Managing the employment cycle is a function that every company must prioritize as it involves the most critical asset of an organization, its people. When employees are supported at every stage of their career, they feel valued which in turn translates into higher job satisfaction and increased productivity. While the five stages of employee lifecycle from recruitment to exit are discussed very often, not many organizations consider unretirement to be one of the phases of employment cycle.
Unretirement is a new phase in employee lifecycle where employees move from working full time to a reduced schedule. It makes a lot of sense for people who enjoy working and want to continue contributing to their area of expertise. When people are in their middle age, they look forward to retirement where they can spend more time with family and travel more. However, the reality of retirement is not as appealing and they unretire shortly due to various reasons.
While one of the most common reasons why individuals go back to work is to continue earning money, it is not the only one. Someone who is used to working for decades, seek purpose and varied experiences that they previously derived from working. They like to keep their brain sharp and bodies fit by staying engaged in productive work and yet maintain a work life balance. A job, helps in maintaining routine and keeps away health issues that comes with inactivity.
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Some people also find it extremely fulfilling to mentor and coach younger workers and in turn learn something new. Unretirement can potentially provide an opportunity of learning for both younger and older generations and can become a crucial part of the employment cycle in any organization.
Keeping people in the workforce longer is also good for the economy. While India has a surplus of young people, skilling is not happening at the required pace or up to the desired quality. Also, a large chunk of population is ageing rapidly. It is extremely important to keep this ageing workforce in the employment cycle, so that they remain healthy and continue to contribute to the economy with their skills and knowledge accumulated over the years. They can also contribute by skilling the younger generations and make them more productive.
Unretirement of the ageing workforce is evolving into a fluid yet important phase in the employee lifecycle. When an employee takes retirement, organizations often struggle to find a suitable replacement for the departing employee with years of experience and knowledge. If they can be encouraged to unretire for a few years, it can be a win- win for both. Some of the benefits of engaging the unretired workforce are:
- Higher Engagement Levels: Older workers have been through all the stages of employment cycle which gave them time to find their preferred roles suiting their skills. Hence, they are more engaged in their work and demonstrate higher productivity, quality of work and loyalty.
- Fill the Talent Gap: With an increasing number of unskilled workers in the initial phases of employment cycle, experience has become a critical asset. Due to their years of experience, the older workforce not only have the technical expertise in their field but also the relationship skills and cultural knowledge required to get a job done in the organization.
- Improvement in Work Quality: Several stereotypical views suggest that individuals become rigid in their ways with increasing age and their cognitive abilities decline. However, there are certain skills that only get better as they move up the employee lifecycle like social skills and problem solving that advances with experience. While they might take longer to complete some tasks as the age increases, their work product tends to be of higher quality.
- Stronger Organizational Skills: Apart from any employee’s core tasks, there is a list of behaviors that can promote business functions.
Older workers are more likely to demonstrate positive organizational citizenship that includes displaying a positive attitude, being on time, complying with organizational norms and listening to instructions. They are also known for attributes like loyalty, reliability, strong work ethics and a robust professional network. - Retain Older Customers: Often, older customers relate better with people of their own generation and someone they have been dealing with for years. Having older employees helps in keeping relationship with some customers stronger and retain their loyalty.
Ageing workers come with a lot of potential value for a business. To create a mutually beneficial relationship, organizations need some strategies to both attract and empower this pool of talent.
- Recruiting Unretired Workforce: All jobs may not need full time resources and contingent workforce might be better suited for some tasks. By making recruitment of unretired workforce a crucial part of the employment cycle and employing them as consultants, gig workers or tenured workers, organizations can get better skills and knowledge on board.
- Redesign work: Organizations must redesign work to leverage on the knowledge of the retired workforce and capture as much value as possible through mentorship and coaching programs. Older workers must be encouraged to work alongside younger workers to help facilitate successful transfer of knowledge. Redesigning work and moving from routine and repetitive tasks to mentoring relationships can contribute a lot to the employee engagement roadmap.
- Benefits: In most organizations, benefits are for full- time employees only. Companies must consider offering benefits packages that will help them recruit and retain part- time consultants. They must design performance appraisal and organizational benefits to attract potential unretired individuals.
- Design Phased Retirement Programs: Many workers over the age of 55, need more flexibility and time outside their work schedule due to health issues or family obligations. Organizations must extend flexible schedules and remote working options to make sure that the institutional knowledge and transition of work is carried on smoothly. Supporting the transition of older workers into gig or contingent worker network is a great way to keep them in the employment cycle while giving them the flexibility they need to maintain an effective work life balance.
- Reskilling the Ageing Workforce: Like full- time workers, companies must expect the highest level of performance from the unretired workforce as well. For this, managers must be provided with tools to include the unretired workers in the employee engagement roadmap and train them to do their job to the fullest. Organizations need to think of creative ways to onboard them successfully, especially if they took a break before their unretirement. This helps to retrain them with new skill sets and also helps in building confidence in them to return to the employment cycle.
Attracting and retaining the ageing population could help in gaining a competitive advantage and unleash the future of work. It is extremely crucial that organizations understand that this new stage of employment cycle is as important as any other and plan strategies to engage the older workers and leverage on their vast knowledge and expertise.
References:
- New Phase in The Employee Lifecycle: Unretirement- Sharlyn Lauby, 19 May, 2019
- Organizations Aren’t Prepared for the Aging Workforce- Sharlyn Lauby, 10 May, 2017
- Why Unretirement and Why It’s Important- Keith Lauby, 01 February, 2017
- Top 10 UnRetirement Benefits. UnRetire Yourself
- Why retirees are unretiring — and no, it’s not only for the money- Mary Wisniewski, 22 February, 2019
- Goodbye Early Retirement, Hello Early Unretirement- Chris Farrell, 18 September, 2015
- HR Guidebook: All about employee lifecycle management- Lesley Lyons, 01 February, 2019
- No Time to Retire- redesigning work for our aging workforce- Jeff Schwartz, Kelly Monahan, Steve Hatfield, Siri Anderson, 07 December, 2018
