Working in Retirement

Source: Families and Work Institute

Working in Retirement: A 21st Century Phenomenon

Until recently, most of us considered retirement to be a phase of life more or less devoted to a combination of unpaid activities, including volunteering, caring for family members, taking care of ourselves and enjoying leisure time. Working during retirement used to be considered to an oxymoron. Yet, as growing numbers of workers continue to work for pay during their socalled “retirement,” this is no longer the case.

Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College partnered to explore the implications of this growing phenomenon—for both employees and employers. Focusing on workers aged 50 and older, we examine what it means to be working in retirement and how employers might best meet the needs of older workers, to the advantage of workers and the employers themselves.
Key findings include:
• One in five workers aged 50 and older has a retirement job today; 75% of workers aged 50 and older expect to have retirement jobs in the future.
• People work in retirement for a variety of reasons, including the opportunity to earn more money for a comfortable retirement and because they would be bored if they weren’t working.
• Those working in retirement are highly satisfied and engaged in their work.
• Using a number of critical indicators of workplace effectiveness, those working in retirement rate their workplaces more positively than those not yet retired.
• A significant number of employees transition to self employment for their retirement job.
• While those working in retirement work fewer hours, on average, than those not yet retired, the majority of working retirees report working full time and wanting to work the same or more hours.

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