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Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort
BACKGROUND: Lower birth rates and increasing longevity have resulted in ageing populations in European countries. These demographic changes place challenges on pension provision as numbers of those who are economically inactive and retired increase relative to those in paid work. Therefore, governme...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8764837/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35039031 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12541-1 |
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author | Stevens, Martin J. Barker, Mary Dennison, Elaine Harris, E. Clare Linaker, Cathy Weller, Susie Walker-Bone, Karen |
author_facet | Stevens, Martin J. Barker, Mary Dennison, Elaine Harris, E. Clare Linaker, Cathy Weller, Susie Walker-Bone, Karen |
author_sort | Stevens, Martin J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Lower birth rates and increasing longevity have resulted in ageing populations in European countries. These demographic changes place challenges on pension provision as numbers of those who are economically inactive and retired increase relative to those in paid work. Therefore, governments need workers to postpone retirement and work to older ages. Whilst health and wealth are important in retirement decision-making, considerably less is known about the effects of workplace factors. The aim of this study was to explore the views of recent UK retirees about the role that work-related factors played in their decision to retire. METHODS: This qualitative study was nested within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort. People who had retired 3-6 years previously (not for health reasons) were purposively sampled to obtain the views of men and women from a range of socio-economic backgrounds and jobs. Semi-structured interviews were carried out by telephone using a pre-defined topic guide. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. RESULTS: Seventeen interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis showed that retirement decisions were complex and multi-factorial but that work-related factors contributed to decision-making in two main ways. First, some work factors pushed participants towards retirement. These were perceptions that: workplace change had affected the way they were valued or increased pressure on them; work demands, including commuting, had intruded excessively on personal time, effects that were exacerbated by modern technology; work was draining, isolating or under-appreciated; and /or that work was causing physical strain or discomfort relative to their perception of their capacity. In contrast, work factors could also cause participants to pull back towards work, particularly: autonomy; supportive work colleagues; a sense of being appreciated; and perceived job flexibility. CONCLUSIONS: Recent retirees explained that their decision to retire was multi-factorial but work-related factors contributed importantly. Potentially, employers could: review workers’ perceptions about their work; their capacity in relation to job demands; increase flexibility; and facilitate a supportive work community to encourage longer working lives. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8764837 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-87648372022-01-19 Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort Stevens, Martin J. Barker, Mary Dennison, Elaine Harris, E. Clare Linaker, Cathy Weller, Susie Walker-Bone, Karen BMC Public Health Research BACKGROUND: Lower birth rates and increasing longevity have resulted in ageing populations in European countries. These demographic changes place challenges on pension provision as numbers of those who are economically inactive and retired increase relative to those in paid work. Therefore, governments need workers to postpone retirement and work to older ages. Whilst health and wealth are important in retirement decision-making, considerably less is known about the effects of workplace factors. The aim of this study was to explore the views of recent UK retirees about the role that work-related factors played in their decision to retire. METHODS: This qualitative study was nested within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort. People who had retired 3-6 years previously (not for health reasons) were purposively sampled to obtain the views of men and women from a range of socio-economic backgrounds and jobs. Semi-structured interviews were carried out by telephone using a pre-defined topic guide. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. RESULTS: Seventeen interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis showed that retirement decisions were complex and multi-factorial but that work-related factors contributed to decision-making in two main ways. First, some work factors pushed participants towards retirement. These were perceptions that: workplace change had affected the way they were valued or increased pressure on them; work demands, including commuting, had intruded excessively on personal time, effects that were exacerbated by modern technology; work was draining, isolating or under-appreciated; and /or that work was causing physical strain or discomfort relative to their perception of their capacity. In contrast, work factors could also cause participants to pull back towards work, particularly: autonomy; supportive work colleagues; a sense of being appreciated; and perceived job flexibility. CONCLUSIONS: Recent retirees explained that their decision to retire was multi-factorial but work-related factors contributed importantly. Potentially, employers could: review workers’ perceptions about their work; their capacity in relation to job demands; increase flexibility; and facilitate a supportive work community to encourage longer working lives. BioMed Central 2022-01-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8764837/ /pubmed/35039031 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12541-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Stevens, Martin J. Barker, Mary Dennison, Elaine Harris, E. Clare Linaker, Cathy Weller, Susie Walker-Bone, Karen Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort |
title | Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort |
title_full | Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort |
title_fullStr | Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort |
title_full_unstemmed | Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort |
title_short | Recent UK retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) cohort |
title_sort | recent uk retirees’ views about the work-related factors which influenced their decision to retire: a qualitative study within the health and employment after fifty (heaf) cohort |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8764837/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35039031 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12541-1 |
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