Did COVID-19 change your mind about retirement? You’re not alone
Last updated on 14 March 2024
Key points:
- Research revealed that the financial well‐being of older Australians and especially self‐funded retirees has been negatively impacted by the COVID‐19 pandemic
- Approximately 45 percent of workers believe their employers don’t support their well-being, but 74 percent of companies reported that ensuring employee well-being is important to them
- Well-being has become even more important to workers than it was during the pandemic, according to the World Economic Forum
Switzerland-based human resources organisation Adecco reported that, in 2022, a quarter of workers felt more stressed at work since the pandemic with 23 percent of the workers they surveyed planning to quit their jobs by 2024.
Now, in 2024, new research has identified that people thinking about retiring may be burnt out on work as a result of their well-being conflicting with that of their department.
The study, which was published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, studied 69 people across 12 teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participants kept a diary and the researchers used questionnaires to measure individual work engagement and the risk of burnout, as well as team viability, team satisfaction and the quality of social relationships among members.
Assistant Professor Niina Nurmi of Aalto University said there was a clear difference between the collective and the individual, leading to a difference in well-being if communication was inefficient.
“Today’s work life, where disruptions cascade one after another, highlights the differences between what teams need and what individuals need,” she said.
“Many of the participants in our study prioritised their own needs without regard for the well-being of the team, bringing down team morale and commitment.
“Other people prioritised the survival of their teams and put a lot of effort into that at the expense of their own well-being — which meant their risk of burnout increased.
“Organisations do a lot of pulse surveys of employee well-being and measure individual engagement, but the well-being of a team isn’t just the sum of the well-being of the people in it.
“The danger is that the results of surveys measuring individual well-being may look really positive, but at the same time, teams may no longer work at all,” Nurmi added.
Assistant Professor Emma Nordbäck, a member of the research team, said that if a team focuses only on the well-being and needs of the collective, ‘the individuals in it may be at risk of burnout and the same is true in reverse.’
“If individuals only care about themselves, team well-being suffers,” she said.
The responses also revealed that people’s coping strategies often don’t contribute to their recovery.
“People often don’t know what’s stressing them and what to do about it. For example, if a person is feeling lonely, running alone in the woods may not be the best solution.
“On the other hand, if your team is overcommunicating and you feel overwhelmed, the team should create some rules for communication to enable both connection and focus time.”
According to the study, the teams that engaged in reflection were the ones that did best, both as individuals and as a team.
Team members openly shared their experiences and concerns — then, the team and its members adapted their practices to ensure everyone’s well-being. However, these teams were in the minority, as most teams were unable to communicate with each other effectively.
“Working life is now very individual-oriented, which means that the ‘team’ may be forgotten altogether. That has an impact on the viability of organisations for the long haul,” Nordbäck, an academic at the Hanken School of Economics, added.
The international research team, along with Nordbäck and Nurmi, included Jennifer Gibbs, University of California; Maggie Boyraz, California State University and Minna Logemann, City University of New York.
“Relationships between people are one of our strongest motivators. We’re long-standing friends and meet as a research fivesome at a conference once a year,” Nurmi said.
“When we did research together, we always focused on the welfare issues first. It’s always worth taking the time to reflect.”
In 2019, the World Health Organisation listed ‘burnout’ in its latest International Classification of Diseases, defining it as a ‘syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.’
A report from McKinsey and Company in 2021 identified that Australians were the most burnt-out workforce in the world, with 61 percent reporting they sometimes feel burnt-out.
For those considering retirement and attributing their stress to the pandemic, efficient communication is proven to be necessary for healthy social or romantic relationships, along with maintaining positive family dynamics. Whether in the workplace or retirement — burnout can hit hard and it helps to talk.
Do you think COVID-19 played a role in your decision to retire? Let the team at Your Retirement Living know and subscribe to the newsletter for more information, news and industry updates.
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