ermine their future career success. The articles in the first part of this special issue enlarge our understanding of so-called sustainable work ability or employability, that is, how to maintain work ability until reaching the age of retirement. As employability has been debated mainly in the political arena, we add to the literature by focusing on the positions of the actual actors involved: HR representatives, line managers, and employees themselves. These actors and their interactions in the service or production units at the operational level of organisations (work units, work teams) actually shape sustained employability throughout the life-span.