Retirement Decisions and Expectations: A Case Study of Older Workers in the Motor Vehicle Industry

The main intention of this study was to explore the circumstances of the workers' decision to retire, and to investigate their adjustment to retirement. A small sample (59) of recently retired men from both the payroll and salary sectors of the workforce at the Ford Geelong plant was interviewed in depth. The information collected provides a detailed picture of decisions made in the face of particular retirement packages provided to payroll and salary employees. The data give a picture of the extent to which various expectations about retirement were realised by the respondents. Comparisons have been made in the main between the payroll and salaried staff but some differences within each group have also been investigated.