Understanding baby boomer workers' well-being in Australia

Abstract

The baby boomer generation poses challenges to understand how to enhance both the well-being and the continuing workforce participation of older workers. We sought to explore the role of social relations both at work and in other domains of life, in relation to the health and well-being of the baby boomer workforce in Australia.Employed participants (n = 743) born 1946-1965 inclusive provided information about their work environment, financial security and loneliness. Regressions were used to explore the relationships of those variables to well-being (work-life interference, absenteeism, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, health and psychological distress).Social environment indicators especially supervisor support and worker loneliness reliably increased the variance explained by demographics and work demands and control, in well-being outcomes.To maintain the well-being and workforce participation of baby boomer generation workers, employers need to attend to creating worker-friendly environments.