Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsBonusesHR practiceHR strategyKnowledge management

Early retirements could hit productivity as experienced staff threaten to walk

by Guy Logan 4 Feb 2009
by Guy Logan 4 Feb 2009

EXCLUSIVE

Experienced staff approaching retirement are threatening to bow out of work early as bonuses and pay increases look unlikely this year, Personnel Today has learned.

At the annual Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Reward Conference in London yesterday, the institute’s president Vicky Wright said board members and upper management who survived the recession of the late 1990s were extremely valuable in helping organisations recover today.

But many skilled senior staff on defined benefit (final salary) pensions who are approaching retirement don’t want to wait out the recession if they feel they won’t get appropriately rewarded, Wright told Personnel Today.

“If someone is in their late 50s, on a final salary pension, and they know there won’t be a pay increase this year or that bonuses won’t be at their previous levels, the mentality is that, ‘it’s tough, why should I do it?’,” she said.

“Experts are quite certain this will not be a V-shaped recession [one that recovers quickly], that it will be deep and it will last for several years,” she added.

Research out last week found one in six pay settlements in January amounted to salary freezes. Employers in the media sector, including the BBC and Channel 4, have been some of the worst hit, suspending bonuses for some staff as well as halting pay rises. Others sectors hit by pay freezes include manufacturing, chemicals and finance.

Wright warned organisations to consider implementing longer-term reward packages spanning several years to keep senior, experienced staff.

“HR needs to present very robust arguments at this time about rewarding senior staff to retain that experience that is essential to survive this recession,” she said.

Wright also questioned the ability of organisations to successfully manage talent during a dowturn.

“Many successors would have been great in the climate of growth we experienced for the past 15 years. But many are now less ready to take over than before,” she said.

Avatar
Guy Logan

previous post
Snow joke if ‘scrooge’ employers dock pay and holidays warns TUC
next post
Protests over EU workers could be first of many – editor’s comment

You may also like

Law protecting frontline workers against violence takes effect

28 Jun 2022

Postal workers and doctors threaten strikes over pay

28 Jun 2022

Heathrow-based cabin crew set for 18% pay rise

28 Jun 2022

Attracting diverse young talent to the ‘secret’ world...

28 Jun 2022

Four-day week: what are the legal considerations for...

28 Jun 2022

Hire quality vs speed: Finding the perfect balance...

28 Jun 2022

Gender pay gap ‘won’t close until 2151’

27 Jun 2022

Third of employees living ‘payday to payday’

27 Jun 2022

PwC to award inflation-busting pay increase

27 Jun 2022

Barristers walk out in protest over fees

27 Jun 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+