The Benefits of Working Beyond Retirement Age

For many working people, retiring means something completely different than it did in years past. They do not envision trading their desk chair for a lounge chair and their cup of coffee for a pina colada simply because they have turned a certain age. Retirement is often viewed as a transition to a future in which they can selectively invest their time: Leaving a job they don’t enjoy for one they do.

There are many other reasons to work in our 60s and beyond. There are both physical and mental benefits associated with active engagement in work, particularly when it involves reporting to a workplace and interacting with others. Not to mention the fact that most people could use the extra money.

But older employees bring much more than professional competence, they bring life experience. Some positions are ideally suited for seasoned professionals who can offer both work and wisdom. From consultants to counselors, tutors to tour guides, retirement-age opportunities abound. And from a social standpoint, working beyond retirement age provides a much-needed sense of connection and purpose.

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Occupation as Identity

For many employees, their occupation provides a sense of identity. Consequently, to leave a profession is to leave a part of themselves behind; often an important part. Research reveals some of the ways employees can successfully balance professional and personal identity.

Shlomit Manor and Roy Holland (2022) explored the concept of occupation as identity in a piece aptly named “Retiring in a White Coat: Doctors Working after Retirement.”[i] They note that because occupation is a central component of identity, retirement, which represents a significant life change, affects how identity is re-established. They note that employees who continue to work after they retire are able to maintain both professional and retirement identity, which can ease the transition into a new stage of life.

Studying recently retired doctors, Manor and Holland found that by continuing to work, they were able to maintain their status as doctors, and the resulting feeling of still being needed preserved their self-image. They note that avoiding having to identify as “retired” preserves professional status and “hybrid identity.”

Beyond the impact on individuals, organizations benefit from employees working beyond retirement age because of the resources they can offer to younger employees, and to the company in general.

Older Employees as Brand Ambassadors

Some of the best brand ambassadors are employees who know the company best. This knowledge often requires time and experience. How do companies retain talented employees who have acquired this experience? Perhaps through how they craft “work.”

Philipp Wolfgang Lichtenthaler and Andrea Fischbach (2016) examined how job demands and motivation stimulate the decision to work beyond retirement age.[ii] They hypothesized that crafting jobs that were promotion-focused, such as increasing social and structural resources and challenging job demands, would have a positive relationship, while prevention-focused dynamics such as decreasing job demands would have a negative correlation to the desire to work past the official age of retirement.

Their research validated their hypotheses. Examining 229 employees with a mean age of 55.77, they found promotion-focused job crafting to be positively linked with a sense of coherence, which in turn predicted the motivation to work beyond the age of retirement. They recognize the practical implication of these findings as important because the continued employment of older employees is a necessary part of organizational functional capability.

The bottom line, both personally and professionally, is that retirement is no longer the finish line or the end of the story, but the beginning of an exciting new chapter in life.