I remember very specific dialogue between my parents that took place at the end of every summer when I was a little girl. My dad would talk about counting down the years toward retirement. There was discussion of “the pension,” but I never fully understood the import of the arrival of “retirement day.” As a High School Administrator he had a very stable job – until labor issues forced an early retirement. My first face-off with retirement.
Now it’s less about retirement and more about – “What’s next?” “How can I survive with a dwindling 401-K plan?” “What about health care?” etc. I touched on the issue in a radio feature I did for NPR called More Workers Phasing into Retirement. You can click on the title to listen.
We are living longer and in fact according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute – working a lot longer. A December 2007 report revealed that job-related earnings accounted for nearly 24% of annual income in 2006, for Americans over 65 years old. Retirement is not an option for many boomers. When you do the numbers, most are acknowledging that they simply can’t stop taking a paycheck, so phasing into retirement – working more flexible hours, less days, part time etc. might be a more prudent alternative.
The Families and Work Institute states that only about a fourth of companies actually offer phased retirement to some, or all of their workers. So for some boomers, they’ll have to leave their positions, perhaps go back as a temp employee to their previous employer, or look for another job to keep the cash flowing.
According to Report of the Taskforce of the Aging of the American Workforce, there are are barriers to the employment of older workers that must be addressed. These are just a few concerns, but the list is quite daunting and makes a great case for further inquiry into the challenges older workers face:
- The need to increase skills to keep pace with technological and organizational change
- Limited access to training to update their skills
- Elements of the economy that create a difficult job market for older individuals
- Age discrimination in the workplace
Companies with growing interest in creating phased retirement policy fall into the sectors with the most current need of skilled workers. Phased retirement might prove crucial to attract and retain engaged employees for the long run. You’ll find the most flexible organizations in education, engineering, aerospace, health care and the federal government. In fact, due to baby boomer turnover, Uncle Sam stands to lose about a third of it’s workforce to brain drain over the next five years, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Here are two great articles that break down the components of phased retirement. The first is written by Kathy Lingle who posts on her blog at the Alliance for Work Life Progress. The second is by Jim Dwyer of American Express.
