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Retirement can wait : A phenomenographic exploration of professional baby-boomer engagement in non-standard employment
Niesel, Christoph Buys, Laurie Nili, Alireza Miller, Evonne
Niesel, Christoph
Buys, Laurie
Nili, Alireza
Miller, Evonne
Abstract
This qualitative study explores the experiences of 23 professional baby-boomers in Australia who are challenging the traditional employment and retirement pathway through non-standard employment (NSE). We focus on professional part-time, casual and self-employed work within the kaleidoscope of various working arrangements that form NSE. Using a phenomenographic approach, we identified variations in how these older baby-boomers experience engagement in NSE. Our findings revealed five interrelated hierarchical categories of description, which posit a generally positive view of NSE and highlight financial stability, flexibility, continued activity, social ties and maintaining self-identity as key conceptions for work engagement. Our study suggests that NSE is an important and under-researched part of the labour market for baby-boomer professionals, that it can offer greater opportunities for engagement and that the traditional hard-boundary view of retirement as a defined lifestage is softening. It extends our understanding of baby-boomer engagement with NSE in the labour market and offers findings that may inform future policy and practice.
Keywords
baby-boomers, employment, retirement, non-standard employment, phenomenography
Date
2022
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
42
Issue
6
Page Range
1378-1402
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled