New retirement mentality

Odds are that you know you won't retire the day you turn 65, nor are you planning to collect a pension.

The three-pronged driver of this new retirement mentality is rising health care costs, fewer pension plans and the need to feel, well, needed.

"Seventy-five is the new 60," said Dr. Sara Qualls, Kraemer Family Professor of Aging Studies and director of the Gerontology Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "There's a trend toward baby boomers not wanting to retire from all productive activity."

One reason is financial necessity, but they also want not just a longer life but a meaningful, vital life, including community service, volunteering and paid employment.

The new mentality is: "We don't want to leave work, but we don't want to work 40 to 50 hours," Qualls said. "Older workers want flex time, part-time and extended vacations."

Companies are catching on to the new mentality. And those that don't will soon suffer a loss of experienced, loyal employees.

Behind the curve

The United States trails behind Singapore (48 percent), Hong Kong (24 percent) and Austria (21 percent) in recruiting older workers (defined as age 50 and older), according to a Manpower Inc. survey of 27,000 employers in 25 countries and territories during 2006.

Older worker retention strategies are most prevalent in Japan (83 percent), Singapore (53 percent) and South Africa (34 percent), while the U.S. is at 28 percent.

Semi-retirees and older workers gravitate toward employment services because they can receive insurance benefits while working only 20 hours per week, said Toni Fleming, business development manager at Manpower Professional.

Savvy employees have been known to retire on Friday, Fleming said, and return to work on Monday through a placement agency, making 50 percent to 70 percent more for the same job. After saving a nest egg for five to seven years, they retire "for real, this time."

Retirees need money for health care, Fleming said, and they know their value to the work force, so they will negotiate when offered contracting or temporary positions.

Still relevant

But financial necessity is, of course, not the only reason to stay in the work force.

Many older workers have financial retirement well in hand, said Norman Alvis, vice president, Wells Fargo Private Bank, but are not ready to stay home full-time.

"They enjoy work and want to stay active and stay sharp," he said. "So, they do some one-off projects, develop land, help run a business, 're-career' or consult -- making money at something they want to do."

Another trend Alvis sees is entrepreneurs selling their businesses, enjoying the windfall and traveling for a year, but getting bored and wanting to "get back in the game." They want to consult, socialize professionally or philanthropically and be figureheads in the community.

"The majority of baby boomers will work longer than the previous generation," he said.

Nonetheless, the United States is still facing a labor shortage.

Companies who don't want to fall behind in the competition for labor should use skill-based analyses, not age-based, and attract and retain older workers by offering training and knowledge- transfer plans, Fleming said.

"There is potential for so much knowledge to be lost," she said. "It's short-sighted to cut training programs -- a big gamble."

Although older workers and retirees have numerous reasons for continuing to work, it's saving everyone's bacon.

"They bring their expertise to the table," Alvis said. "They have so much to offer -- and to lose that expertise overnight (if all the baby boomers fully retired) would jolt the economy."

Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires
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