Perspectives on retirement in the perception of professors of a federal public university

Abstract

Retirement has been a source of concern for most workers because of feelings of uncertainty about life in the absence of employment ties. This article aims to analyze plans and perspectives of retirement among permanent professors of a Brazilian federal public university. The first phase of the survey approached 96 professors (56 men and 40 women) from a structured instrument with open and closed questions. The second phase consisted of 18 interviews with participants from the previous stage. The results indicated that: 1) most professors would tend to continue working when they retire, whether in academic activities or not, formally linked to an institution or not; 2) many of them would take some time out for leisure and fun activities; and 3) more often than men, female professors would choose to work in non-academic jobs. Thus, it seems more evident that, for most professors, the moment of retirement was perceived as a continuation of active and productive life, regardless of the type of work or activity they would do.