Human Resource Approaches to Retirement: Gatekeeping, Improvising, Orchestrating, and Partnering

• Author: Mary Dean Lee,Jelena Zikic,Leisa Sargent,Sung‐Chul Noh
• Published date: 01 May 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21775
• Date: 01 May 2017

Human Resource Management, May–June 2017, Vol. 56, No. 3. Pp. 455–477

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21775

Correspondence to: Mary Dean Lee, McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management, 1001 Sherbrooke St. W.

Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5, Canada, Phone: 438-992-5706, Fax: 514-398-3876, E-mail: marydean.lee@mcgill.ca.

retirement and shifting patterns in the flow of

senior talent out of the workforce. For example, in

many parts of the world, there has recently been

a removal of mandatory retirement; and govern-

ment as well as private pension or superannuation

structures have been adjusted or overhauled to

anticipate the effects of increased life expectancy

(Phillipson, 2012), as well as to protect institu-

tions from the increasing turbulence of financial

markets (Murray etal., 2013). Furthermore, there

is evidence of shifting patterns of aging and

greater diversity in individual preferences and

One of the most significant challenges

facing human resource (HR) managers

today is adapting to the dynamic exter-

nal and internal labor market forces to

achieve the necessary flow of talent to

meet organizational goals and objectives (Society

for Human Resource Management, 2012). HR

managers play a critical role in monitoring and

interpreting these dynamics and strategically

making efforts to reward and retain the best

employees. In this context, an important set of

changes facing organizations today is related to

HUMAN RESOURCE APPROACHES

TO RETIREMENT: GATEKEEPING,

IMPROVISING, ORCHESTRATING,

AND PARTNERING

MARY DEAN LEE, JELENA ZIKIC, SUNG-CHUL NOH,

AND LEISA SARGENT

This qualitative study examines the patterns in human resource (HR) approaches

to retirement across 24 organizations to explore innovative practices as well

as gain understanding of the differences in how fi rms are dealing with major

changes surrounding retirement and workforce demographics. Using organi-

zational adaptation theory and carrying out a thorough analysis of in-depth

interviews with HR managers, we identify three dimensions that differentiate

organizations’ approaches to retirement: (1) actions and interactions of key stake-

holders in the retirement process; (2) HR information gathering focus regarding

workforce issues; and (3) HR posture around changes needed in retirement poli-

cies and practices. Based on organizational profi les on these dimensions, four

distinct approaches to retirement emerge and are described in some detail: gate-

keeping, improvising, orchestrating, and partnering. These different approaches

also provide insight into how organizations differ in their adaptation to change.

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: retirement, talent management, human resource management,

managers’ careers, organizational adaptation

456 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, MAY–JUNE 2017

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Organizational

decisions makers

(e.g., top-level

managers and

human resource

professionals) are key

actors in noticing and

interpreting issues

and events that

affect organizational

functioning and

survival. This study

allows us to focus

on ways that HR

managers make

sense of the changing

organizational

environment,

specifically in

relationto retirement

trends.

priorities for late career and retirement (Wang &

Shultz, 2010). Such changes present HR managers

with critical workforce challenges that must be

met with some urgency and creativity, if negative

effects are to be avoided or at least mitigated in the

long term (Merton, 2014). However, little research

has focused on examining exactly how organi-

zations have been dealing with these changes,

whether strategically, haphazardly, or unrespon-

sively, which means that ongoing,

valuable innovation has not been

captured or critically analyzed to

inform HR best practices. The goal

of our research is to examine the

patterns in HR approaches to retire-

ment across organizations to learn

about innovative new practices and

to investigate how and why firms

differ in their approaches.

Our approach to investigat-

ing how organizations have been

responding to the veritable “stew”

of changes occurring related to

workforce demography and retire-

ment is informed by organizational

adaptation theory (Daft & Weick,

1984), which suggests that orga-

nizational decisions makers (e.g.,

top-level managers and human

resource professionals) are key

actors in noticing and interpret-

ing issues and events that affect

organizational functioning and

survival. This study allows us to

focus on ways that HR managers

make sense of the changing organi-

zational environment, specifically

in relation to retirement trends.

Organizational adaptation theory

suggests that organizations that are

able to find ways to adapt and stra-

tegically align with the changing

environment will also be those that

will survive and prosper (e.g., Matz-

Costa & Pitt-Catsouphes, 2010;

Milliken, 1990; Milliken, Dutton

& Beyer, 1990). HR managers are

key informants for this research, as they are criti-

cal boundary spanners able to understand their

organizations’ talent pool, and they also have

tacit knowledge of the external labor market,

which suggests they play a dual and key role in

organizational adaptation (Milliken etal., 1990).

In addition, HR managers are in a position that

requires capacity to interpret a complicated set

of general trends (i.e., demographic change, new

legislation on retirement, changes to pension

plans) in relation to firm-specific objectives and

contingencies (Roche & Teague, 2012).

The main focus of this study was to investi-

gate and illuminate variation in organizational

approaches to employee retirement from the per-

spective of HR managers in the contemporary

and highly dynamic context of early twenty-first-

century organizations and to uncover innovative

policies and practices that might be useful to the

wider community of practice. This study makes

three contributions. First, we show how organi-

zational adaptation theory can inform an empiri-

cal study of how organizations are responding

to changing workforce demographics and retire-

ment processes. Second, by studying patterns in

how HR managers scan, interpret, and enact how

retirement occurs in organizations, we identify

three dimensions that capture how organizations

differ in social processes and dynamics around

retirement. The first dimension captures the inter-

actions and actions of key stakeholders (HR, line

managers, and retiring employees); the second

emphasizes the HR information gathering focus,

which highlights what external and internal

information HR managers attend to when think-

ing about employee retirement; and the third

dimension encompasses HR managers’ mind-sets

about the need for change in light of workforce

challenges—HR posture. Our third contribution

is showing how patterns across organizations on

these dimensions combine to produce a typology

of HR approaches to retirement, thus extending

existing understandings by identifying organiza-

tions as gatekeepers, improvisers, orchestrators,

and partners. It is this last approach that provides

us with a new and innovative understanding of

how retirement and the nature of organizational

retirement is changing.

The remainder of the article is structured as

follows. We first provide an overview of existing

research that has examined current or recently

revised organizational policies or practices related

to retirement. We also briefly summarize the com-

plex set of workforce demographic and retirement

changes facing HR managers as they seek to meet

the talent flow challenges in their organizations;

and we outline how organizational adaptation

theory provides a useful framework for under-

standing organizational responses to changes

occurring related to workforce demography and

retirement. Next, we describe the study methods

and analysis. Finally, we present our findings and

discuss their implications.

Current HR Practices Related to Retirement

Existing research on current retirement policies

and practices can be characterized as focusing on