ABSTRACT
Approximately one third of the UK labour force will be age 50 or over by the year 2020. According to the Office of National Statistics, ageing of the workforce will be the most significant development in the labour market over the next 15 years. As ageing in the population increases and the need to work longer into later life
takes effect in theworkplace, it will becomemore important to understand the needs and physical and mental abilities of workers performing different kinds of work. Older workers might be at risk of overload from the physical and psychological demands of work. Besides working into older age, there is also the added complication of having
the workforce adapt to different organisational work patterns including flexible working hours, the 24/7 work culture and irregular shifts. These changes in the workforce and the organisation of work may have ser-
ious implications for an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, subjective health complaints, musculoskeletal disorders and duration of sickness absence. Recent studies have used the concept of need for recovery from work to explore
the temporary overload from the physical and psychological demands of work. It is viewed as an individual perception of the time required to recover from adverse working conditions that results in insufficient unwinding after exposure to stressful work characteristics and is a strong predictor of subsequent cardiovascular disease (van Amelsvoort et al., 2003), perceived job stress (Devereux & Rydstedt, 2008), subjective health complaints and duration of future sickness absence (Sluiter et al., 2003) In the study by Sluiter et al., (2003) the authors recommended that age be treated
as an effect modifier between work demands and need for recovery after work.
