Comparative Experience of Pre-Retirement Anxiety among Three Groups of Workers in Industrial Area, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

When a worker spends most of his/her adult life in a career or job or profession, they develop some sense of attachment to and identity with the job. Viewed as such, retirement could become a threat to many workers whose income is threatened coupled with social connection and status losses and they may not know what to do with their time and lives after retiring from active service. The study sought to investigate the comparative experience of anxiety among three groups of workers, that is the newly employed workers (NEW), those hired on contract terms (ECT) and the employees who are about to retire (ATR) in the Kenyan context among workers in industrial area Nairobi. The industrial worker pre-retirement anxiety experience has not been a subject of focus in industrial psychology research in Kenya. The study tested the following null hypotheses: H_o: µ₁=µ₂=µ₃ with the alternative hypothesis H_a: µ_i ≠ µ_j and H_o: There is statistically no significant difference between contract workers and those about to retire (on one hand) and newly employed workers (on the other hand) regarding their levels of anxiety whose alternative was H_a : There is statistically a significant difference between contract workers and those about to retire (on one hand) and newly employed workers (on the other hand) regarding their levels of anxiety. Nine companies were involved in the study from which 450 respondents were drawn using stratified sampling in order to ensure gender representation.   Each category of workers had 150 respondents. The study adopted the Ex post facto design. Study data were collected using a questionnaire which was developed by modifying and borrowing items from known and standardized anxiety scales. Piloting was carried out in Nakuru town's industrial area in order to determine its validity and reliability. The administration of instruments was done with the help of research assistants. Study data was analyzed for the descriptive statistics which included the mean, median, variance, standard deviation, range, interquartile range, skewness and kurtosis. The hypotheses were tested using ANOVA and the independent t test using SPSS version 22 at the α = 0.05 (5%) level of significance. On the whole, employees who were about to retire had higher anxiety that the other two groups while those hired on contract terms tend to experience higher levels of anxiety than employees who are newly employed. Based on the findings the study is of the view that adequate pre-retirement counseling be availed to workers as well as timely disbursement of the retirement dues.