Businesses continually face critical challenges: global economic crisis of 1929, oil crises of 1973 and 1979/80 and bursting of dot-com bubble in early 2000 are all examples of historical significance. What these external influences have in common that they were, to a greater or lesser extent, unforeseen and therefore difficult to manage. Moreover, they had a short- to midterm influence on global economy and certainly changed way of understanding and conducting business nowadays. This change directly corresponds to purpose of this master's thesis, which in great part results from an increasing need to rethink different aspects of human capital. Nevertheless, there are great discrepancies concerning predictability and chronological impact of demographic change. According to Thomas A. Stewart who published in Harvard Business Review, the necessary information had been baked into demographic pie long before, and is almost always visible for years before it hits (Stewart 2004: 10) Realising this particular issue it seems that there are mainly two possible reasons why most businesses, although aware of significance, do not factor demographic change into their decision-making process. Firstly, companies within their foresight might not consider demographic change capable of severe impact within next years. Secondly, addressing this subject matter may provoke tension, rejection, or even insurgency from senior employees. The latter issue a rather heated subject in America, as employers are also often afraid to discuss retirement plans for fear of lawsuits under age-discrimination legislation (The Economist 2006: 67). Whether it not yet perceptible or simply unpleasant and difficult to address, organisations will have to face both an aging workforce and consequently also a labour shortage within next decade. Hence, visualising these two interconnected aspects in all their facets of great importance for economic survival and, even more evidentiary, for a comparative advantage. Over past years, different publications clarified that many older employees will have to stay in workforce because they simply cannot be replaced due to a lack of qualified, or even existing, young workers. Moreover, future leaders are likely to face not simply a labour shortage, but a knowledge shortage, as organisations bleed technical, scientific, and managerial know-how at unprecedented rates (DeLong 2004: 18). It therefore of utmost importance that businesses start emphasising special retention strategies for retaining older employees such as constant provision of good training as well as motivation and energy. The aim of this master's thesis comprises of evaluation and comparison of different strategies to cope with demographic challenges. In this regard, literature with a specific focus on an ageing workforce has been examined thoroughly. Furthermore, three diverse companies situated in Austria, Germany, and Scotland were investigated in order to ascertain current organisational approaches towards a changing workforce. Finally, recommendations from literature and organisational measures and plans were compared and contrasted in order to pinpoint discrepancies between two. Findings will show that literature and organisational measures relating to demographic changes are equivalent in large part. Those topics that do not occur in literature but in conducted interviews and vice versa, those issues occurring in literature but not in conducted interviews represent further findings of this thesis. Ultimately, combination of aggregated literature and topics only occurring in interviews provide a clear spectrum of promising measures that will lead organisations to overcome impacts of demographic change in future.