A scoping review of the incentives for a prolonged work life after pensionable age and the importance of “bridge employment”

BACKGROUND: With a growing share of older people in almost every population, discussions are being held worldwide about how to guarantee welfare in the immediate future. Different solutions are suggested, but in this article the focus is on the need to keep older employees active in the labor market for a prolonged time. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to find out and describe the incentives at three system levels for older people 1) wanting, 2) being able, and 3) being allowed to work. MATERIAL: The literature search embraced articles from the databases Scopus, PsycInfo, Cinahl, AgeLine and Business Source Premier, from May 2004 until May 2016. After the removal of 506 duplicates, the selection and analysis started with the 1331 articles that met the search criteria. Of these, 58 articles corresponded with the research questions. METHOD: The design was a 'scoping review' of the research area bridge employment and prolonged work life. RESULTS: The results show that most investigations are conducted on individual-level predictors, research on organizational-level predictors is more scattered, and societal-level predictor information is scarce. CONCLUSIONS: Attitudes and behavior according to a prolonged work life could be summarized as dependent on good health, a financial gain in combination with flexible alternative working conditions.