Quality of work community and workers’ intention to retire

Abstract

Purpose To study the workers’ perception of the quality of work community and its association with intention to retire early, separately among women and men working in Finnish postal service. Methods A questionnaire survey was sent to all Finnish postal services employees aged ≥ 50 years in 2016 and 44% (n = 2096) replied to the survey (mean age 56.3, 40% women). Employee’s intention to retire before statutory retirement was measured on a scale of 1–5 and dichotomized. The quality of work community was defined by four composite variables: equality at work, flexibility at work, supportive work environment and health or other reason and trichotomized by their tercile values. Odds ratio (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations of quality of work community with intention to retire were calculated separately for men and women using log binomial regression models adjusted for potential confounders. Results About one-third of respondents intended to retire early with no significant gender difference in retirement intention. Low equality at work (women OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.60–4.81; men 2.84, 1.80–4.48) and low flexibility at work (women 3.30, 1.94–5.60; men 2.91, 1.88–4.50) was associated with higher likelihood of intention to retire. Among women intention to retire was found less likely due to low supportive work environment (0.52, 0.31–0.89) and among men due to intermediate health or other reason (0.65, 043–0.98). Conclusion The results highlight the importance of the quality of work community as well as the promotion of work-related health in order to encourage employees to remain at workforce for longer.

Extending ageing nurses' working lives: A mixed‐methods systematic review

“…High job demands, low support and low job control predict nurses' disability pensions, particularly when high demands are associated with a mental diagnosis (Leineweber et al, 2019). Retirement intentions are high among workers who perceive low equality and flexibility in work but are reduced by a supportive working environment (Neupane et al, 2022). Nurses' health has suffered during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Llop‐Gironés et al, 2021), but even before the pandemic, women were less likely to extend their working lives than men (Neupane et al, 2022).…”

“…Retirement intentions are high among workers who perceive low equality and flexibility in work but are reduced by a supportive working environment (Neupane et al, 2022). Nurses' health has suffered during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Llop‐Gironés et al, 2021), but even before the pandemic, women were less likely to extend their working lives than men (Neupane et al, 2022).…”

A Systematic Literature Review on the Relationship Between Quality of Work and Intentions to Retire Among Individuals Aged 50 and Older

“…Eight studies (47%; see Table 3) analyzed moderation effects or carried out a similar analysis (e.g., regression analysis in separate groups). The obtained results suggest that gender could be an important moderator of the association between quality of work and intentions to retire, as one study found a moderating effect (Neupane et al, 2022), two studies (Dal Bianco et al, 2015;Schnalzenberger et al, 2014) conducted analyses separately for gender, and only one study (Carr et al, 2016) did not find any moderating effect. Individual studies also found age (Carr et al, 2016) and type of contract (Taylor et al, 2016) to moderate the quality of work and intentions to retire relationship.…”

Indicators of Sustainable Employability among Older Finnish Postal Service Employees: A Longitudinal Study of Age and Time Effects

“…However, sustainable employability requires not only the well-being of employees at all ages but also places requirements on employee health and the work environment. Earlier, we reported that the quality of a work environment is associated with employees' intention to retire [14]. A good working environment consists of flexible work time, treating workers fairly and employer appreciation that motivate employees to work longer [14].…”