Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement

Introduction: Phased retirement involves reducing working time in the final years before retirement. The aim of phased retirement is to extend working careers and retain older workers who would otherwise opt for full early retirement. This article investigates the effect of offering phased retiremen...

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Main Author: Åsmund Hermansen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget 2015-01-01
Series:Nordic Journal of Social Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2082
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author Åsmund Hermansen
author_facet Åsmund Hermansen
author_sort Åsmund Hermansen
collection DOAJ
description Introduction: Phased retirement involves reducing working time in the final years before retirement. The aim of phased retirement is to extend working careers and retain older workers who would otherwise opt for full early retirement. This article investigates the effect of offering phased retirement on early-retirement behaviour in Norway. Method: The data used in the analysis covers the period between 2000 and 2010 and comprises all employees between 61 and 62 years of age (N= 18 174) who were employed in any of the 442 companies that participated in a 2010 survey carried out by the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research and Respons Analyse AS, a Norwegian research firm. I use a difference-in-differences approach and logistic regression, which enables the measurement of changes in the individual relative risk of retiring full-time on the contractual pension (AFP, avtalefestet pensjon, contractual early-retirement pension,) before and after the introduction of phased retirement as a retention measure. Results: The results show that working in a company that offers reduced working hours for older workers does not have an effect on the relative risk of a 61- or 62-year-old withdrawing a full contractual pension in the next two years of their employment. This result is evident both before and after controlling for a range of known individual risk factors, as well as after controlling for company characteristics. Discussion: In the search for suitable measures for retaining older workers, offering phased retirement may still be part of the answer. Though my analysis does not support the idea that more flexible working hours is a decisive factor for those who choose to opt for full early retirement, a possible next step could be to investigate the impact of offering flexible working hours on the employment duration of those who do remain in employment.
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spelling doaj.art-d705c1154e784034b1ed6ac8d82d29de2023-11-02T07:44:37ZengScandinavian University Press/UniversitetsforlagetNordic Journal of Social Research1892-27832015-01-01610.7577/njsr.20821261Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirementÅsmund Hermansen0Fafo Institute for Labour and Social ResearchIntroduction: Phased retirement involves reducing working time in the final years before retirement. The aim of phased retirement is to extend working careers and retain older workers who would otherwise opt for full early retirement. This article investigates the effect of offering phased retirement on early-retirement behaviour in Norway. Method: The data used in the analysis covers the period between 2000 and 2010 and comprises all employees between 61 and 62 years of age (N= 18 174) who were employed in any of the 442 companies that participated in a 2010 survey carried out by the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research and Respons Analyse AS, a Norwegian research firm. I use a difference-in-differences approach and logistic regression, which enables the measurement of changes in the individual relative risk of retiring full-time on the contractual pension (AFP, avtalefestet pensjon, contractual early-retirement pension,) before and after the introduction of phased retirement as a retention measure. Results: The results show that working in a company that offers reduced working hours for older workers does not have an effect on the relative risk of a 61- or 62-year-old withdrawing a full contractual pension in the next two years of their employment. This result is evident both before and after controlling for a range of known individual risk factors, as well as after controlling for company characteristics. Discussion: In the search for suitable measures for retaining older workers, offering phased retirement may still be part of the answer. Though my analysis does not support the idea that more flexible working hours is a decisive factor for those who choose to opt for full early retirement, a possible next step could be to investigate the impact of offering flexible working hours on the employment duration of those who do remain in employment.https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2082Difference-in-differencesearly retirementolder workersretention measuresphased retirement
spellingShingle Åsmund Hermansen
Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
Nordic Journal of Social Research
Difference-in-differences
early retirement
older workers
retention measures
phased retirement
title Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
title_full Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
title_fullStr Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
title_full_unstemmed Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
title_short Retaining older workers: the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
title_sort retaining older workers the effect of phased retirement on delaying early retirement
topic Difference-in-differences
early retirement
older workers
retention measures
phased retirement
url https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2082
work_keys_str_mv AT asmundhermansen retainingolderworkerstheeffectofphasedretirementondelayingearlyretirement