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Bridge Employment

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Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Work beyond retirement; Phased retirement

Definition

Henkens and van Solinge (2014) note that definitions of bridge employment vary along a number of dimensions. It has been defined as participation in the labor force between retirement from full-time work and complete workforce withdrawal (Shultz 2003; Topa et al. 2014). Alcover et al. (2014) suggest that as such bridge employment can be conceptualized as “forms of retirement that prolong working life” (p. 7). As Topa et al. (2014) note, this type of paid employment can be in the “same occupation or different occupations, on a part-time, temporary or full-time basis” (p. 226). Henkens and van Solonge (2014) note that bridge employment can be for an employer or include self-employment. In sum, bridge employment is paid work undertaken after retirement from the main career job but before exiting the labor force completely (Topa et al. 2014).

Introduction

The rapid change to the nature of work and working lives in the past few...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, 4410, New Zealand

    Fiona Alpass

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  1. Fiona Alpass
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Correspondence to Fiona Alpass .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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Alpass, F. (2016). Bridge Employment. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_314-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_314-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

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