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

Vanessa Beck, Glynne Williams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

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.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)267-277
Number of pages11
JournalWork, Employment and Society
Volume29
Issue number2
Early online date6 Mar 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2015

Research Groups and Themes

  • Ageing Futures

Keywords

  • default retirement, employment relations, equality legislation, older workers

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The (performance) management of retirement and the limits of individual choice'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this