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Pathways to retirement

The influence of employer policy and practice on retirement decisions

About this study

This study illustrates the hugely different experiences of people as they retire and the influence of workplace policy and practice on these experiences.

We found that an employer's retirement policy, rather than other reasons such as finances, health or family, was the overriding influence on the retirement decision when a person's expectations of retiring and the reality of retiring differed.

A key finding from the study is that employees who had a good experience of retiring felt that they 'owned' the decision to retire.

But where participants felt excluded from the decision making process, they felt they had made uniformed choices, and in some cases individuals even felt discriminated against.

You can read these and other interesting findings here and the full report here.

Timeline

Policy impact

Our research was part of wider programme of work that informed a review of the Default Retirement Age undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This review influenced the new Government's plans to scrap the default retirement age from October 2011.

Methods

We conducted fifty-one qualitative depth interviews with people who were retiring before, at or after their company's normal retirement age.

Our sample included people from the public, private and voluntary sectors and from small, medium and large companies. Participants were drawn largely from NatCen's Family Resources Survey, although a small number were accessed through voluntary organisations and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Of interest: