The Importance of Bridge Jobs in America Today

Gradual retirement, consisting of phased retirement, bridge employment, and reentry, has been a persistent feature of older Americans’ work decisions for decades. This persistence is remarkable in light of the many changes to the retirement landscape that have taken place since the mid-1980s, including changes to Social Security incentives, private-sector pensions, and macroeconomic volatility. Our paper addresses two topics related to these retirement transitions. First, using 26 years of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we quantify the prevalence of bridge employment among the initial group of HRS respondents. For the first time, bridge job prevalence can be calculated for a large cohort of older Americans who have completed their retirement transitions. Second, we comment on what these findings mean for policymakers, with respect to income inequality later in life, barriers to retirement pathways, and public-private sector differences, and what role public employers might be able to play.

How Are Employers Responding to an Aging Workforce?

The American population is aging and changes in the population’s age structure are leading to an aging of the nation’s workforce. In addition, changes to age-specific participation rates are exacerbating the aging of the national labor force. An important challenge for firms and organizations is how does workforce aging affect labor costs, productivity, and the sustainability of the organization. This article examines employer responses to workforce aging, including changes to retirement policies, modification in working conditions, adoption of phased retirement plans, and reforming other employee benefits.

Providing informal care next to paid work: explaining care-giving gratification, burden and stress among older workers

With an increasing retirement age, more older adults are combining employment with informal care-giving responsibilities. However, little is known about how older workers experience care-giving activities next to their paid jobs. This study aims to fill this gap by examining how the work situation (i.e. working hours, occupational status and perceived access to human resources practices) is associated with feelings of gratification, burden and stress in care-giving. Using data from the NIDI Pension Panel Survey, we study care-giving experiences – in other words, the extent to which care-giving activities are gratifying, burdensome or stressful – of 1,651 Dutch older workers (age 60–65) who provide care at least once per week. Multivariate analyses reveal that the work situation plays an explanatory role next to socio-demographic factors and indicators of the care-giving situation. Working care-givers who feel they have access to phased retirement and organisational health support experience care-giving as relatively less burdensome and stressful. Moreover, those with access to phased retirement experience relatively higher levels of gratification in care-giving. Our findings suggest that the availability of organisational support relates to lower levels of care-giving burden and stress, and to some extent to higher levels of gratification. Organisations thus play an important role in facilitating the combination of work and care-giving obligations in a context of longer working lives.

PHASED RETIREMENT IN OLDER AMERICAN WORKERS

Older workers are engaging in “phased retirement” in which they transition from full-time working status to part-time working and eventually retire at a later age. This study investigated whether phased retirement was financially and psychologically beneficial for middle-aged and older adults in the United States. The current study examined data on financial and psychological well-being and retirement transitions (i.e., immediate retirement and phased retirement) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) at two time points, four years apart. We analyzed 5,106 middle-aged and older adults from the 2010 and 2014 waves of the HRS data set using chi-square and one-way analysis of variance tests. Our results showed that 66.8% of respondents remained full-time working, while 12.7% of respondents chose phased retirement and 15.2% of respondents jumped straight into retirement. Our findings suggest that phased retirement is beneficial for older Americans financially and psychologically. Specifically, the level of total household financial wealth was significantly higher for those who chose phased retirement than immediate retirees from workforce. In terms of psychological perspectives, immediate retirees experienced more depressive symptoms than those who chose phased retirement. Our findings could help individuals and households to be better equipped when preparing for retirement. Our findings could also provide a basis for further research into phased retirement and its impact on well-being in middle-aged and older Americans. Furthermore, policymakers could be better informed about retirement trends and create policies based on our findings to better help older individuals and households be financially and psychologically prepared for retirement.

A Case of Phased Retirement in Sweden

Gradual retirement has become more common, yet previous research has neglected to study managerial and organisational aspects of phased retirement. Based upon ten interviews, it was found that, when managed successfully, phased retirement is beneficial for both the individual and the organisation. The organisation can successfully transfer knowledge between employees, while the individuals enhance their well-being and obtain a better balance between work and leisure. However, in order for both the organisation and the individual to benefit from phased retirement, managerial action and planning is required.

A Case of Phased Retirement in Sweden

Gradual retirement has become more common, yet previous research has neglected to study managerial and organisational aspects of phased retirement. Based upon ten interviews, it was found that, when managed successfully, phased retirement is beneficial for both the individual and the organisation. The organisation can successfully transfer knowledge between employees, while the individuals enhance their well-being and obtain a better balance between work and leisure. However, in order for both the organisation and the individual to benefit from phased retirement, managerial action and planning is required.

Retirement in the Post-Revocation Context at One Canadian University: Experiences of Phasing and Delaying

This research study is a phenomenological exploration of academics from one Canadian university who either are participating in a phased retirement program or have delayed their retirement beyond the normal retirement age of 65. It is based on face-to-face interviews with 24 professors, male and female, between the ages of 55 and 69, from an array of disciplines. The results indicate that teaching may be a primary reason why academics choose to retire, that female academics seem to align their retirement plans with those of their partners, and that academics who postpone their retirement feel as though they possess a significant amount of respect within their fields. Since this research is based upon a small sample, it provides a starting point for future research studies, particularly concerning how gender affects the issue of academic retirement.