From mid-March to the end of May 2020, millions of Italians were forced to work from home because of the lockdown provisions imposed by the Italian government to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. As a result, many employees had to suddenly switch to remote work, experiencing both troubles and opportunities. Social isolation from colleagues and the workplace represents a typical aspect of remote work which increased significantly during the social confinement imposed by the government. This study investigates the correlates of social isolation in terms of stress, perceived remote work productivity and remote work satisfaction, proposing the sequential mediation of stress and perceived remote work productivity, and the moderating role of concern about the new coronavirus. An online survey was conducted, and the responses of 265 employees showed the deleterious role of social isolation in stress, which leads to decreased perceived remote work productivity that, in turn, is related to remote work satisfaction. Furthermore, the results suggest that concern about the virus moderates the relationships between social isolation and remote work satisfaction, from one side, and remote work perceived productivity and remote work satisfaction from the other. This latter result suggests that the indirect sequential effect of social isolation on remote work satisfaction is conditional on concern about the virus. Some conclusions are drawn to support managers and HR officers in the choices to better manage employees’ work during the health emergency.

This paper summarizes the state of affairs of European research on ageing and work. After a close inspection of the age construct, an overview is presented of research in four areas: the relationship between age and HR-policies, early retirement, age and performance/employability, age and health/well-being. The overview results in a research agenda on work and ageing and in recommendations for practice.

This time-lagged study, using the framework of the JD-R model, tested the mediating role of job crafting measuring: at T1, work engagement, workaholism and emotional exhaustion; at T2, job crafting; and, at T3, flourishing, job performance and job satisfaction. Respondents were 443 Spanish employees working in different companies. Results show that job crafting mediates the relationship between work engagement and some of its outcomes (job performance and flourishing). In particular, the job crafting component ‘increasing structural job resources’ mediates the positive effect of work engagement on flourishing and job performance, and the job crafting component ‘increasing challenging demands’ mediates the positive effect of work engagement on job performance. No job crafting mediation is found between work engagement and job satisfaction.

Purpose – The study seeks to investigate individual preference for early or late retirement. The aim is to determine the impact that variables at personal, work and organizational, and retirement-related levels exert on such preference. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was submitted to 275 Italian workers, aged from 45 to 63. The “preferred” and “expected” retirement ages were measured, and a preference for retiring before or after the expected age was computed. The questionnaire included personal (e.g. age, income), work and organizational (e.g. work importance, job demands and control), and retirement-related variables (level of information on pensions and attitudes to retirement). Hierarchical multiple regressions analyses were conducted to test the impact of such variables on the preference for early or late retirement. Findings – The results show a significant preference for retiring on average three years before the expected age. The preference for postponing retirement is related to chronological age and perception of income adequacy, but also to work variables (work importance, firm policies supporting aged employees) and attitudes to retirement. Practical implications – Political and organizational strategies concerning old employees should take into account the widespread preference for early retirement. It is, however, possible to encourage late retirement by developing interventions aiming to meliorate working conditions, organizational perceptions and retirement attitudes. Originality/value – The difference between preferred and expected retirement age may be useful to identify employees preferring late retirement. It is also suggested that certain psychosocial factors are related to such preference. This knowledge is relevant for European policies encouraging employees to stay longer in the workforce.

Although a large part of the world’s workforce engaged in mandatory Work from Home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience was not the same for everyone. This study explores whether different groups of employees, based on their work and organizational characteristics (i.e., organizational size, number of days per week working from home, working in team) and personal characteristics (i.e., remote work experience, having children at home), express different beliefs about working remotely, acceptance of the technology necessary to Work from Home, and well-being. A study was conducted with 163 Italian workers who answered an online questionnaire from November 2020 to January 2021. A cluster analysis revealed that work, organizational, and personal variables distinguish five different types of workers. ANOVA statistics showed that remote workers from big companies who worked remotely several days a week, had experience (because they worked remotely before the national lockdowns), and worked in a team, had more positive beliefs about working remotely, higher technology acceptance, and better coping strategies, compared to the other groups of workers. Practical implications to support institutional and organizational decision-makers and HR managers to promote remote work and employee well-being are presented.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant and rapid shift from work in presence to remote work (RW). This rapid change represented a challenge for employees, who had to deal with new work procedures in houses often crowded with their children. This study investigated whether the engagement toward this work arrangement mediates the relationship between perceived overall job performance and employees’ remote work productivity. Furthermore, it tested whether the relationships between perceived overall job performance and RW productivity as well as between RW engagement and RW productivity are moderated by living with children under 18. This quantitative, cross-sectional, study was conducted in an Italian municipality and involved a sample of employees who started to work remotely after the spread of the pandemic. A total of 171 public servants answered an online questionnaire. Regression analysis showed a significant relationship between perceived overall job performance and RW productivity and the mediation of this relationship by RW engagement. The moderation role of living with minor children was confirmed, although this modulation mechanism had two opposite effects on the tested relationships. On the whole, the results suggest that HR professionals and organizations need to develop support policies that take into account employees’ specific characteristics.