“Rewire them, don’t retire them!” a CEO screeches as he concludes a meeting where the hot topic was “what to do with employees that are at or close to retirement age.” Each day, more and more older workers are faced with the decision to continue working – some by choice and others by necessity. With retirement funds dwindling and in many cases, non-existent, older workers are putting retirement on the back burner and others are looking for an outlet to stay busy and be of value. As a result, more and more companies are looking for ways to rewire those employees into roles that will leverage their knowledge.
Let’s take a look at the case of Ira Charak who at the age of 74 spends three days a week at Argonne, helping to prepare safety-related documents on behalf of the lab for the Department of Energy.
Charak started working at Argonne in 1958 but soon left to join the Army and then work in private industry. He returned to the laboratory in 1962 and stayed on for four decades. He worked on several nuclear reactors and assisted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the licensing of commercial reactors following the accident at Three Mile Island. He retired in 2003.
Charak currently volunteers as a tax preparer for low-income elderly people and works for Argonne on a part-time basis. He is helping to complete the paperwork to decommission some of the laboratory’s old and outdated nuclear facilities.
“It feels good to be occupied again,” he said. “I was never one to sit around and get lazy.”
Just like Argonne, many companies are not only tapping into the wealth of resources and knowledge seasoned or already retired workers bring, but also working towards rewiring them into trainer, career coach and subject matter expert roles. With companies doing business on a global scale, having these skilled workers as a resource, will be in many cases, instrumental to the business. It’s almost like having internal consultants that are fully committed to the success and future of the business.
Today, many baby boomers hold high profile positions. Companies need to ensure that their wealth of knowledge does not walk out the door as they retire, without first capturing or transferring that experience. I envision that many companies will begin to utilize them as a resource to reduce the knowledge gap of newly hired and fresh out of school workers.
I am truly pleased to see companies like Argonne respecting and valuing the wisdom and experience and offering these older workers a renewed sense of purpose. As a result of the current economic downturn this is a trend we will and should continue to see in years to come.
Rewire, Don’t Retire by Jackie Torres
