Abstract
ABSTRACTThe changing retirement landscape calls on employers to develop practices that respond to individuals’ retirement needs. Line managers are a key stakeholder in managing retirement and this study focuses on how they respond to employee retirement scenarios. This empirical work examines manager openness to involvement in retirement, focusing on three sets of explanatory variables: manager psycho-social characteristics (experience of managing older workers, intention to work past 65), their decision-making environment (influence, discretion and decision-making support) and older employee situational factors (performance, ease of replacement, retirement affect and attitude to work). Data were collected from 129 managers in the United Kingdom's university sector using survey items and a factorial vignette design. The multi-level analysis found support for each category of variables in predicting manager openness to involvement in employee retirement. Managers with more experience of managing older workers were more likely to be open to involvement although managers’ own retirement intentions were not significant as a predictor. Decision-making environment variables were significant predictors of manager openness to involvement. The only older employee situational factor that was associated with manager openness to involvement was employee performance. Practically, organisations need to recognise the potential influence that managers have on employee retirement decisions and this study's findings show that managers may need training to help them understand their own role in supporting older employee retirement.
Highlights
Raising the retirement age across developed economies has been a key policy initiative that has contributed to a reversal of the trends of early retirement that emerged in the latter part of the twentieth century (Ebbinghaus and Hofäcker )
It is widely acknowledged that line manager or supervisor support is important in achieving positive older workers’ outcomes (Armstrong-Stassen and Schlosser ; Van Solinge and Henkens ), up to now, only a limited body of research has focused on how line managers themselves respond to employee retirement scenarios
It is important to understand in greater depth the dynamics of this area of the managerial role, and in this contribution we extend the literature by examining manager openness to involvement in the employee retirement process in terms of how manager psycho-social characteristics, their decision-making environment and situational characteristics they face influence their perspective
Summary
Raising the retirement age across developed economies has been a key policy initiative that has contributed to a reversal of the trends of early retirement that emerged in the latter part of the twentieth century (Ebbinghaus and Hofäcker ). Greater numbers of employees expect, and are expected to, work up to and past the state pension age and will experience different end-of-career patterns than previous generations. For their part, employers need to respond to the changing workplace landscape by developing practices that sustain older workers’ employability throughout their working lives (Van der Heijden et al ). It is widely acknowledged that line manager or supervisor support is important in achieving positive older workers’ outcomes (Armstrong-Stassen and Schlosser ; Van Solinge and Henkens ), up to now, only a limited body of research has focused on how line managers themselves respond to employee retirement scenarios. It is important to understand in greater depth the dynamics of this area of the managerial role, and in this contribution we extend the literature by examining manager openness to involvement in the employee retirement process in terms of how manager psycho-social characteristics, their decision-making environment and situational characteristics they face (older employee attributes) influence their perspective
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