With the long-term trend toward earlier retirement slowing, and the majority of older workers remaining in employment up to and beyond statutory retirement age, it is increasingly important that we understand how to react to these changes. Bridge employment patterns and activities have changed greatly over the past decade, yet there is little information about the benefits of the various different forms this can take, both for employees and employers.

This comparative international collection provides the first comprehensive summary of the literature on bridge employment, bringing together experiences from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. It identifies the opportunities, barriers and gaps in knowledge and practice, whilst offering recommendations on how organisations and individuals can cope with future challenges in aging and work. Written by international experts in the field, each chapter also makes substantive and contextualized suggestions for public policy and organizational decision-makers, providing them with a roadmap to implement and integrate bridge employment into policies and practices designed to prolong working life - a priority for workers, organizations and societies in the coming decades.

This unique research handbook will be useful to a wide range of readers with an interest in the new concept of bridge employment and the extension of working life, and of interest to researchers and practitioners in organizational behavior, labor market analysis, human resource management, career development/counselling, occupational health, social economy and public policy administration

'This volume provides, by far, the most comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the topic of bridge employment I have ever seen. Leading scholars in the area of bridge employment and retirement provide incomparable coverage of how bridge employment is playing out in developed countries across the globe. It represents an absolute must read for students and scholars alike.'

Kenneth S. Shultz, California State University, USA

'Flexible retirement patterns are a dream for any pension policy-maker. They are a superior alternative to compulsory increases in retirement age and enhance both workers’ welfare and firms’ efficiency. The rich comparative analysis of experiences in the field makes this book an innovative and crucial read.'

Elsa Fornero, University of Turin and CeRP, Italy

'Routledge is to be commended for having the vision to synthesize decades of research from around the world into one comprehensive volume on bridge employment. This book is an essential tool for any researcher interested in retirement transitions. Each chapter is well structured and provides an in-depth country-specific description of the essential elements regarding the prevalence and determinants of bridge employment. As a whole, the book leaves the reader with a deep understanding of labor force participation later in life with different perspectives from Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.'

Kevin E. Cahill, The Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, USA

'At last we have a book that brings a global perspective, by authors from Australia, Canada, eight European countries, and Japan on a rapidly emerging concern for employers and baby boomers—bridge employment.'

Gary Latham, University of Toronto, Canada

'... particularly valuable to early-stage researchers, experienced academics, policy-makers and anyone interested in advancing the field to yield new insights into the retirement process in the 21st century.'

Ewa Sadurska-Duffy, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland, Work, employment and society

Carlos-María Alcover, Gabriela Topa, Emma Parry, Frnaco Fraccaroli, Marco Depolo