Seeing the Finish Line? Retirement Perceptions and Wellbeing among Social Workers

Abstract

<jats:p>Planning for future health and social services (HSS) workforces must be informed by an understanding of how workers view their work within the context of their life and the challenges they will face across the course of life. There is a range of policies and provisions that states and organisations can adopt to create sustainable careers, support wellbeing at work, and extend working lives where appropriate, but the potential impact of these policies on the make-up of the workforce remains under investigation. This paper makes the case that service planners need to appreciate complex interplay between wellbeing and career decisions when planning the future workforce. It makes use of a recent survey of United Kingdom (UK) social workers (n = 1434) to illustrate this interplay in two ways. First, we present the analysis of how social workers’ perception of retirement and extended working lives are associated with dimensions of Work-Related Quality of Life (WRQL). We find that social workers who agreed that a flexible working policy would encourage them to delay their retirement scored lower on the Home-Work Interface and Control at Work dimensions of WRQL, while social workers who indicated a perception that their employer would not wish them to work beyond a certain age had lower Job and Career Satisfaction scores. Second, we propose a new typology of retirement outlooks using latent class analysis of these attitudinal measures. An 8-class solution is proposed, and we demonstrate the predictive utility of this scheme. Results are discussed in terms of the challenges for ageing Western populations and the usefulness of analysis such as this in estimating the potential uptake and impact of age-friendly policies and provisions.</jats:p>

Towards Career Sustainability: A Systematic Review to Guide Future Research

“…Career management is needed to balance individual and corporate needs. Organizations must provide an environment conducive to edifying career experiences (Barthauer et al, 2020;Bridgstock & Cunningham, 2016), and policymakers must shift their efforts towards workforce employability and employment sustainability (Moriarty et al, 2020;Tomlinson et al, 2018). Thus, sustainability challenges are encompassed by the unpredictable nature of contemporary careers and the complex factors embedded in individuals' lives (Baruch & Rousseau, 2019;Hite & McDonald, 2020).…”

“…In a general sense, "work ability is a holistic concept that refers to people's ability to do their work healthily and productively given the balance between a person's resources -including their health and functional abilities, education and competence, and values and attitudes -and their work demands" (Stuer et al, 2019, p. 2). In terms of structural influences, the work-ability discussion encompasses themes of the aging population at the organizational policy level (Brzykcya et al, 2019;Grip et al, 2020) and, more broadly, through innovative strategies to unravel the complexities of an aging workforce (Moriarty et al, 2020).…”

“…In developed nations, retirement age is no longer a statutory requirement for job exit, and the older employees can continue with their existing careers or transition to new ones (Moriarty et al, 2020). However, the common unemployment scenario in developing countries may imply prioritizing public policies to generate youth job opportunities (Baruch & Rousseau, 2019).…”

“…However, the common unemployment scenario in developing countries may imply prioritizing public policies to generate youth job opportunities (Baruch & Rousseau, 2019). This brings crucial challenges for middle-aged and older individuals who face early involuntary retirement and may have limited career options to secure their livelihoods (Moriarty et al, 2020). Future studies should explore the social and cultural aspects of work ability, delving into questions about the meaning of aging beyond chronological age and the role of organizations and governments in facilitating the sustainability of older workers' careers.…”