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Retirement can wait: a phenomenographic exploration of professional baby-boomer engagement in non-standard employment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2020

Christoph Niesel Open the ORCID record for Christoph Niesel [Opens in a new window] ,
Laurie Buys ,
Alireza Nili  and
Evonne Miller
Christoph Niesel*
Affiliation:
School of Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Laurie Buys
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Alireza Nili
Affiliation:
School of Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Evonne Miller
Affiliation:
School of Design, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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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-boomersemploymentretirementnon-standard employmentphenomenography
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 42 , Issue 6 , June 2022 , pp. 1378 - 1402
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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