 Phased Retirement and Workplace Flexibility for Older AdultsRichard W. Johnson The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2011, vol. 638, issue 1, 68-85 Abstract: Phased retirement programs that allow older workers to reduce their hours and responsibilities and pursue more flexible work schedules could satisfy both the employee’s desire for flexibility and the employer’s need to maintain an experienced workforce. However, few employers have established formal programs, because they often complicate the provision of other benefits and might violate antidiscrimination rules. For example, federal laws limit retirement plan distributions to employees who are still working for the plan sponsor, which discourages phased retirement because few older workers can afford to reduce their work hours unless they can receive at least some retirement benefits. Many employers do not provide fringe benefits to part-time employees, and making exceptions for older workers could violate antidiscrimination rules. Federal laws requiring that benefits provided through tax-qualified plans be evenly distributed between highly compensated and lower-paid employees also complicate formal phased retirement programs. Reforming these policies could promote phased retirement. Keywords: older workers; phased retirement; pensions; age discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:638:y:2011:i:1:p:68-85 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |
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