Employees’ experiences in knowledge-based organisations: towards an age-friendly design and management of work environments for older workers

The future workforce will increasingly be made up of ageing knowledge workers. This thesis explores the experiences of employees over 50 years of age and the viewpoints of management and experts in the context of knowledge-based work environments. The main theoretical field of the thesis is transdisciplinary workplace research, with a focus on experience research that combines physical, social, and technological workplace experiences. The overarching purpose is to develop further knowledge of employees’ experiences, and to explain which factors support older employees’ work and improve their work environment. This thesis adopted a qualitative research approach and a multiple case study design to understand how employees experience their work environments and which factors support their work and improve their physical, social and virtual work environments. Empirical data were collected by using a visual research method called probes including workshops and interviews with employees over 50 years of age (N = 77) as primary data; and, by conducting semi-structured interviews with management and experts (N = 29) as secondary data. The analysis of probe data was conducted in each case as a stand-alone entity, and the work environment data from each case were grouped into themes, allowing further interpretation through cross-case comparisons. The data from the semi-structured interviews were analysed as separate cases and interpreted based on cross-case issues of the physical, social and virtual work environments and the integrated workplace management. The results reveal many valuable employee experiences that affect people on the job and highlight several strategies used by management to design and manage work environments. It seems that employees are satisfied with the physical ergonomics in their respective offices but are concerned about ergonomics when working remotely. Cognitive ergonomics do not appear to be adequately supported with visual designs to aid cognitive abilities such as memory, learning, thinking and information processing. The findings highlight the need to pay closer attention to individual ergonomic needs. In addition, tacit knowledge should be more thoroughly considered to prevent the loss of critical organisational knowledge and experience as older employees exit the labour market. Surprisingly, work environments do not support social interaction. Further, a more flexible workplace, including flexible working hours and the possibility of remote work, would support the need for recovery from work and, in particular, the growing need to care for one’s own elderly parents. The results also show that by understanding work environment simply as a physical entity limits the potential of designing and managing age-friendly work environments. The findings highlight the need to manage across organisational boundaries through more integrated workplace management. This thesis contributes to the transdisciplinary workplace research and management with experience research approach. The phenomena the thesis focuses on is new and there has been little work done on studying the work environment for older workers. The thesis enhances understanding of the factors that support the work of older knowledge workers and improve their work environment. Such insights are valuable because future workforce will increasingly be made up of ageing knowledge workers in many of the developed countries. While this study confirms many factors related to the physical work environment, it also reveals that the concept of the workplace is not just a network of physical places but a broader experience–and that the physical work environment is only one aspect of the overall experience of a worker. This thesis gives voice to employees over 50 years of age and offers valuable knowledge for organisations regarding the design and management of age-friendly work environments; this knowledge will benefit the entire workforce, not just older workers. In addition, this research brings to the fore perspectives on employee experiences and the design and management of work environments in public discussions concerning the careers and extended working lives of older employees.