Offering Semi-Retirement to Workers Could Slow Turnover

Offering Semi-Retirement to Workers Could Slow Turnover

 Offering Semi-Retirement to Workers Could Slow Turnover

Retiring Employees Expected to Account for 28% of Office Exits

With employee turnover showing no signs of slowing down, offering older workers a chance to delay full retirement may help slow the exodus—even if only momentarily.

This is according to a survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals.

Retiring employees are expected to account for 28% of turnover in 2023, with U.S. hiring managers reporting among those at their company who retired in the past two years, most commonly 60 years of age or older (79%).

However, in an effort to postpone the time of retirement for employees, some have chosen to offer “semi-retirement,” which allows employees to reduce their hours and/or make a flexible schedule (30%).

Employees appear to take advantage of this offering, as nearly 3 in 5 hiring managers whose company offers semi-retirement say the number of employees choosing to semi-retire has remained the same over the past two years (59%) and nearly 2 in 5 reporting the number of those semi-retiring has actually increased (37%).

Given the contribution of retirement to companies’ turnover, it may be wise for more companies to offer semi-retirement in the hopes of retaining members of their workforce.

As baby boomers continue to age and consider retirement, the labor shortage is only going to get worse, according to Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller.

“Semi-retirement is one solution to allow experienced workers time to train their successors, ensuring a seamless knowledge transfer and business continuity,” he said.

Survey Methodology

The Job Insights survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, 2022, among 1,002 U.S. hiring decision-makers (defined as adults ages 18+ in the U.S. who are employed full-time or self-employed, work at companies with more than one employee, and have full/significant involvement in hiring decisions at their company). Data were weighted where necessary by company size to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 3.2 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. 

***

The Irvine Express office is located at 13700 Alton Parkway, Suite 156 Irvine, CA 92618 and serves the Irvine, Tustin, Lake Forest, Foothill Ranch, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita marketplace. Local businesses and applicants are encouraged to get in touch at their convenience. Call 949.583.7400 or visit www.expresspros.com/irvineca/.