A trend was emerging in my office during performance review time. When I asked employees who are winding down their career to retirement what their learning goals were, they didn’t have any, and seemed to be satisfied with that. They both said the same thing, “at this stage of my career, I’m not interested in taking on large new projects”. As a manager, I do not want people on my team who feel that they can just coast for the next few years until retirement. As a leader, how do you encourage a knowledge transfer from one generation to the other and engage employees close to retirement?
How can late stage employees affect my team?
As a population trend, late stage employees are becoming increasingly common in the work force – you probably have some on your team! More and more employees are extending their working lives.
The challenge for you as a leader is to make sure that these late stage employees maintain their engagement and productivity on your team, rather than become complacent because they feel that they have ‘earned their due’ and want to go on autopilot in to retirement.
One of the most profound things that I have heard about retirement is that “It’s not an age; It’s a financial number“. Each employee is unique and with the decrease in social security nets and employee sponsored pensions, the magical age at which a person will retire starts to become gray. People are also living longer, so not everyone is in a rush to leave when they feel that they have value.
So how do you achieve late stage employee engagement and motivate them to work past their retirement age? The biggest factors that you need to consider are the employee’s perceived ability to keep working and preferred retirement age.
Their perceived ability to keep working refers to their ability to keep going, feel engaged, and how much work is an extension of their lives.
The preferred retirement age is the magical number (either age or financial number) that an employee wants to reach in their head before they leave the workforce.
As a manager, you need to figure out what path each employee may be on so that you can adjust your approach. This can be a bit of a guessing game because you cannot ask when someone is planning on retiring, unless they have their retirement letter in hand and you need to buy them a cake.
The potential different pathways of a late state employee
Before we discuss the strategy to engage employees close to retirement, we need to highlight the various personal stages that a late stage employee may be in. You need to retain the great employees who believe that they still have something to offer by making them feel like they can keep going. Here are some personal views the late stage employee will be displaying:
Love work, might work forever
This is an employee who is happy to keep going well past a typical retirement age. They are a valued member of the team and engaged in continued learning. They likely rebuff any mention of retirement from a team member.
Gradual slow down, resource person
This employee is still contributing to the team as a resource person and gets a lot of joy from mentoring others.
Checked out, I’ve paid my dues
This staff member has one foot out the door because they have worked for years and are waiting for their magical retirement number. They have checked out and are not readily willing to entertain new ideas, changes to workflow, or process improvements.
Not retiring, and upset about it
This employee is not able to retire at their preferred retirement age – and is upset about it. They will likely be disengaged and not actively contributing to the team.
Exploring the different options of how to keep late stage employees engaged
What’s the best strategy for you to use to keep a late stage employee engaged in their current role and keep them checked in? Does a maintenance strategy work over a development opportunity? Here is what works – and where you shouldn’t waste your time.
Developmental Opportunities
These are opportunities for the employee to grow. Such examples would be promotions, seminars or trade fairs, and additional training or instruction on the job. This has been shown to be effective in retention and engagement of late stage employees.
The employees that work with this have a high perceived ability to keep working, and it is successful because they feel that they have something to keep contributing.
If you think about it, if you have been in the workforce for 30 plus years, you will want some new excitement to keep you going.
Utilization Practices
Task enrichment, additional duties, or retraining for a new position have had mixed success.
On one hand, there are some developmental opportunities for the employee. On the other hand, they have earned their stripes as subject matter experts in their field and retraining them for a different role or position may not be great for their perceived value to a company or passing on knowledge to others.
Maintenance Practices
This is a way to support the employee who may be starting to have ailments that require support from you as the employer. Compressed work weeks, ergonomic adjustments or plans, or adjustments to duties due to illness. These measures do not retain employees or keep them productive.
The staff who need this additional support from you have a low perceived ability to continue to work.
Accommodation
These are measures that are used to support an aging employee through a reduction of duties, demotion, exemption from night shifts, or additional leave. They are not successful in keeping an employee engaged or productive.
Putting it all together, the strategy to engage employees close to retirement
When you look at the two factors described above, the best way to strategy to engage an employee close to retirement is a mix of personal factors and what you are able to provide them as a leader to keep them engaged motivated.
The personal factor is the employee’s perceived pathway and view on what they can continue to offer the company. The best predictor of engagement is if they are still an active member of the team either leading projects or mentoring others.
The best strategy is to continue development for these staff members through meaningful learning and development opportunities. Do not make the mistake as a leader that these staff members will be gone soon and are not worth the investment. They still have more to offer and are an essential part of a balanced generational work place.
Read more here on how to lead using generational similarities rather than differences on your team.
Any accommodation to work schedule, assignments, or ergonomic considerations for late stage employees will not keep them at work any longer or keep them engaged.
How do you motivate late stage employees who are checked out?
What if an employee is disengaged and has one foot out the door? What about the employees who are upset that they need to continue to work due to a variety of reasons, but their friends are retiring?
Well, I will let you know my response to the employees that I mentioned earlier who said in their performance review that, “at this stage of my career, I’m not interested in taking on large new projects”.
I challenged them on that statement. I told them in a good-natured way that they still have more to offer AND if they really feel like they will be leaving soon, is there a dream project or skill that they want to have mastered before they retire? Essentially I ask them to dream again and think about any unfinished business. I also encouraged mentorship and ways that they can support the development of their peers.
I will be keeping my eye on them throughout the year, encouraging them to be participatory. Basically, I am not going to have someone coasting on my team because they think that they deserve a paycheck after working for so many years.
What if they are in the category of requiring accommodations?
If the employee requires an accommodation or a reduction of work due to illness or personal circumstances, you do have a requirement as an employer to offer it. You may also have to adjust their work volume if they are on a reduced work schedule. You are still entitled to your expectation that they show up and produce good quality work and keep up with their adjusted work volume. Set goals with the individual that they have to regularly check in with the employee on their progress.
It is also an expectation that they have a good attitude and are not there to just take up a seat. If you find that this may be happening, ensure that you discuss it with them and let them know that their regular contribution is required and keep a close eye on them. You want to ensure that they do not become a toxic employee on the team.
Essentially you want to focus your energy as a leader on developmental opportunities to engage employees close to retirement. If you treat them well and with respect, they could be able to stay in the work force and be productive well past a required age goal post.