Capable employees are at the heart of every successful organization. Their experience, skills, intuition, and ability add greatly to the overall success of the firm. Throughout an employee’s tenure, the company engages their talents and helps develop them for future challenges,

And yet, when faced with the natural evolution of retirement, those same organizations often ignore their responsibility to prepare employees for life after work. This leaves employees confused, frustrated, and disoriented.

Retirement is one of the most challenging times of life. There are many considerations such as living on a reduced income, creating a health and wellness strategy, examining relationships with family and friends, allocating personal time, and finding purpose, establishing living arrangement, and adopting and adapting to different social roles. Retirement is more than money!

Successful retirees report what’s important is to identify wants and needs, and plan for happiness and productivity. By creating a vision of a realistic retirement and building an action plan to achieve it, retirees proactive and energetically seek results.

But for many employees, this planning doesn’t happen automatically. Often employees facing retirement don’t know the questions to ask, or what a plan for success looks like. This is where employers can help.

When considering what assistance to provide employees prepare for life after work, here are several ‘best practices’:

– Offer workshops/webinars/lunch ‘n learns (i.e., invitations for both employees and their spouses/partners to attend)
– Provide books, articles, and online resources (i.e., CANNAV, with over 3,000 employees, commissioned articles on planning for the monthly employee newsletters.
– Offer one-on-one coaching with a fulfillment coach (i.e., Agency for Co-Operative Housing offered personalized coaching)
– Form a retirees’ social group, including inviting those nearing retirement to attend (i.e., Lincoln Electric Canada)

What’s the payoff for an organization?
– Improved engagement by employees knowing their firm is invested in their well-being and mental health
– Productivity increases due to less worry about life after work
– Helps build a stronger culture, and recipients become ambassadors to friends, family and acquaintances

There is life after work. The trick is to find and make certain to do it right! When an organization helps an employee smoothly transition to retirement, not only is there a sense of satisfaction, but the value-added service differentiates your organization from others. Caring for those facing retirement demonstrates leadership and a fulfillment of one’s corporate social responsibility.