Leaving early or staying on? Retirement preferences and motives among older health-care professionals

Antecedents of and experiences with voluntary early exit from working life before the expected retirement age in Sweden

BACKGROUND

In most Western countries, senior workers have increased their participation in the workforce. However, at the same time, early retirement also increases. The reasons behind this early exit from the workforce are still unclear.

OBJECTIVE

This qualitative study aims to explore the antecedents of and experiences with a voluntary exit from working life before the expected retirement age of 65 in Sweden.

METHODS

Data consist of semi-structured interviews with 18 participants who exited working life between the ages of 61-63. In Sweden, these ages are considered as an early exit from working life since, for many years, the expected retirement age has been 65. Qualitative content analysis with an abductive approach was utilized.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed four sub-themes: 1) Health benefits with an early exit from working life (with the categories: own health status, the possibility for recovery time, and avoidance of strain); 2) Having economic conditions that enable an early exit from working life (with the categories: offers from the employer and financial compromises); 3) Social benefits with an early exit from working life (with the categories: enabling more time with my social network and avoidance of unsatisfying social work environment); 4) Self-fulfillment activities during the senior years (with the categories: enabling time for activities beyond work and avoidance of decreased job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

This variety of antecedents of and experiences with a voluntary early exit from working life before the expected retirement age highlights that the ongoing increased statutory retirement age also increases the risk for extended inequalities among the aging population.

Meaning of working for older nurses and nursing assistants in Sweden: A qualitative study

Meaningful work is related to the motivation to continue to work in older ages and later retirement. This qualitative study addresses calls for further research on the meaning of working for older workers using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to explore in-depth the dimensions underlying the subjective experience of meaningful work among 27 nurses and nursing assistants aged 55-75 years. The findings show that work was perceived as a primary source of: (1) personal identity (2) purpose and contribution, (3) competence and accomplishment, (4) social contacts and belongingness, (5) activity, routines and purposeful use of time, and (6) economic security and freedom. These qualitative findings may be applied in interventions aiming to encourage extended working lives in key welfare occupations, which are facing significant staff shortages.

[The Employment Perspective in the Health Care Sector - Until What Age do Older Employees Want to, Can and Plan to Work?]

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to compare the employment perspective of older employees in different occupations in the health care sector. A distinction is made between three aspects of the employment perspective: until what age older employees want to, can and plan to work.

METHODS

The data are based on the second (2014) and third (2018) wave of the representative lidA study, which surveyed employees born in 1959 and 1965, at intervals of 3 to 4 years since 2011. In descriptive cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, five occupational groups of the health care sector were compared to further selected occupational groups (NSample=2.580).

RESULTS

The occupational groups examined differed significantly in terms of their employment perspective. Employees in care professions stood out as, on average, they wanted to leave working life early, but most importantly, they could not work for as long as they had planned to. Longitudinal analyses indicated that the employment perspective shifted to higher age as the individuals approached the legal retirement age.

CONCLUSIONS

Care professions are risk groups with regard to employment at higher working age and require special attention in health care organisations. The results also document substantial variability of employment perspective in individual employees over time. This finding has implications regarding opportunities for human resource management.

Wollen und können ältere Beschäftigte länger erwerbstätig bleiben, wenn sich ihre Arbeit verbessert?

Hintergrund

Im Kontext politischer Bemühungen, ältere Beschäftigte in Deutschland länger im Erwerbsleben zu halten, wird untersucht, wie lange diese noch erwerbstätig sein wollen und können und wie sich tatsächliche Veränderungen von Arbeitsbedingungen auf ihre Erwerbsperspektive auswirken.

Methodik

Datengrundlage der Analysen sind die zweite (2014) und dritte (2018) Welle der lidA-Studie, welche repräsentativ für sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigte der Geburtsjahrgänge 1959 und 1965 in Deutschland ist. In deskriptiven Quer- und Längsschnittanalysen werden die Veränderungen von den vier Arbeitsfaktoren schwere körperliche Arbeit, das Arbeiten im Schichtdienst, die Anerkennung von Leistungen und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten im Zusammenhang mit der Veränderung der Erwerbsperspektive („Bis zu welchem Alter wollen bzw. können Sie erwerbstätig bleiben?“) untersucht.

Ergebnisse

Ältere Beschäftigte in Deutschland wollen deutlich früher aus dem Erwerbsleben aussteigen als sie – den eigenen Einschätzungen nach – noch erwerbstätig sein könnten – Männer dabei länger als Frauen, und ältere Beschäftigte länger als jüngere. Im Längsschnitt zeigt sich, dass sich sowohl das Wollen als auch das Können bei vielen älteren Beschäftigten mit der Annäherung an die Regelaltersgrenze verlängern. Zudem gehen Verbesserungen von Arbeitsbedingungen meist mit einer Verlängerung der Erwerbsperspektive einher.

Diskussion

Die Ergebnisse offenbaren unterschiedliche Muster, jeweils unterschiedlich in Bezug auf die untersuchten Arbeitsfaktoren, das Wollen und Können sowie das Geschlecht. Die Geschlechtsunterschiede können zum Teil durch die geschlechtstypisch unterschiedlichen Berufe der betroffenen Gruppen erklärt werden. Wenn Entlastungen im höheren Erwerbsalter mit einer Verlängerung der Erwerbsperspektive assoziiert sind, könnte dies auf freigelegte Ressourcen bei den Beschäftigten hinweisen. Dort, wo Entlastungen nicht mit einer Verlängerung der Erwerbsperspektive einhergehen, deutet dies darauf, dass sie eine dringend überfällige Entlastungsmaßnahme darstellen.

Incentives behind and Experiences of Being Active in Working Life after Age 65 in Sweden

Since individual and societal expectations regarding the possibility of an extended working life after the expected retirement age are increasing, research on sustainable working life combined with healthy ageing is needed. This study explores the incentives behind and experiences of an extended working life after the expected retirement age of 65 among Swedish people. The inductive qualitative content analyses are based on 18 individual semi-structured interviews among persons 67-90 years old with varying characteristics and varying experiences of extended working lives. The analyses revealed that working contributed to (1) sustained internal resources, i.e., cognitive function, physical ability and increased vigor; (2) sustained external resources, i.e., social enrichment, better daily routines and economic benefits; (3) added meaningfulness to life, i.e., being needed, capability and satisfaction with working tasks. Meanwhile, having flexible working conditions enabled a satisfying balance between work and leisure. Altogether, these different aspects of overall health and working life were interpreted as contributing to increased feelings of vitality, the innermost dimension of health. Conclusions: regardless of biological age, our results indicate that being able to remain active in working life can be beneficial to vitality and could make these results valuable for both health-care personnel and employers.

Sustainable Working Life in Intensive Care: A Qualitative Study of Older Nurses

To counteract the shortage of nurses in the workforce, healthcare organizations must encourage experienced nurses to extend their working lives. Intensive care (IC) has higher nurse-to-patient ratios than other settings, which includes a particular susceptibility to staff shortage. This qualitative study investigated how older IC nurses experienced their working life and their reflections on the late-career and retirement. Semi-structured interviews with 12 IC nurses in Sweden (aged 55-65 years) were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. The results showed that nurses planned to continue working until the age of 65 and beyond. When reflecting on their late-career decisions, nurses considered nine areas covering individual, work, and organizational factors as being central to their ability and willingness to stay. Overall, the nurses had good health and were very satisfied and committed to their job and to the organization. They mentioned having both the job and personal resources required to cope with the physical and mental job demands, which were perceived as motivational challenges, rather than hinders. They also reflected on various human resource management practices that may promote aging-in-workplace. These findings may inform organizations aiming at providing adequate conditions for enabling healthy and sustainable working lives for IC nurses.