise focuses on maintaining job
quality and the fit between the job and the
person. “What constitutes a good job shifts
as we get older,” Andrei says. “We cannot
expect people of different ages to work
in exactly the same way.”
Integrate is understanding how to
manage different age groups. “We see
that the perception of age bias and
discrimination is consistently linked to
higher turnover,” Andrei says. “Even things
that might be dismissed as minor jokes
and ambiguous comments can have
a huge impact on how comfortable
older workers feel.
“I have interviewed many recent
retirees from the financial sector and
I was surprised by how often they told
me that the decision to retire was
quite sudden — a reaction to negative
experiences and age-based discrimination.”
READ
an article about
how much super
you need to retire
in Australia
READ
an article about
the benefits of
a multigenerational
workforce
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 23
