Workers and employers split on future retirement

Ten years from now more than 80 per cent of British workers will still expect to retire by 65, while more than half of companies will demand they work longer, research from employment firm Manpower showed yesterday.

A survey of 2122 British businesses conducted by market research company NOP and a poll of 1,085 workers by Manpower on how they see the workforce of the future signalled the divide between what workers and companies expect of retirement will persist.

Retirement and pensions have become a hot political topic as pressure on the public finances and on companies from greying Britons clashes with worker and trade union demands for firms and the Government to honour their retirement pledges. "The impact of an ageing population looks set to create problems. There is a notable difference between employers and workers concerning the future age of the workplace," the report said.

Britain's state and private pensions systems are creaking. The Pension Commission estimated in 2004 that on one measure, Britain had a £57 billion ($150 billion) shortfall in retirement savings.

The survey, conducted in January and February this year, also showed that more than two-thirds of companies think they will increasingly measure staff by productivity, but barely more than one-fifth of workers believe that will actually happen.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has persistently made efforts to boost British productivity, which has continued to lag other major G7 countries.

- REUTERS