CHAPTER TWELVE Work, Leisure, and Retirement

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CHAPTER TWELVE Work, Leisure, and Retirement
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The Meaning of Work

• Occupational priorities motivations for
  employment
• Money
• Prestige
• Recognition
• Sense of worth

3
Hollands Theory of Occupational Choice

• People choose occupations that optimize the fit
  between their individual traits and their
  occupational interests.
• Six personality types have been identified

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Supers Theory of Occupational Development

• Super describes five stages in adulthood, based
  on self-concept and adaptation to an occupational
  role.
• Implementation
• Establishment
• Maintenance
• Deceleration
• Retirement
• The more congruent a persons occupational
  behaviors are with what is expected of them at
  different ages, the more vocationally mature they
  are.

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Occupational Expectations

• Reality Shock -- The realization that ones
  expectations about an occupation are different
  from the reality one experiences, including
• the job not fitting with ones dream
• age, race, or sexual discrimination
• lack of opportunity
• obsolescence of skills
• Reality shock is most common among young workers
  and people with little relevant experience prior
  to assuming a new job.
• The outcome of reality shock is often a revision
  of personal priorities in life.

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Job Satisfaction

• Job satisfaction the positive feelings that
  result from an appraisal of ones work
• Job satisfaction tends to increase with age, due
  to
• self-selection (unhappy workers may quit).
• intrinsic satisfaction
• good fit
• lower importance of work
• finding non-work diversions
• life-cycle factors

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Alienation and Burnout

• Alienationfeeling that what one is doing is
  meaningless
• Burnouttoo much stress in ones occupationcan
  lead to
• Loss of energy and motivation
• Loss of occupational idealism
• Feeling that one is being exploited

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Bias and Discrimination

• Sex discrimination
• Denying a job to someone solely on the basis of
  gender
• Can affect getting a job, occupational
  development, and also pay.
• Glass ceiling
• The level to which women and ethnic minorities
  may rise in a company, but not go beyond
• This is a barrier to promotion.
• Glass elevator
• In traditionally female occupations, men may rise
  much faster than female counterparts.

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Bias and Discrimination

• Pay inequity
• Women sometimes get paid a fraction of what men
  with similar jobs earn.
• Sexual harassment
• The reasonable woman (person) standard is used to
  decide whether an act constitutes harassment
• If a reasonable woman
• would view a behavior
• as offensive, then it is
• offensive even if the man
• did not conceive it as so.

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Age Discrimination

• Making employment decisions only on the basis of
  age
• Denying employment or promotion if the worker is
  over the age of 40
• Differential layoff patterns
• Stereotypical views about older workers

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau
• About 49 of workers 55 to 64 years old find
  employment
• 65 to 70 of workers under 35 find new
  employment

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Occupational Change

• Factors influencing occupational change include
• Dislike
• Which results in quitting or seeking other
  employment
• Worker obsolescence
• For example, technological developments that
  eliminate jobs
• Economic factors which result in layoffs or
  downsizing
• For example, recessions

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Dual-Earner Couples

• In nearly 2/3 of two-parent households, both
  adults work outside the home.
• Nearly 1/2 of unmarried mothers and 56 of
  married mothers with children under the age of 1
  are currently in the work force.
• These numbers are increasing.

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The Dependent Care Dilemma

• Whether a women returns to work after having a
  child depends largely on how attached she is to
  her work.
• Inter-role conflict
• Conflicts between work and family
  responsibilities
• Flexible work schedules and number of children
  are important factors in role conflict.

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Dependent Care and Employer Response

• The mere availability of a workplace childcare
  center does not always result in higher job
  satisfaction.
• Sympathetic supervisors are essential to lowering
  the stress of how child care issues can be
  resolved.

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Juggling Multiple Roles

• Dividing household chores
• Working mothers spend about twice as many hours
  per week as their husbands in family work and
  bear the greatest responsibility for household
  tasks.
• Unequal division of labor is a major cause for
  arguments and unhappiness.

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Work-Family Conflict

• The feeling of being pulled in multiple
  directions by incompatible demands from ones job
  and ones family
• How to deal with work-family conflict
  successfully
• Women must be clear in their commitment to their
  careers,
• marriage, and children.
• Couples equally share housework and emotional
  work, and combine their roles without high levels
  of stress.
• Stress is higher during the peak parenting years,
  then is reduced.

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Types of Leisure Activities

• Four categories are usually used to help organize
  leisure activities
• Cultural
• Physical
• Social
• Solitary
• Leisure activities can also be considered in
  terms of the degree of involvement in these
  areas
• Cognitive
• Emotional
• Physical

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Types of Leisure Activities

• People develop a repertoire of preferred leisure
  activities.
• Each activity has a different meaning and
  importance to every individual.
• The activities are determined by perceived
  competence and psychological comfort.
• Perceived competence - how good we think we are
  at the activity compared to others.
• Psychological comfort - how well we meet our
  personal goals for performance.

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Developmental Changes in Leisure

• Longitudinal research shows that leisure
  preferences in adulthood reflect those in earlier
  life.
• However, as people grow older they tend to engage
  in leisure activities that are less strenuous and
  more family-oriented.
• Leisure activities promote well-being and can
  enhance all aspects of peoples lives.
• Positive effects are based on the amount of
  satisfaction you derive from your leisure
  activities, not your level of participation
  (quality vs. quantity)

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Retirement

• Retirement is largely a development of the 20th
  century and is still an evolving concept.
• What does being retired mean?
• The way in which people withdraw from full-time
  employment
• Changing conceptions of work are resulting in
  changing conceptions of retirement.
• Retirement can be crisp or blurred.
• Crisp - making a clean break from employment by
  stopping work entirely.
• Blurred - repeatedly leaving and returning to
  work, with some periods of unemployment.

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Planning for Retirement

• Financial planning and realistic expectations
  toward retirement are important predictors of
  future satisfaction.
• People who plan for retirement tend to be more
  successful in adapting to this major life change.
• Pre-retirement education programs cover a variety
  of topics, including finances, attitudes, health,
  and expectations.

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Adjustment to Retirement

• Retirement is an important life transition and
  can be stressful.
• However, the degree of stress is related to
  attitudes toward retirement and whether
  retirement is voluntary.
• Most people are satisfied with their retirement,
  as long as people
• Have financial security
• Have their health
• Have a supportive network of relatives
• and friends