More Q-C seniors stay on the payroll
For many Quad-City seniors, the days of retiring with a gold watch and a pension to a life of leisure have disappeared.
Instead, Baby Boomers — and even those who are older — are staying longer in the work force. Some are working in their careers well past the traditional retirement age, while others are switching jobs for less stressful work or something altogether new. Even others get a taste of retirement, but then — for any number of reasons — find themselves back earning a paycheck.
“Many are looking at the fact that they may have 30 years of retirement,” said Connie Benton Wolfe, the chief executive officer of CASI, or Center for Active Seniors Inc., Davenport. “Sometimes they’ve made the choice (to retire early) or were encouraged to leave their primary job. Some leave and think ‘this is OK’ and then reality hits.”
She said some retirees discover life in the slow lane is not for them. For others, working may not be a choice but a reality dictated by a changing financial situation.
In fact, a 2007 study by AARP shows that eight out of 10 boomers, or 79 percent, expect to work in retirement. The “Divided We Fail: Older Workers” report also showed that 1-in-3 people in the U.S. labor force will be age 50 and older by 2014. In addition, nearly half of pre-retirees — those ages 50 to 70 — who expect to work past normal retirement age plan to work in a job different from their current employment.
Rising costs for everything from groceries to gasoline to health insurance have many seniors reassessing their retirement plan, said Catherine Pratscher-Woods, the service
and contracts manager at
Generations Area Agency on Aging,
Davenport.
“With the dropping stock market, some thought they’d be OK financially. But now they see it’s going to be difficult and they want to come out of retirement.”
A change in circumstances — the death of a spouse, a divorce or a medical catastrophe — also can alter plans, said Pratscher-Woods, who helps seniors from all walks of life find employment through the agency’s Senior Internship Program, which serves eight Iowa counties. For those 55 and older who meet income qualifications, the program helps place them in internships with social service agencies.
“Some of them may have not worked for a number of years, or they are underemployed and want to get some job training,” she said. “The goal is they leave the program in two years or less and either get hired by the agency or they keep job searching and find another job.”
According to the AARP report, the major factors in the decision to work in retirement include:
n Need the money (22 percent)
n Need the health benefits (17 percent)
n Need to stay mentally active (15 percent)
n Need to be productive or useful (14 percent)
Now a spry 72, Joy Andrews retired at 57½ in 1993 after 38 years with AT&T, Davenport. Having worked as the long distance manager, she said she could have retired comfortably. But in 1998 she began working with Listen To Me Read, a CASI program that sends senior citizens into Scott County schools to read one-on-one with children. Not long after she became the program’s volunteer coordinator. She continues to work 30 hours a week — about three days — coordinating the schedules of 50 senior volunteers.
“Several of my friends say ‘why are you still working?’ But I have to keep my mind sharp,” said Andrews, of Bettendorf. “It gives me a reason to get up in the
morning, get dressed and go
somewhere.”
CASI social worker Barbara Dean, who is 70 herself, knows firsthand from her clients the importance of keeping sharp. “I look at so many people who say ‘I’m retired’ — but there’s no activity (there.)”
“Financially, I think I would have to work,” said Dean, who has spent decades working with the poor, the homeless and those with addictions. “As long as the Lord allows and I’m needed, I’m going to stay working. But I don’t want to be ‘put up with.’ Anytime I’m not hitting on what I should, don’t put up with me.”
Alethea Thomas, who works as a program facilitator in CASI’s adult day center and helps other seniors participate in activities, says her job “keeps her young.” At 67, she, too, could be retired, but “I choose not to,” she said.
Though realistically she needs to work, she added “I do like it too. I’d be bored if I was just at home. I’ll know when the time comes (to retire).”
For 69-year-old Sandy Glowacki, that time has come — again. After working 8½ years in St. Ambrose University’s registrar office and 8½ years in a church office before that, she found the perfect situation about five years ago when a friend asked her to share a fitness assistant job at CASI.
Four women have shared the job, covering all the hours that CASI’s fitness center is open. While it has only amounted to nine or 10 hours a week, Glowacki said “it’s still a commitment” and the time has come to be completely free to spend time with her family.
Wolfe, the agency’s CEO, said seniors’ presence and their comfort with flexible hours, job sharing and other changes actually could end up setting a new tone and new rules in the workplace for all workers. “Those are good things. We make things better for all workers because of how we’ve made things for older workers,” she added.
“If you open up policies so they fit better for older workers, it could be they fit better for working moms, or working dads who want to spend more time with their kids.”
Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.
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