Older employees represent a vast and important source of wisdom, knowledge and experience for companies, which they have accumulated over the years and which are key to the success and competitiveness of organizations if they are able to use them, harness them and provide an environment where knowledge can be transferred to the rest of the workforce. In contrast to their importance, older employees are often overlooked by companies and face many challenges during and at the transition to retirement. From an organisational perspective, it is important that organisations recognise the importance and role of older employees, adopt mechanisms that challenge age discrimination, ageism and enable a successful and actively ageing workforce from the moment an employee joins the organisation. As investing in an ageing workforce reflects on the success of both the organisation and the individual, and has an impact on increased workplace attendance, job satisfaction, mental and physical health during recruitment as well as during retirement. In this thesis I aim to investigate the importance of older employees in organisations and the difficulties and hardships they face during retirement. With the help of five interviewees, I analysed the challenges older employees face in the workplace as they transition into retirement.
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