Stepping down but not out-Characteristics of post-executive careers in Switzerland

Abstract

This chapter sheds light on retirement behaviour in the executive labour market segment, presenting characteristics and trends in the market for executives' post-career activities and employing Switzerland as a case in point. The observations are based on a dataset comprising the 104 executives who retired from top management positions at 50 of the largest publicly listed Swiss companies and left the executive labour market between 2006 and 2008. The findings show that there is an emerging market for post-executive activities in Switzerland, and that the type, intensity, and location of activities pursued in the post-executive labour market are related to the demographic characteristics and career profiles of retiring executives. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.