psychological appraisal of pre-retirement anxiety among selected workers of Lagos metropolitan

1.1Background to the Study

Retirement is a global phenomenon that affects the living standard of the worker who manages to achieve the status of a retiree. Individuals go through many transitions during their lifetime, but the transition from work to non- work is one of the most demanding. This is traceable to inadequate preparation of workers for this phase of life (Atchley & Barusch, 2004). Retirement is often viewed as an eagerly anticipated event which an employee, spouse and other family members dream about for years. It is perceived as an opportunity to experience freedom from work pressures, responsibilities and time constraints. And yet, as a relatively new phenomenon, many people are not prepared for this change (Petkoska, & Earl, 2009; Rosenkoetter & Garris, 1998). Atchley (1976) described retirement as the final phase of the occupational life cycle. It refers to the period, following a career of employment, in which occupational responsibilities and often opportunities are at a minimum and in which economic wherewithal comes at least in part by virtue of past occupational efforts. Retirement from work can be viewed from two sides. On the one side, it provides time to do what people do not have the opportunity to do when they were working, such as travelling or pursuing leisure activities. On the other side, it disrupts one‘s daily routine, reduces income, ends the identification and status provided by the role of a worker, and also poses the problem of filling in all that leisure time with meaningful activities (Petkoska, & Earl, 2009; Thorson, 1995).

Almost every worker has a personal concern about retirement (Johnson, 2005). Most workers are concerned about whether the combination of their retirement benefits and savings will be adequate to sustain them. Such concerns are usually worrisome during this period of global economic meltdown. Other workers worry about when or if they should retire. Some  workers have difficulties in deciding whether the benefits of retirement surpass the loss of income, status and regimented work life. They sometimes associate retirement with declining health status, happiness and activities as well as enhancing premature death. (Taylor, & Doverspike, 2003). Retirement can be likened to an artefact of the modern world of work and civilisation contrary to the traditional societies where employees often worked for as long as they were able to perform irrespective of their profession. Thus, modernisation has made most countries to introduce fixed retirement age with pension arrangements for retirees who meet the stipulated requirement for same (Agiobu-Kemmer, 2003).

There are two stages of time period that should be emphasized in dealing with retirement issue, namely, the pre-retirement stage and the post-retirement period. The pre-retirement period mainly involves the relationship with the employer, co-workers and the organisation as a whole, while the post-retirement period involves the relationship between the retiree and his or her family and the society as a whole (Reitzes, & Mutran, 2004). The experience of pre-retirement stage tends to have some effects on the post-retirement period. During the transition stage from work to retirement, employees may encounter various difficulties and problems that might make them feel anxious and stressful when approaching retirement; these emotions experienced by some employees during the pre-retirement transition period would probably have varied effects on their performance on the job by interfering with their productivities (Alpaslan, 2006; Cameron, 2005; Richardson, 1993). Furthermore, a critical review of the poor general wellbeing of some of retirees in Nigeria also contribute to the tendencies of some workers to exercise fear and worries about retirement even in the course of performing their duties at work, to the extent of affecting their efficiency and effectiveness, a condition referred to as pre-retirement anxiety.

In Nigeria, the retirement phenomenon has become a topical issue among academics, researchers and practitioners. Recently, much attention is given to retirement because quite a large number of workers are living beyond the constitutionally stipulated retirement age (Akinade, 2006; Oluwatula, 2005), which varies from country to country, usually between fifty-five (55) and seventy (70) years (Sote, 1999). In some countries, this retirement age is different for males and females. In Canada, United States of America and Australia, sixty-five (65) years is the stipulated retirement age, although some workers retire before then, sometimes with contributory causes such as job-loss, disability, wealth or other incentives for early retirement. The retirement age in India for public sector employees is fifty-five (55) years and sixty (60) years in Algeria and Cameroon. In Malaysia, the retirement age has just recently been raised from fifty-five (55) to fifty-six (56) years while the retirement age in France has just been extended to sixty-two (62) years. Whereas in Nigeria, the mandatory retirement age is sixty (60) years for civil servants, military and police officer or thirty- five (35) years of pensionable service, whichever comes first (Olurankinse & Adetula, 2010). However, the mandatory retirement age of academic staff in the professorial cadre in the Nigerian universities has recently been increased from sixty-five (65) to seventh

(70) years with the exception from the Public Service Rules which stipulated that a worker retires from public service after serving for 35 years (Act, 2012).

Consequent to the growing sophistication of the society and the economy most workers now show more concern about attaining satisfaction in retirement. This satisfaction in retirement is characterized by but not limited to financial security, good health, satisfying interpersonal relationship, participation in leisure activities, and some form of involvement in work, whether in a voluntary or paid capacity (Atchley & Barusch, 2004; Kim & Feldman, 2000; Richardson & Kilty, 1991). Similar concern about satisfaction in retirement has also been expressed by the Government of Nigeria through the Pension Reform Act, 2004. The Federal Government of Nigeria enacted the Pension Reform Act (2004) with the aim of reviewing and restructuring the pension scheme of the workers so as to minimize the financial burden of retirees. Amongst other things, the new scheme is contributory in nature, making it mandatory for employers and workers in the public and private sector organisations with five (5) or more employees to contribute 7.5% of the emoluments of each employee into a Retirement Savings Account (RSA). For the military, the contribution from the personnel is 2.5%, while the government would contribute 12.5% on their behalf (Pension Reform Act, 2004).

One of the major objectives of the new scheme is to assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age (Olurankinse & Adetula, 2010). However, some social analysts have observed that the suggested focus of pension reform neglects the psychological preparedness of workers

which is a significant contributor to attaining satisfaction in retirement; hence, workers still experience worries and anxieties about retirement despite the reformation of the scheme (Saidu, 2007; Ndaman, 2005). This is due to the fact that retirement affects not only the financial lives of the retirees but their entire lives. Apart from the economic problem, retirees face various problems in terms of their health conditions, the loss of their status, loss of work roles, lack of recognition, reduction of self-image, the feeling of loneliness, and disruption of routines. The loss will have an effect on the psychology which involves emotional stress, which in turn affects behaviour, mind and social relationships (Hooyman, & Kiyak, 1996).

Retirement therefore is an important event in the life of an employee and the individual needs to prepare himself or herself for this transition (Alpaslan, 2006; Rosenkoetter & Garris, 2001). Life does not stop with retirement and in fact life continues. To continue living is to undergo a series of action and a sequence of changes whereby individuals have to adjust themselves with such changes (Johnson, 2005). Thus, there is a need for employers to psychologically prepare every aspiring retiree for the new phase of life. The psychological preparedness of workers for satisfaction in retirement includes but not limited to organizing regular pre-retirement educational programme with the aim of imparting as well as enhancing some psychological Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) in the workers such as emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, assertiveness, critical thinking and a host of other skills that can promote successful transition to retirement.

Gerald, Moshe & Richard (2004) hold that an individual‘s work-life and transition to retirement is laced with a variety of emotions that can either be positive emotions such as euphoria, happiness, joy, gladness, enthusiasm or negative emotions such as agitation, anguish, anxiety, disappointment, disgust, displeasure, hurt, worry, anger, feelings of injustice, frustration, stress, fear and sadness. Some of these negative emotions are evident in some of the behaviours demonstrated by employees in Nigerian industries and organizations. For example, Oluwatula (2005) reported that some civil servants often engage in re-declaration of their age in order to extend their tenure in active service, others engage in some nefarious activities such as taking bribes to carry out their official duties, embezzling public fund, taking dual employment, all in the attempt of saving money to cope with the fear of unknown that sometimes accompany retirement. Whereas some employees do neither want to talk nor think about retirement because of the negative emotions associated with this phase of their vocational life. Inconsistency in government policies on retirement also contributed to this negative emotions in Nigerians workers towards retirement. In view of the emotionality associated with life at work and during retirement, this research is interested in examining the contributory roles of some psychological variables such as emotional intelligence and self-efficacy on workers‘ pre-retirement anxiety.