By: FEDweek StaffMost employers consider their workplaces to be aging-friendly but only about a third actively help workers phase into retirement with benefits such as accommodating flexible working schedules and arrangements and allowing them to shift from full-time to part-time work, according to a report that while focusing on the American workforce as a whole also examined issues arising in the federal workforce, as well..
A white paper from the TransAmerica Center for Retirement Studies found that less than a third of employers offer those accommodations while only a fifth take steps such as enabling employees to take jobs that are less physically demanding or encouraging them to participate in transition planning. And only a tenth offer retirement-oriented lifestyle and transition planning resources or information about “encore” career opportunities.
Also, only a quarter of employers specifically include age among the demographic characteristics in their diversity and inclusiveness policies and only another quarter plan to do so.
“In reality, many employers may not be as aging-friendly as they think they are,” it said. It said that more than half of retirees say they ended up retiring sooner than they had expected, and among those, more than half cited job-related issues including general unhappiness.
The federal government does offer a phased retirement program but in practice it has been little-used and OPM recently admonished agencies about giving employees incorrect information, including incorrect benefits estimates, about the program.
