Navigating the Uncertain Terrain of the New Retirement Workscape

By Cameron Klapwyk

We need to update how we view retirement to better respond to the hopes, anxieties and motivations of those who seek post-retirement work options

My 60-year-old father is set to sell his small business at the end of the year. His plan is to consult with the new owner of the business for two years and then retire. When I asked him what he plans to do with all of his free time after retiring he replied, “Honestly I have no idea. I’m a little worried about what my life will look like without work in it.”

For many considering retirement, anxieties revolve around life-savings. How much is enough? How long should I expect to live after retirement? Have I properly calculated my cost of living? As such, financial advisors are traditionally the primary source of counsel for those considering retirement. This article argues that career professionals need to be brought into the retirement planning process as well. It will explore the ways in which retirement and work are no longer mutually exclusive as an increasing number of Canadian retirees are seeking employment options. And while their motivations are as diverse as their job roles, it is imperative that well-rounded career professionals understand how to serve the needs of this emergent demographic. More than just counting dollars and cents, future retirement strategies will increasingly be about finding work arrangements that make sense.

For many considering retirement, anxieties revolve around life-savings. How much is enough? How long should I expect to live after retirement? Have I properly calculated my cost of living? As such, financial advisors are traditionally the primary source of counsel for those considering retirement. This article argues that career professionals need to be brought into the retirement planning process as well. It will explore the ways in which retirement and work are no longer mutually exclusive as an increasing number of Canadian retirees are seeking employment options. And while their motivations are as diverse as their job roles, it is imperative that well-rounded career professionals understand how to serve the needs of this emergent demographic. More than just counting dollars and cents, future retirement strategies will increasingly be about finding work arrangements that make sense.

Prior to the 20th century, very few Canadians enjoyed the luxury of retirement. When the Old Age Pensions Act was passed in 1927, the age of eligibility was 70 and life expectancy was just over 60. It was not until 1968 that Old Age Security eligibility was lowered to 65. At that time, few Canadians enjoyed more than five years of retirement. Today, some Canadians can expect to spend a quarter of their lives in retirement! It is clear that the legacy of retirement policy nearly half a century old has established an expectation that by age 65 we ought to be retired. This expectation remains unabated despite significant demographic shifts.

Traditionally, retirement has been associated with leisure. The term retirement is literally defined by Webster’s Dictionary as the act of ending your working or professional career. But as early as 1986, psychologists proposed that we begin to think about retirement as a process rather than a singular event. For each retiree this process looks different, but it’s instructive to note that at present, more than 650,000 Canadians over the age of 65 work in paying jobs. This is more than double the number in the same situation 10 years ago. And a 2012 CIBC poll found that over half of Canadians in their 50s plan to keep on working after they retire in their 60s. We need to reconfigure our thinking on retirement. In doing so we will better be able to respond to the hopes, anxieties and motivations of those who seek post-retirement work options.

So what does this “new retirement” look like? For many, it involves what organizational psychologist Kenneth Schultz refers to as bridge employment. This early period of retirement marks a transition between an individual’s career job and their complete workforce withdrawal. A 2010 collaboration study between the Families and Work Institute and The Sloan Center on Aging and Work found that individuals who work in retirement, “seek out jobs that meet their needs and preferences, most notably a climate of respect, work-fit, supervisor task support and learning opportunities.” They add that self-employment is also an attractive option for working retirees, particularly those unable to find a flexible and suitable workplace. Further research suggests that those who have spent their lives in physically demanding jobs are more apt to want to leave the workforce altogether, while those whose role involved more knowledge-based work will often continue working in a field where they can apply transferable experience. Others, as they approach retirement age, find themselves being nudged out of their career role because, as current Finance Minister Bill Morneau stated in The Real Retirement, “they literally price themselves out of their jobs when their vacation entitlement benefits, and cash compensation grow faster than their productivity at a certain stage in their careers.”

The trend to stay in the workforce later in life is influenced by both financial and psychological needs and desires. As life expectancies continue to increase, many individuals are healthy enough to work well past the age of 65. Some desire to continue occupying work roles that have always imbued their life with meaning. Many others simply cannot afford to quit working full-stop.

An excellent 2014 study, Work in Retirement: Myths and Motivations, conducted by Merrill Lynch in partnership with consultancy Age Wave, explores a phenomenon termed “the new retirement workscape” and argues that that retirement can be divided into four distinct phases: pre-retirement, career intermission, re-engagement and leisure. About half of the retirees surveyed in the study took a break between retirement and re-engagement with the world of work: career intermission. While this break, which averaged about 29 months allowed for psychological benefits as the individual explores next steps, the passing of time made re-entry into the workforce more difficult.

Work in Retirement classified working retirees into four categories. An understanding of the dynamics of each of these categories is useful for career professionals working with pre-retirement clients considering future employment options. The table below explores the motivations, work attitudes and career guidance strategies for each of these client categories.

Each of these groups has distinctly unique motivations for re-entering the workforce post-retirement. As a result, career counsellors working with clients considering their retirement options need to be intentional about holistically responding to the various factors that will influence their client’s decision-making process. These include, but are not limited to:

a. Relationship commitments
b. Physical and mental health
c. Housing and transportation needs
d. Education and training needs
e. Past experience and transferable skills
f. Desire for leisure
g. Ability to job search in current job market
h. Strength with technology

Many clients nearing retirement are fixated on their age, and not without reason given that ageism is prevalent in what Peter Drucker has referred to as “the knowledge society.” Career professionals should employ a strengths-based approach that does not allow clients to fixate on their shortcomings, limitations and worries. The brave new world of the retirement workscape can be a daunting place, and it is one that should not be explored alone.

Cameron Klapwyk is a Career Management Consultant with Career Aviators in Guelph, ON. He is currently completing the Career Development Practitioner program at Conestoga College. Klapwyk’s previous work experience includes non-profit marketing and refugee settlement.