Ageing, health and retirement choices in a diverse workforce : a case study of a large private sector retail organisation
type: CreativeWork
description: State pension age is due to rise to 68 years in the UK for both men and women by 2046 and the statutory retirement age has been removed. Organisations need to better adapt to the needs of their older employees. Research suggests that a growing number of people want to remain employed past traditional retirement age if the correct conditions are in place such as flexible working arrangements or measures to improve employees’ enjoyment of their work. Health is a key predictor of retirement. Good health acts as an enabler to extending working life. This research aims to explore the factors that enable or inhibit people to work for longer, post traditional retirement age, in a large UK based private sector retail organisation. There are two phases to the study: Phase One is the descriptive and inferential secondary data analysis of existing human resource data in relation to the health and wellbeing of the work force. This is based on a cohort of the employee work force in the retail sector taken over a three-year period from 2011-2013 (2013 data N=76,379) with a focus on workers aged ≥ 50 (n=19,244). The second phase is a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 30 participants: 15 employees aged ≥ 60 and 15 supervisors supporting these employees. The aim of phase two is to explore employee experiences of nearing or working beyond state pensionable age, as well as the factors enabling and inhibiting people to work for longer. Phase Two also explores the organisational and store level factors that enable and inhibit people to work for longer. Findings from Phase One show that 76% of workers aged ≥ 50 in the study population (n=14,596) are female. Specific needs associated with female older workers are reflected in the rates of mental ill-health, whereby the largest increases in proportion of ‘mental ill health’ cases across three years were found in the older female worker group. Older workers represent 25% of employees, but account …
abstract: State pension age is due to rise to 68 years in the UK for both men and women by 2046 and the statutory retirement age has been removed. Organisations need to better adapt to the needs of their older employees. Research suggests that a growing number of people want to remain employed past traditional retirement age if the correct conditions are in place such as flexible working arrangements or measures to improve employees’ enjoyment of their work. Health is a key predictor of retirement. Good health acts as an enabler to extending working life. This research aims to explore the factors that enable or inhibit people to work for longer, post traditional retirement age, in a large UK based private sector retail organisation. There are two phases to the study: Phase One is the descriptive and inferential secondary data analysis of existing human resource data in relation to the health and wellbeing of the work force. This is based on a cohort of the employee work force in the retail sector taken over a three-year period from 2011-2013 (2013 data N=76,379) with a focus on workers aged ≥ 50 (n=19,244). The second phase is a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 30 participants: 15 employees aged ≥ 60 and 15 supervisors supporting these employees. The aim of phase two is to explore employee experiences of nearing or working beyond state pensionable age, as well as the factors enabling and inhibiting people to work for longer. Phase Two also explores the organisational and store level factors that enable and inhibit people to work for longer. Findings from Phase One show that 76% of workers aged ≥ 50 in the study population (n=14,596) are female. Specific needs associated with female older workers are reflected in the rates of mental ill-health, whereby the largest increases in proportion of ‘mental ill health’ cases across three years were found in the older female worker group. Older workers represent 25% of employees, but account …
author: Edge, CE
language: en
date published: 2026
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:26:32Z
provider: U. of Salford
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: U. of Salford