PLANSPONSOR - September 2017 - 23

Sponsors
Must Actively
Manage
The Aging
Work Force
" PEOPLE are
living
longer
than at
any other time in history, " observes
Catherine Collinson, CEO and president
of Transamerica Institute and its
Transamerica Center for Retirement
Studies. " It's hardly surprising that
many workers envision working past age
65, and some do not plan to retire at all. "
" All About Retirement: An Employer
Survey, " a report by Collinson, delves
into the sensitive topic of managing the
average age of a work force.
From a big-picture perspective, the
findings show both a positive and negative
outlook for U.S. retirement plans.
In a national survey of U.S. business
employers and workers regarding their
attitudes toward retirement, nearly seven
in 10 plan sponsors said they believe
most employees at their company could
work until age 65 and still not save
enough to meet their retirement needs.
The data shows fully 72% of
employers agree with the statement,
" Many employees at my company expect
to work past age 65 or do not plan to
retire, " including 24% who " strongly
agree " and 48% who " somewhat agree. "
" Almost half of employers say that
many of their employees envision a phased
transition that involves reducing hours
and/or working in a different capacity, " she
explains. " Forty-four percent of employers
believe that many workers envision
working as long as possible in their current
or similar position until they can't work
anymore. Only 35% of employers believe
that many employees envision a planned
stop-that is, when they reach a certain
age or savings amount. "
The research goes on to warn
that some seeming discrepancies exist
between how employees and employers
view this concept of phased retirement.
" Despite employers' recognition
that many of their employees envision
a flexible or phased transition into
retirement, few have actual programs
in place to support them, " Collinson
observes. " Only 39% of employers offer
flexible schedules. Even fewer enable
their employees to shift from full time to
part time or to take on positions that are
less stressful or demanding. Moreover,
employers are missing an opportunity to
ensure smoother transitions when their
employees do retire. "
In the end, only 27% of employers
today encourage employees to participate
in succession planning, training and
mentoring, Transamerica learned. Given
all these findings, Collinson says, it is
only natural that there could be concerns
about older workers complaining of
ageism, especially with so many planning
to work past age 65 and to delay full
retirement. As a result, many employers
are making a good faith effort to establish
reasonable policies in this area.
-John Manganaro
Four out of Five Employers Support Employees Working Past 65
Eighty-one percent of employers agree with the statement: " My company is supportive of its employees
working past age 65, " including 41% that " strongly agree " and 40% that " somewhat agree. " The level of overall
agreement is fairly consistent across company sizes. However, employers/plan sponsors at small companies
are slightly more likely to " strongly agree " (41%) than at medium (36%) and large companies (39%).
n Strongly agree n Somewhat agree n Somewhat disagree n Strongly disagree
7%
6%
12%
All
Employers
40%
41%
41%
Small
12%
41%
Medium
45%
37%
11%
36%
Large
8%
17%
39%
7%
Source: Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies
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