Quaderni IRCrES 27 – Capitolo 4
Capitolo 4
La “nuova pensione”: narrazioni di lavoro ponte tra autonomia, identità e tecnologia*
The “new retirement”: Bridge employment narratives of autonomy, identity and technology
Luisa Errichiello, Orsola Salmista
CNR-ISMed, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo, via Cardinale
Guglielmo Sanfelice 8, 80132 Napoli, Italia
corresponding author: luisa.errichiello@cnr.it
Abstract
Population ageing and pension reforms are reshaping retirement as a gradual, reversible transition rather than a definitive exit from the labour market. In this context, bridge employment – paid work undertaken after formal retirement and before full withdrawal – has expanded, yet research often privileges variable-centered models over retirees’ lived meanings. This qualitative study examines how Italian bridge employees interpret retirement, what motivates continued work, and which conditions facilitate or hinder their trajectories. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2025 across four Italian regions (Veneto, Lazio, Campania, Sicily) and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. Findings identify six interconnected themes: retirement as a space of agency; bridge employment as selective
engagement grounded in flexibility and intrinsic rewards; a hybrid “worker-retiree” identity sustaining continuity while enabling redefinition; tensions between stigma and recognition driven by ageism; intergenerational exchanges through mentoring and reverse mentoring; and digital transformation as both enabling resource and exclusionary barrier. Participants’ accounts portray bridge employment less as a financial necessity and more as an adaptive strategy to reconcile autonomy, meaning and social contribution. The study offers a biographically situated view of post-retirement work and highlights implications for age-inclusive HRM, including flexible job design, institutionalised knowledge-transfer roles, and tailored upskilling and reskilling to prevent a digitally mediated late-career divide among older workers.
Keywords: bridge employment; retirement transitions; qualitative study; thematic analysis; identity;
ageism; digital inclusion.
DOI: 10.23760/2499-6661.2026.27_04
ISBN: 978-88-98193-42-4
ISSN (online): 2499-6661
How to Cite
Errichiello, L., & Salmista, O. (2026). La “nuova pensione”: narrazioni di lavoro ponte tra autonomia, identità e tecnologia. In Bramanti, D. Errichiello, Falavigna, G., & Nanetti, S. (cur.). Quale futuro per un invecchiamento sano e attivo? Alcuni spunti di riflessione dalle ricerche del progetto Age-It e prospettive future (pp. 57-72). Quaderni IRCrES 27. CNR-IRCrES. http://dx.doi.org/10.23760/2499- 6661.2026.27_04
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* Questo lavoro è stato realizzato nell’ambito del progetto finanziato da Next Generation EU – “Age-It – Ageing well
in an ageing society” (PE0000015), CUP B83C22004880006 – Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR) – PE8
– Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.3. Le opinioni espresse sono esclusivamente degli autori e non riflettono
necessariamente quelle dell’Unione Europea o della Commissione Europea. Né l’Unione Europea né la Commissione
Europea possono essere ritenute responsabili dei contenuti qui riportati.