Exploring psychosocial retirement preparedness among blue-collar workers

Abstract

Blue-collar workers (BCWs) comprise the largest component of South Africa's workforce and were among the groups that kept the country commercially active during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their commitment to work shapes both their identity and life course. As part of the individuals who have acquired skills mainly through on-the-job training and practical experience, often with minimal formal education, they constitute a critical segment of the workforce within organisations and businesses. The tacit knowledge they possess ensures continuity and stability in operations. However, as the life course perspective illustrates, human lives have stages, and this skilled workforce eventually reaches the end of their professional careers and must retire. Existing literature on retirement within the context of BCWs is limited, with most research focusing on white-collar employees and executive-level positions. Moreover, studies on retirement have predominantly centred on financial resource adequacy and used quantitative approaches, focusing extensively on savings and income replacement ratios. The objective of this study was to explore the psychosocial aspects of retirement readiness among BCWs in South Africa's mining sector, using the life course perspective as the main theoretical lens, supported by continuity and role theory. It adopted a qualitative approach to develop in-depth understanding. Thirteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with mining BCWs in South Africa until data saturation was achieved, and data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that although BCWs are essential to maintaining business continuity, their well-being and psychological retirement readiness are systematically neglected by mining organisations. This neglect contributed to anxiety and a loss of purpose among those nearing retirement, as psychosocial aspects were not included in organisational preparation or permanent job-exit programmes. The study further ii found that psychological retirement readiness is not an individual process but is influenced by family and organisational contexts. Organisations prioritised day-to-day productivity rather than employee well-being. In contrast to enabling psychosocial readiness, these practices actively undermined BCWs' sense of organisational value and care. The study extends the life course and continuity perspectives by highlighting the organisational and social contexts that shape psychosocial readiness. It also contributes to the limited qualitative literature on retirement and to the nascent academic understanding of BCWs, who are economically valuable yet underexplored in both business and academic contexts. Overall, the study highlights the necessity of holistic retirement frameworks that integrate psychosocial support programmes, pre-retirement counselling, family engagement initiatives, and organisational culture shifts. Such frameworks must recognise BCWs' psychosocial realities and reaffirm their value within the 'People, Planet, and Profit' sustainability agenda.