This Retirement Trend Is Helping People Ease 'Financial Anxieties' and Avoid 'Loss of Purpose,' Workplace Expert Says Taking a nontraditional approach to retirement comes with several advantages.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- More than half (56%) of American workers believe they're behind on their retirement savings.
- Nowadays, it pays to consider alternative ways to retire.
When people talk about retirement, typically, they're referring to a linear path: Go as far as you can in your career, turn a certain age and leave the professional world for good. It might be the traditional model, but these days, it doesn't work for everyone — for several reasons.
More than half (56%) of American workers believe they're behind on their retirement savings, according to a recent Bankrate survey. Meanwhile, since the beginning of 2020, prices of everyday goods and services have increased about as much as they did in the full decade prior to the pandemic, per Bloomberg.
Related: This Is the Key to the Retiree Lifestyle You Want — and the Income You Need
Now more than ever before, it pays to consider alternative ways to approach retirement. And one of the latest workplace trends is helping people do just that: "Flex-tirement."
"Flex-tirement is a flexible work arrangement designed to ease the transition between full-time employment and retirement with flexible hours, reduced workloads and phased approaches to leaving the workforce," Jennifer Barnes, CEO of Optima Office and workplace hiring expert, tells BIZ Experiences.
Optima Office, which provides accounting and HR services on a part-time or hourly basis, has always offered flex-tirement and allowed its employees to work part-time, Barnes says — a decision that's given the company access to an "incredible talent pool that are near retirement or coming out of retirement to work part-time."
According to Barnes, the usual "one-size-fits-all approach" to retirement "often leaves retirees grappling with financial anxieties, identity shifts and a sudden loss of purpose." With a flex-tirement model, employees eyeing retirement can take a step back from their careers without giving them up altogether.
Optima Office currently has at least a dozen team members whom it considers "flex-retirees." They work between 12 and 20 hours a week, Barnes says, adding, "They are able to make their own schedule and spend time with grandkids but also give their many years of expertise to the companies that need them."
Related: The No. 1 State to Retire in Might Not Even Be on Your Radar, According to a New Report
To other leaders who might want to adopt the flex-tirement model for their own teams, Barnes suggests offering part-time roles to people in the older generation, starting with areas where you could use extra help the most, whether that's administrative work or the C-suite. "It's important to test sharpness and focus with all your high-level candidates and even more essential when recruiting mature candidates," she notes.
But above all, Barnes encourages leaders to "be open-minded" when considering adding members to their teams.
"You never know who you might find," she says. "Outside of flex-tirement, consider how many parents want a more gradual transition back from maternity leave or want to work part-time while their children are young."
