Employers may find it difficult to open career discussions with older workers. Unless a worker first opens their discussion and wants to plan for retirement. Asking them about when they plan to retire might be construed as suggesting that they leave. However, having a career discussion with all employees is a normal event during business. These discussions can be greatly enhanced by having several flexible options to discuss.
Surprising to some, a number of older employees want to continue to work well beyond normal retirement age. For some, the issue is not about money but intellectual stimulation, a sense of contributing value, and a sense of belonging. Research shows that people who continue to work and stay active, live longer and healthier lives.
Part-time employee:
Companies have trouble creating part-time jobs. Managers must battle to get any req approved. And if you are going to fight the budget battle for one you want to fill as many hours as possible. It would seem twice as hard to get two jobs approved.
Create jobs to utilize years of knowledge:
One age-conscious airline employer created a new version of their Customer Care Center. They fill many customer care positions with transitioning later career workers who may have come from many places within the organization. These people help to resolve customer issues. Most of these part-time employees work from home.
Part-time contractor:
For some organizations, it may make more sense to hire part-time workers as independent contractors. This allows the individual to write off some business related expenses and takes them off of your benefit programs. If they are eligible for Medicare, this may be an acceptable solution for the individual especially if the organization reimburses them for their Medicare costs.
Consultant:
Especially for higher level positions such as Engineering, Research, etc., an individual may want to transition to a Consulting role where they can potentially take on other clients as well. The organization may want to have the consultant sign a non-compete or confidentiality agreement.
PEO (Professional Employer Organization):
For some organizations, turning retiring staff over to a PEO is another option. PEOs offer benefits and health care coverage. They take care of payroll, and they have the benefit of insuring large numbers of employees with many employers
Advisor/Volunteer:
If money is not the issue, retired employees may want to continue in some volunteer or advisory capacity. Earlier in my career I worked for a company that got bought by IBM and they called on a cadre of retired executives to work with our team on adjusting to the IBM processes, policies, and practices. They were there temporarily and came to help, and they were very helpful. I’m guessing that they were paid for this assignment, but it was clear that these people also contributed to other events at IBM without pay.
Summary:
Older workers bring unique value to the workplace. They often have irreplaceable knowledge of legacy products, client history, etc. They bring a strong work ethic and company loyalty that affect how newer employees see your organization. They are dependable, responsible, and, if in a part-time role, they are often quite flexible.
Having options to discuss with your older workers shows them that you value them and want to retain them. It opens the door for discussion. Perhaps some of these options exist today but your management team is unaware of them.
Here’s a radical idea. If your organization has a lot of open positions, budgeting for part-time positions should not be a problem. Yet it seems to be a major obstacle. What if managers were allowed to add as many part-time jobs as they wanted and getting a replacement requisition was automatic and didn’t require finance approval? I’m sure we’d all be amazed at the imaginative ways that managers could find to utilize this new source of talent.
Finally, while this article focuses on older workers, the same might apply to any employee who needs a break from full-time work such as a recent parent or someone with caregiving responsibilities.