Factors Influencing Retirement Decisions among Blue-Collar Workers in a Global Manufacturing Company—Implications for Age Management from A System Perspective

Abstract

The maintenance of older workers and determining the appropriate age for retirement are growing issues related to the fact that fewer people, still active in working life, have to provide for more non-working people due to increased life expectancy. As a result, retirement age has started to rise in many countries, and employers need to find ways to maintain an older and healthy work force, not least to avoid the loss of important experience. The aim of the current study was to increase the knowledge of factors influencing the retirement decisions among blue-collar workers in different national settings. A survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 100 blue-collar workers in Sweden, the Netherlands, and France, aged 55 years and older, within a global manufacturing company. Based on the results, implications for companies’ age management strategies were discussed from a system perspective. Factors contributing to both retirement and to a prolonged work life were found on individual, organisational, and societal levels. This indicates the importance of a system perspective when planning for age management interventions.