Workplace is the 'new neighborhood'

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The workplace has become increasingly important for maintaining social interaction and forming relationships, especially in retirement, Dutch researchers say.

In a report published in Personal Relationships, Lead author Rabina Cozijnsen of the VU University Amsterdam says those who retired just 10 years ago are more likely than those who retired in the 1990s to maintain, or even gain, work-related personal ties after retirement. The majority of more recent retirees have at least one work-related tie in their personal network for both women and men.

Earlier studies show once a person retired he or she lost touch with people from work, but this study shows times have changed, Cozijnsen says.

"We found that those who retired more recently were more likely to maintain at least one personal tie after retirement than those who retired earlier. In other words we discovered that a particular relationship at work was so important that they decided to continue the relationship," Cozijnsen says in a statement. "The notion that people lose their work-related ties after retirement, because they no longer see one another at work, needs to be reconsidered, in terms of well-being and the aging process."