Significant shortages of nursing staff threaten the provision of sustainable and high-quality patient care, which may be partially addressed by encouraging experienced staff to postpone their complete exit from the workforce and extend their careers. This qualitative study explored the transition to retirement, the motivation to engage in post-retirement work, and experiences of working after retirement among retired nursing assistants (aged 67-75 years) working in inpatient psychiatric care in Sweden. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used and allowed for a detailed, in-depth systematic analysis of data from seven individual interviews. Four superordinate themes were identified: (1) Adjustment difficulties to life as fully retired; (2) Good health as a precondition to work and a consequence of working; (3) The intrinsic joy of working and the importance of feeling competent; and (4) Work and organization-related factors contributed to well-being at work and facilitated an extended working life. Post-retirement work was found to facilitate the transition to retirement and contribute to well-being. Furthermore, good health was considered a prerequisite for, and a consequence of, continued working. Intrinsic motivation to work, being competent in performing the job, along with different work and organizational factors were considered important to continuing working after retirement. The findings contribute to informing the design of work environments and tailored HR strategies that facilitate aging-in-workplace and encourage extended working lives.

Meaningful work is related to the motivation to continue to work in older ages and later retirement. This qualitative study addresses calls for further research on the meaning of working for older workers using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to explore in-depth the dimensions underlying the subjective experience of meaningful work among 27 nurses and nursing assistants aged 55–75 years. The findings show that work was perceived as a primary source of: (1) personal identity (2) purpose and contribution, (3) competence and accomplishment, (4) social contacts and belongingness, (5) activity, routines and purposeful use of time, and (6) economic security and freedom. These qualitative findings may be applied in interventions aiming to encourage extended working lives in key welfare occupations, which are facing significant staff shortages.