A HABITUS OF EARLY RETIREMENT IN THE AGE OF AUSTERITY: LESSONS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT

Early retirement must be distinguished from retirement. The former may be defined as the situation at which people do not work, do not seek work and also consider themselves retired, although their age is below the official (depending on the situation and the country) retirement age. OECD (2005) has defined early retirement (retraite anticipée) as “a situation when an individual decides to retire earlier and draw the pension benefits earlier than their normal retirement age”. Economic as well as health reasons frequently make people decide to go on early retirement (Bazzoli, 1985). Bould (1980) and Strandh (2000) found that unemployment encourages people to proceed to early retirement - as an exit strategy from unemployment. However, it is frequently the case that the employers – or the labour legal framework of some countries – may accidentally encourage people to retire early. Fasang (2010) suggested that there are a number of institutional early retirement pathways which people can follow in order to retire early. Higgs et al. (2003) suggested that organizational restructuring, financial offers, opportunities for leisure and self-fulfillment are some of the factors affecting people’s decision for early retirement. Blekesaune and Solem (2005) suggested that men may find it easier to obtain an early retirement disability pension because men usually have more physically demanding jobs.