PensionReforms' summary and comments
Surveys often report that workers will prefer a gradual approach to retirement so that there will be a process from fulltime work through to fulltime retirement. 

"Retirement is a transition between two significantly different stages in an individual's life. A gradual transition gives workers time to shift their daily activities, social relationships, and identity in a more deliberate manner than a cold-turkey transition. And this may help workers to make a better transition to retirement."

As the report notes, retirement is a unique experience in every case.  Workers don't get the chance to try retirement both ways and report on their experience.  The report tries to find out what actually happened to retired workers in the US, using happiness as the measure of the outcomes.

Factors that reflect happiness include a sense of control, social relationships, health, death of a spouse, the ageing process and, perhaps, income and wealth.  These have to be controlled for if the specific consequences of the retirement process are to be identified.

The report uses the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS)

"Our study . finds no evidence of a difference in happiness that can be traced to the type of transition to retirement. Like previous studies, we find that a decline in health status or the loss of a spouse reduces happiness in retirement, and that those who retire because they want to, and not because they are forced, are happier in retirement."

If workers knew of the report's findings, perhaps they might prefer to take the 'cold turkey' rather than the gradual approach to retirement.

"Our study finds that the nature of our transition-gradual or abrupt-has no effect on our happiness in retirement. But we do find that the sense of control workers have over the transition does have a significant effect. So the ability to retire gradually if we want to-not the effect of the gradual transition per se-should make us happier in retirement. Giving workers a sense of control over their retirement, not necessarily creating gradual retirement paths, should be the item on the policy agenda."

PensionReforms thinks that this may be true but it doesn't much help employers and the state deal with policy issues surrounding the transition.  Do employers help out by making available part-time or pre- or post-retirement type roles, expecting that they will not be taken up?  Does the design of state-provided pension schemes allow flexibility so as to confer the appearance of control?  Or is it that, despite the experience of previous retirees, workers will still prefer the toe in the water approach to the transition rather than the direct plunge?

As the report suggests, happiness is a slippery concept but it does seem that the process of retirement itself doesn't have much to do with how retirees feel about their retirements, ex post.  (file size 222KB) 185