Normalising conversations about retirement at work
By Dr. Natasha Hirst on 22 August 2025
In a cost-of-living crisis, the idea of saving for retirement or affording to retire at all can seem increasingly abstract. Whether early careers or reaching retirement age, there is plenty that employers can do to support staff to be positive about their future.
The Pensions Policy Institute released their report ‘The Concerns of Gen Z’ in February this year. Although Gen Z is the first cohort to benefit from automatic enrolment and the early establishment of pensions, they also face unique challenges that limit their ability to invest well for their retirement. Job precarity, high living and housing costs, and student loans leave many early career workers with little disposable income.
Gail Izat, Managing Director for Workplace at Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group said, “The cost of living is rising again and placing significant pressure on people’s ability to save. For many, retirement planning can feel like something to push down the road. Recent Standard Life research found that just 15% of people see pension planning as a priority, as they navigate multiple short-term financial concerns. That’s why the role of employers is so important – not only in providing access to pensions and savings, but also in helping people build the confidence and engagement to plan for the future.”
Normalise conversations about retirement
The Standard Life ‘Retirement Voice’ report 2024 found that Gen Z were most likely to turn to social media for information on retirement planning, potentially exposing themselves to poor quality information. Employers can help cut through the noise.
Izat outlines some of the measures employers can take to support staff throughout their careers, “retirement isn’t just about the numbers; it’s also about preparing for a fulfilling life after work. Employers can make a real difference by supporting staff to develop healthy lifestyle habits through their employee benefits offering or informal awareness programmes, and by creating safe spaces for conversations about money, wellbeing and long-term goals. There are no employees too young for these conversations – while retirement may feel more immediate later in life, developing good savings habits early can make a significant difference over time.
The Centre for Ageing Better’s Age-friendly Employer Pledge programme recommends that organisations provide career guidance to their employees, and this guidance should include retirement planning.
Tracy Riddell, Senior Programme Manager for Age-friendly Employment at the Centre for Ageing Better, said, “research we have carried out shows that people often put off planning for retirement until they are very close to it, while many employers are nervous of discussing retirement with their staff as they are concerned about falling foul of the Equalities Act, by inadvertently suggesting to colleagues in their 50s and 60s that they should consider retirement. These risks can be averted if retirement becomes part of normalised and holistic conversations with employees about career plans and the future, which start well before people reach their 60s.”
Ageing Better promotes having a Mid-Life Review process which can be delivered through seminars, small groups and in one-to-ones. Riddell explains, “typically, mid-life MOTs cover career and skills, health and wellbeing and financial planning. Our own research shows that mid-life courses integrating therapeutic approaches – reflecting on values, relationships and fears – made participants clearer about their goals, and more positive about the future.”
Flexible retirement
With age can come health challenges, including menopause, sight and hearing loss or the worsening of chronic illness. Robust policies and support can help employees adapt their roles and stay in work without feeling pushed out.
Riddell, said, “flexible retirement is one way in which employers can help employees manage that sometimes tricky transition from work into retirement. This approach should be viewed as a win-win for both employees, giving them more options and a better work/life balance as they approach the end of their career, and the employer, helping retain valuable experience and support career progression for younger workers as well as offering better value for money than voluntary early redundancy. By promoting the option actively, especially through regular internal engagement, age-friendly employers have been able to make this a common step for many of their older workers.”
Calderdale Council is one employer who has benefited from taking the age-friendly employer pledge with a flexible retirement policy that supports staff who want to reduce their hours and/or level of responsibility but continue to work when they are aged over 55. They retain essential skills and knowledge and keep the capacity to train and mentor younger workers. Unlike Voluntary Early Retirement, it often comes at low or no cost.
NHS Business services offer several flexible options through the NHS Pension Scheme, including “partial retirement, retire and return, and flexible working in the lead up to retirement. These options allow staff to tailor their retirement to their individual needs and circumstances, potentially improving their financial wellbeing and allowing them to remain in the workforce longer if they choose.”
Inequality in retirement
Not all futures look equal. Data collection on pensions tends to look at shared household income, which hides the impact of pay gaps and unequal financial control within households.
Izat highlights that employers should seek to address inequality, “it’s vital to recognise that retirement planning isn’t a level playing field. Women, and some ethnic minority groups, often face additional challenges such as lower lifetime earnings, extended career breaks perhaps due to additional caring responsibilities and unequal access to financial advice and guidance. By tailoring support and ensuring communications are inclusive and accessible, employers can help close these gaps – for example by offering targeted financial education, enhancing parental leave contributions, or making it easy for staff to check and adjust their pension contributions through accessible digital tools.”
A vision for retirement
The transition from a work-based identity to retirement can be tough. Heavy workloads as people reach the end of their career can limit opportunities to develop hobbies or take the space to think about what retirement might look like.
Recently retired library services assistant, Karen Barker, was initially sceptical about seeing a financial advisor but found the experience transformative. Reflecting on the discussions with boutique wealth planners, Henwood Court, she said, “our wellbeing, wishes and aspirations were at the heart of the discussions and it gave us the confidence to know that we could afford to retire together, which made the decision much easier.”
Nick Platt, Managing Director at Henwood Court, explains how retirement is one of the biggest life changes that people experience and coaching can be vital to making the right decisions. He explained two key areas he explores with clients, “firstly, that you’re financially ready, that you’ve got enough to live the life that you want to live and maintain your lifestyle. But most importantly, that you’re emotionally ready for retirement. Emotional and financial readiness need to be in sync. If you’re not financially ready, you won’t be able to afford the retirement that you want. If you’re not emotionally ready, you might miss work because when you stop work, you lose your identity, so it’s about trying to create a new identity as you’re going into retirement.”
Platt recognises that some people want to keep their thoughts about retirement confidential and value discretion, “particularly for senior managers, who don’t want to create uncertainty within their teams.” He recommends a range of options from group coaching, to one-to-one sessions with plenty of time to prepare and think ahead.
Employers can also promote and subsidise career-spanning opportunities for life-long learning and building interests and social networks outside of work, including through volunteering.
Platt concludes with a quote that drives the work he does, “in retirement, you need enough money to be able to sleep at night and enough purpose to wake up in the morning.”
Top tips
- Offer clear, accessible pension communications using plain language. Explain unfamiliar terms and improve understanding of how contributions work, tax relief and investment choices.
- Run pensions and retirement planning workshops to demystify issues such as drawdown options, state pension rules and budgeting in retirement. Provide a short guide on how to read and understand annual pension statements.
- Provide access to independent financial guidance and advice and signpost to useful resources, such as MoneyHelper and ACAS.
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