Majority of baby boomers would opt for semi-retirement if employers only allowed: poll

The majority of working baby boomers would stay on the joblonger if employers allowed them to shift into semi-retirement but most workplaces don't provide that option, a new survey suggests.

With unemployment in Canada at record lows and a labour shortage poised to hit critical levelswhen boomers hangup their hats, semi-retirement could be one way to help managethat crisis.

Since working longer puts more money in people's wallets when they do retire, that increased spending power would benefitthe economyas well.

Conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf ofstaffing agency Express Employment Professionals, thepoll found that 76 per cent of Canadian baby boomers respondents said they'd opt for a flexible work schedule if allowed, while 60 per cent would choose reduced hours with reduced benefits.

The online surveyof 500 Canadian workersaged 54 to 72suggests a disconnect between the willingness of the enormous baby boomer cohort to stick around during the labour shortage, and a lack of options for those who'd like a gradual exit from the workplace.

The survey also found that 56 per cent of respondents saidthey'd like to transition to a consulting-style role, if given the opportunity.

Yetonly 30 per cent of the boomers surveyed said their employer offered any sort of semi-retirement option. Additionally, only 36per cent said their employers hadever brought a former employee out of retirement.

Teresa Pitman, who works full time as a communications co-ordinator forFamily and ChildrenServices of the Waterloo Region, says she'd welcomea semi-retirement arrangementwhen she's ready to scale back.

"I would like to be able to work here part time, and I think that I will continue to have something to contribute," she said."I really like the people here that I work for and that I work with. It would be really good to be able to keep that relationship going but without it being full time."

Rethinking all-or-nothing retirement

If Pitman wasn't workingfull-time, perhaps her hours would be flexible enough to avoid poor road conditions,she says, like theblizzardshe drove through on herway to work Friday.

Her top priority: Spendingtime with her 10 grandchildren.

"I'd love to have the flexibility to bemore available to them," she said.

Employmentexperts saywe may want to rethink our all-or-nothing definitions of retirement.

JessicaCuloowns several Express Employment franchises in theEdmonton areaand is the Canadian spokesperson for the company, which also has locations in the U.S. and South Africa.

Even thoughAlberta isstill recovering from theprovincial recession of 2016 and 2017, she says, even employers there can't ignore the potential problems posed by asignificantincrease in retirements in as littleas two years from now.

"We all know what it's like to be in an applicant-short market:It's expensive, it's not fun, it inhibits growth," Culo said."The leaders of organizations have got to have that foresight."

Putting in place semi-retirement arrangements that could help with the labour shortagewill require "being more creative on the side of the employers," she said.

That could mean allowing older staff membersto work flexible hours, a shortened workweek, shorter shifts or working remotely to cut commuting time. It could also include transitioning people into consultancy roles to work on a project basis.

Making room for mentoring

Culo says all of those tools could help address another critical aspect of boomer retirement that the survey highlighted: ensuring criticalknowledge doesn't walkout the door when they do.

Only 40 cent of respondents saythey've passed at least half of theknowledge required for their positions on to younger staff members, and 51 per cent don't believe their employers haveadequate succession plans.

Culo says boomers are willing to mentor 82 per cent of poll respondents said as much, in fact but in most cases they're not doing it."Probably because there aren't really systemsor practices or processes that allow for that."

Part-time workers and consultants could slide nicely into mentoring and training positions, she says, but it may take a mind shift on behalf of management.

"It may mean adding to your overhead by payrolling someone to take on that purely mentorship role."

In manycases, it won't even have occurred to employersto extend people's time at work through semi-retirement, says Rosemary Venne, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan's Edwards School of Business who specializes in humanresources anddemographics.

"Flexibility is not something that employers are good at," she said.

Partial retirement is such an ideal thing because more and more of our self-concept is tied up inwork.To give that up when you retire is difficult for some people.- RosemaryVenne, University of Saskatchewan

A2011 papershe penned with celebrated demographer David Foot, the author of Boom, Bust and Echo, explained that too little attention hasbeen paid to the impact of increasing life expectancy onretirement policies.

The paper entitled"The long goodbye" made the case for partial retirement schemes that remove barriersto going part-time,such as pension disincentives.

That makes sense when you consider that in 1965, whenthe retirement age was set at 65, the average life expectancy was 71.9 years. Today average life expectancy in Canada is around 80for men and 84for women.

Keeping a hand in work can be good for emotional healthand life satisfaction as well.

"Partial retirement is such an ideal thing, because more and more of our self-concept is tied up in work," Venne said."We've increased our educational attainment. To give that up when you retire is difficult for some people."

In some ways, Teresa Pitman is the ideal retiree. She has spent long portions of her career as a freelancer, and as the author of 18 books about baby care, she can turn to her writing career to keep her busy, engaged and sharp.

"I have writing that I'm quite confident that will always continue.But I do know people a bit older than me who are sometimes a little bit at sea. Their life had been organized around work. I just see that they're not quite sure what to do with themselves."