Employee evaluations of occupational pensions

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the role of an occupational pension in employees' psychological contracts, the degree to which such pensions influence decisions relating to employee recruitment and retention, and attitudes of managerial employees to the recent Employment Equality (Age) Regulations. Design/methodology/approach – Thirty-six in-depth interviews were conducted with managerial employees in order to examine the topics described above. Findings – It is found that the role of an occupational pension in employees' psychological contracts is related to age, and that they play a much greater role in the psychological contracts of older employees. The provision of an occupational pension was found to be more successful in promoting the retention rather than the recruitment of staff. The managerial employees interviewed were overwhelmingly supportive of the introduction of the recent Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, but some expressed scepticism that they would be implemented faithfully by their organisations. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed to examine the impact of the widespread closure of defined benefit pension schemes on employment decisions. The small sample size used in this research means no claims can be made to external validity. Originality/value – The original features of the paper are that the authors apply the psychological contract framework in analysing the degree to which employees value their occupational pensions, employees themselves are interviewed rather than their employers in assessing the impact of an occupational pension on recruitment and retention, and the paper provides an early assessment to the recent introduction of age discrimination