Who would delay retirement? Typologies of older workers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature linked to older workers’ work
orientations and the use of typologies to identify groups of older workers according to their work and
retirement patterns.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken entails reviewing books and academic
journals from the area of human resource management, retirement, diversity and pensions. The paper
focuses on the industrial sociology literature as the grounding for the construction of older worker
typologies.
Findings – The review of the typologies reveals that the older workforce is a wide range of workers
whose experience in work impacts their attitude toward and planning for retirement. Policy makers
cannot, therefore, take a “one size fits all” approach to designing incentives for delaying retirement.
Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the review is that the studies which
have been reviewed are based on both qualitative and quantitative data and have focused on different
aspects of later life work, such as early retirement, ill-health retirements, pensions and staying in work
past retirement age.
Practical implications – The review has a number of practical implications for HR practitioners,
government, and trade unions who want to develop targeted incentives for older workers to delay
retirement.
Originality/value – The originality of the review is that it is unique in bringing together the range
of literature on older worker typologies in order to identify overarching themes. The review found that
Titmuss’ “two nations” provides a useful model for identifying groups of older workers who are in
most need of support.
Keywords Retirement, Older workers, Industrial sociology, Incentive schemes, Resource management,
Business performance