Who’s Driving the Retirement Bus?

It’s a fact. Baby boomers are beginning to retire. The press on this topic is heating up. Stories about boomers taking charge of retirement are making the news. Retirement coaches like myself are encouraging boomers to follow their dreams and guiding them to approach retirement differently than their parents’ generation. No doubt they will. Boomers are waking up to the fact that it’s a new day in the world of retirement—for better and for worse.

But what about employers? Who is defining their role in this new age of retirement?

With few exceptions, employers have yet to address related workplace issues as baby boomers make decisions about retirement and work. The question for employers is simple: When it comes to workforce management, do you want to drive the bus or chase after it?

In recent years, many employers contributed to the direction the bus was going by reducing or eliminating retiree benefits in order to cut costs, increase profits, please stockholders and present more fiscally attractive balance sheets. What some employers failed to foresee was how their actions would affect the behavior of millions of American workers who would need to continue working beyond normal retirement age, primarily for health care benefits. We have gone from a generation who—before 2001—had planned to retire early, to a generation now resigned to working for as long as possible.

Who’s gauging the impact of this change on employer organizations? Social scientists have been studying it for a while, along with an anticipated shortage in workers when the boomers retire. But it will be employers who will deal with the fallout. The affects will require new workplace dynamics and models. It will be employers who decide what to do with large numbers of post-retirement age employees and job applicants. How will they motivate, reward and eventually retire post-65ers? What does “normal retirement date” mean in the 21^st century? In what roles will older workers add the most value? What tools and policies will be needed to manage this changing workforce?

Benefit packages, hiring practices, leave policies, training, compensation programs and workplace needs will all require re-evaluation and revision. Proactive employers will begin auditing their company policies, plans and programs now. Waiting to begin these discussions until retiring boomers are headed for the exits or overrunning applicant pools could result in a workforce crisis.

Employers can begin this evaluation process by asking two important questions:

· What do pre-retiree workers need and want from their employer to satisfactorily transition into the next phase of their lives?

· What does the employer need and want from these same employees during this important transition period?

For example, one area healthcare provider wanted their retirement-age nursing population to consider returning to work 10 hours per week to train newer nurses and fill schedule gaps. Meaningful discussions with staff helped the employer design a successful program that included relevant incentives.

For many organizations with large numbers of baby boomers in their workforce, this is an opportunity to redefine a workplace model that is ready for change.

© 2007 Deb H. White