Engaging retirement-eligible employees could help keep some retirement eligible employees on the job longer, the Merit Systems Protection Board has said.
It said that with one-third of the federal workforce estimated to retire in the next five to 10 years, agencies may want to consider augmenting recruitment efforts by working to improve or sustain the connections older employees have with their organizations, colleagues, or supervisors and managers.
MSPB is studying the relationship between engagement and employees’ intention to leave agencies in a 12 month-window and it said retirement-eligible employees who are engaged have less intention to leave their agencies.
For example, over half of the retirement-eligible employees who said they were very unlikely to leave their agency reported being engaged, according to MSPB.
On the other hand, it said that less than one-third of retirement-eligible employees who said they were very likely to leave their agency reported being engaged.
MSPB recommends maintaining a focus on the fit between a person and a job, effectively managing employee performance, embracing a competency-based approach to managing employees, and selecting first-level supervisors based on their supervisory-related abilities or potential.
