Sun, Dec 18, 2016 page15

• Firms tapping the skills of recently retired personnel

  • By Christopher Farrell / NY Times News Service
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  Call them boomerang retirees: people who exit gracefully after their career at a company, then return shortly afterward to work there part time.

  More and more companies are establishing formal programs to facilitate this for reasons that benefit the employer and the retiree. Leaving a satisfying job cold-turkey for a life of leisure can be an abrupt jolt to people accustomed to feeling purposeful, earning money and enjoying their colleagues. From the corporate perspective, it is useful to have experienced hands who can train younger people, pass along institutional wisdom and work with fewer strings attached.

  “People in the US define themselves by their work and they like their co-workers,” said Roselyn Feinsod, senior partner in the retirement practice at the human resources firm Aon Hewitt, the human resources consultancy.

  Thus, unlike many retirees from past generations, people from the blue-collar and white-collar sectors are more eager to retain ties to the familiar working world that they enjoyed (and sometimes loathed).

  Mark Keefe, who spent his career as a human resources manager at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey, retired in 2014, when he was 66. Since his wife still worked, he took on household chores and cooked evening meals.

  “It was really a time to relax,” he said.

  However, the company that owns Overlook, Atlantic Health Systems of Morristown, New Jersey, is among the growing ranks of employers that sponsor a formal program to invite retirees back into the workforce, for no more than 1,000 hours per year.

  The company’s Alumni Club — formerly known as the 1,000 Hour Club — was established in 2006, and about 300 Atlantic Health retirees are on the company’s payroll in various capacities.

  “They’re engaged employees; they’re productive,”Atlantic Systems corporate human resources manager Lesley Meyer said. “They’re a stable talent pool.”

  Starting in March last year, Keefe began putting on a suit and tie and returning to work every Wednesday. He taps his human resources experience to counsel employees who are nearing retirement about benefit packages.

  The soon-to-be-retired always have plenty of questions and Keefe enjoys offering them information and guidance, including insights gleaned from his own experience.

  “I look at it this way: I have a six-day weekend,” he said. “I love it.”

  Most boomerang retirees return to work after an informal negotiation with a former boss. Programs like the one at Atlantic Systems are still relatively rare — about 8 percent of the 463 companies surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management last year had one — but they are on the rise.

  They are also tricky to run: Establishing a boomerang retiree program involves a substantial commitment of resources, including systems for navigating complex labor market rules and pension law. Most returning retirees must wait several months before they can come back, and are often limited to 1,000 hours per year. Companies are increasingly turning to outside staffing firms to manage the nuts and bolts.

  Beulah Webb, 59, retired in December last year after working 30 years on various assembly line jobs at Michelin North America’s rubber mixing facility in Sandy Springs, South Carolina. Through the tire manufacturer’s 11-year-old Returning Retiree Employee program, she puts in about 30 hours per week as a facility training manager.

  “I gained a lot of knowledge here at Michelin and I like imparting knowledge,” said Webb, whose retirement also involves spending time with her three-year-old grandson and rooting for her beloved Clemson Tigers football team.

  “The expertise I gained while employed at Michelin, I’m passing on to new employees,” she said.

  The public sector also has its boomerangs. California and many US states offer public employee retirees the opportunity to come back part time. The US government has recently been rolling out a phased retirement program; workers can cut back on their hours and continue to earn additional retirement benefits.

  Human resource professionals predict that the number of boomerang retiree programs will expand, especially among larger companies with deep pockets. Older workers are the largest collection of talent on payroll, a deep well of skill to tap at a time when management routinely complains about skill shortages. The talents of recent retirees are well-known to managers, while former employees are comfortable with an organization’s culture.

  “It’s definitely a trend,” said Nina Ramsey, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Kelly Services, a temporary staffing agency. “We know in many industries there are more opportunities than there is talent.”

  Perhaps most important, management realizes that the biggest value of boomerangs lies in teaching the formal and informal ropes of the business to newer generations of workers.

  “New talent needs to be mentored as they come in the door,” Ramsay said. “Previous employees mentor incoming employees.”
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