Work ability configurations and conditional HR decision premises: a programme-oriented framework for age management

Purpose Ageing workforces require organisations to decide what to prioritise when older workers' work abilities differ. This article develops the Cyclical Meaning Pattern of Abilities (CMPA) as a programme-oriented human resource (HR) decision heuristic. CMPA conceptualises how communicated observations of reconstructed work ability configurations may inform conditional HR decision premises. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a cross-sectional survey of older workers aged 50–64 from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Fuzzy-similarity modelling is used to identify robust co-valuations among abilities and supports. CMPA is then developed through abductive theorising, integrating these co-valuations with the Work Ability House model, self-efficacy and Luhmannian decision-programme theory. Findings The analysis identifies four shared co-valued work-ability configurations: Expert Knowledge–Practical Skills, Technical Skills–Intuition, Workflow Discussion–Intuition and Health–Workplace Relationships. These configurations are interpreted as meaning-relevant patterns, not as direct evidence of a self-referential system. They are grouped into operational forms, which support task execution and problem solving, and supportive forms, which stabilise the conditions under which task-related abilities can be used. Practical implications CMPA is positioned primarily as an organisational age-management heuristic. It supports age-management decisions by helping HR specialists and line managers connect observed work ability (WA) configurations with decision contexts such as digital learning/training allocation, task redesign/role redesign, health accommodation/workload adjustment and appraisal/development dialogue. Social implications By reframing WA as an organisational observation translated into decision premises, the approach supports more transparent and defensible age-management decisions, with potential benefits for sustainable employability. Originality/value CMPA links work ability research to Luhmannian decision-programme theory. Its distinct contribution lies in developing a theoretically grounded framework through which communicated, co-valued WA configurations may inform conditional organisational decision premises. Fuzzy similarity provides exploratory empirical grounding, while CMPA remains an abductive heuristic rather than a validated predictive model.