The (performance) management of retirement and the limits of individual choice

Abstract

The removal of the default retirement age in the UK has been broadly welcomed as the disposal of an age-discriminatory measure. It is argued here that a focus on formal equality has been at the expense of a more critical analysis of the employment relations consequences. The central role given to performance measurement allows employers considerable discretion over when employees retire and the scope for bargained outcomes in the new regime is limited. This may be to the detriment of older workers and will have implications for the workforce as a whole. Equality, in other words, may come at the expense of a broader conception of fairness.