Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age

The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS) were used for this study. The results of this longitudinal study showed that satisfaction with terms of employment that concern flexibility (e.g. flexible working hours and the possibilities for part-time work) contribute to a higher preferred retirement age. It also contributes to not specifying the preferred retirement age. This means that employees who are satisfied with the flexibility in their jobs more often do not know at what age they prefer to retire than employees who are not satisfied, but if they do know they report a higher preferred retirement age. By arranging flexibility in the job together with and to the satisfaction of employees, employees can be stimulated to postpone retirement.