Mehiläinen Working Life Survey: 43% of Finns want to stop working on average about 6 years before retirement age

The Mehiläinen Working Life Survey* draws a harsh picture of working life. The survey respondents wish to retire, on average, 6.4 years before retirement age. Out of the respondents, 46% of 18–30-year-olds would like to retire even earlier than the older age groups – up to 9.2 years before the estimated retirement age. Leading Occupational Psychologist Suvi Suortamo feels that the result is a natural consequence of an increasingly stressful working life.

“Work has traditionally been seen as something that creates comprehensive well-being for people. This applies when the work and working conditions are favourable. The digitalisation of work requires more brainwork, and many feel that they cannot keep up with the changes. According to the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health’s Working Life Survey (2022), as many as one in four working-age Finns is at risk of burnout. From a human point of view, it is no wonder that long working careers are not seen as attractive.”

The Mehiläinen Working Life Survey reveals that people want to stop working before retirement age because they want to enjoy life (68%) and do not see work as the most important thing in life (64%). Health-related reasons (67%) were the most common motives for early retirement among those who fear that they may be forced out of working life. Employees feel that meaningful work (55%) and work flexibility (51%) are the most important prerequisites for staying in working life until retirement age.

“It is essential to invest in the factors that lengthen working careers at a sufficiently early stage. Supporting individual employees is important, but I would rather see companies implement targeted measures that affect occupational well-being through the development of work and working conditions. Workplace management plays a key role in this. A central part of identifying the situation and developing concrete means is the cooperation between the occupational safety organisation and occupational health care,” says Suortamo.

“There are no universal solutions for repairing work structures. Critically evaluative, systematic and long-term development work must be carried out, the effectiveness of which is assessed by using diverse indicators.”

A long working career requires investing in the employee as well as a motivating wage development

According to the supervisors who responded to the survey, it is worth investing in the employee until the age of 54 on average. Only slightly more than half of the supervisors believed that age does not affect this matter. Out of the respondents, 26% of employees felt that their employer invests in them very much or quite a lot, while 14% felt that their employer does not invest in them at all.

“The result is worrisome in a society where, at the same time, there are ongoing discussions about ways to extend working careers and maintain the competitiveness of the workforce. Employees must be supported at all stages of their careers.”

“Supervisors should be provided with information on how to manage employees at different stages of their careers and how changes brought about by age should be taken into account in work ability management. A person’s abilities and skills can develop throughout life if the organisation provides a suitable environment for it. We also support employees of all ages in occupational health,” Suortamo points out.

Employees who responded to the survey felt that a motivating wage development (46%) and health promotion support from the employer (39%) are more important prerequisites for a long working career, compared to supervisors. Employees felt that the importance of supervisory support in career development, occupational well-being and work ability management is lower, compared to the supervisors’ own estimates. The results were not a surprise to Suortamo.

“In working life, the employee’s own responsibility in the promotion of work ability and occupational well-being has been emphasised for a long time. The lower estimates given by employees may indicate that supervisors are not able to sufficiently influence the working conditions that negatively affect the employee’s occupational well-being and coping at work.”

Is an ageing worker a boon or a burden for the workplace?

The value of an employee approaching retirement age was recognised in the study. The respondents representing the employees felt that older employees primarily provided tacit knowledge (67%) and support in the work community (48%). On the other hand, ageing employees were also associated with problems regarding coping at work (21%) and loss of ambition (20%).

Employees approaching retirement age rarely experience exclusion in working life (16%) or a lack of appreciation for their competence (14%) due to their age, but up to a quarter of ageing employees were concerned that they are not good enough for working life due to their age.

“It is often thought that an ageing employee is less productive, but ageing in itself does not affect the productivity of work. Prejudices and stereotypes are reinforced after the employee reaches a certain age. It is assumed that the employee is no longer motivated or willing to adapt. In my own work, I have noticed that dialogue between the supervisor and employee is often either non-existent or insufficient. It is worrisome that many ageing people feel that they are not supported in working life,” says Mehiläinen’s Occupational Psychologist Marja Vidgrén.

*) The survey was conducted for 18–65-year-olds via the Taloustutkimus internet panel between 9 and 28 June 2023. Taloustutkimus carried out the study, the content of which Mehiläinen was responsible for. The total number of respondents in the survey was 1,362, including 1,146 employees and 216 supervisors. The sample is nationally representative and is weighted by age, gender and region of residence (mainland Finland).