Concept of Retirement

For a start, we need to change our concept of 'retirement', and we need to change mindsets arising from earlier government policy which, in the face of high unemployment levels, encouraged mature workers to take early retirement. Today, the government encourages them to delay their retirement. We now need to think of retirement as a phased process, where mature age workers gradually reduce their hours, and where they have considerable flexibility in how they combine their work and non-work time. We also need to recognize the broader change that is occurring in how people work, learn, and live. Increasingly we are moving away from a linear relationship between education, training, work, and retirement, as people move in and out of jobs, careers, caregiving, study, and leisure. Employers of choice remove the borders between the different segments of people's lives, by creating flexible conditions of work and a range of leave entitlements. They take an individualized approach to workforce planning and development so that the needs of employers and employees can be met simultaneously . This approach supports the different transitions that occur across the life course - for example, school to work, becoming a parent, becoming responsible for the care of older relatives, and moving from work to retirement.