Retirement can mark the start of new career

Ticking clock doesn't signal end of useful working life. Photo / Greg Bowker

When Marie Hull-Brown retired at 60, she'd never held a job for more than five years.

The following year, realising she wasn't ready for full-time retirement, Hull-Brown started a new career with the Mental Health Foundation - which is still going strong, 22 years later.

"I 'retired' from the YWCA at 60 because you had to if you worked for certain organisations in those days," she says. "They had a retirement age."

After a year of doing what new retirees do - relaxing and travel - Hull-Brown met up with an old colleague and the pair decided to go job-hunting for a job-share position.

The plan was that they could work as well as take long holidays, with the one holding the fort while the other was away.

"I thought that was a wonderful idea and we went to an employment agency in Takapuna," she remembers.

"They almost laughed us out of the office." Hull-Brown still chuckles when she walks past that office.

Fortuitously, the pair saw the Mental Health Foundation job advertised. It involved running the resources and information centre and was suited to job sharing.

Hull-Brown had business dealings with the foundation years earlier and felt a natural affinity with the organisation.

In the early years of her "retirement" the job sharing worked well.

The role morphed over time towards helping older people after Hull-Brown was able to raise money for the foundation to do a survey of older people and their mental health.

These days she has a variety of roles, which includes sitting on several committees and boards and presenting a Vintage Years programme on Planet FM.

Given her age, Hull-Brown no longer works five days a week. Just four. She leaves her North Shore home at 6am to miss the traffic and returns home at 6pm on a good day. It's not hard to guess she loves her job.

Thanks to Hull-Brown and her colleagues, the Mental Health Foundation has a variety of resources for older people and produced a booklet for older workers, covering subjects such as whether working is the right choice for you and issues in the workplace. Details can be found here.

Unlike Hull-Brown, ANZ National employee Elizabeth August returned to her old employer, months after compulsory retirement. She was invited back. The business mourned August's experience - as do many companies with newly retired former staff.

She had worked for the former National Bank since 1959, rising to positions that in those days were exclusively for men. Not only did she have experience, but unlike many younger colleagues she offered stability.

"I was only off work for three to four weeks when I was asked to come back and help," says August.

"They were bringing in a new computer system and it required some people with experience. [Work] has been an ongoing thing ever since," says the 72-year-old, who is now an accounts reconciliation officer.

Some older people such as August return to work out of choice, although they admit the money is nice. For others it's a financial necessity.

But more and more workers are continuing because they simply can't afford to live on NZ Super, which after tax is $16,542 a year for a single person and $25,450 for a couple.

A recent survey done by the BBC in Britain found that 72 per cent of people still in work said they were worried they would not have enough funds for the retirement they wanted. Eight per cent of people said they didn't think they would ever retire.

August has both New Zealand Super and private superannuation, which combined give her a good retirement income.

"I just love my work. I love the people I work with and I love a good challenge. I will continue to work as long as the bank needs me."

Her job is relatively technology dependent, which means she needs to keep up.

"How do I keep up? We have basic training when they bring in new technology and then you just take it on board," she says.

"When you are used to working in that environment you take it on a lot more quickly than someone [who hasn't worked with technology] all their lives."

Although she works five days a week, August does take longer holidays than her colleagues, which her employers accommodate.

According to Department of Labour figures, by 2020 older workers (those over 55) are predicted to reach 600,000.

That's one in four of the workforce and doesn't include older people who work as volunteers. More than a few nonagenarians work in op shops and other volunteer positions.

Not all older workers will be in full-time employment. Some will wind down to part-time work.

Plenty of self-employed people work beyond retirement as well. One is Colin Addison, founder/director of Blase, a business which markets and supplies alternative health products to natural health practitioners and individual customers.

Addison may, at 74, be in his own words "past the use-by date as determined by retirement date", but is energetic enough to work more than 40 hours most weeks.

"I think retirement is self-limiting," he says.

"I believe each one of us has two ages, chronological and physical."

Addison says he feels more like 62 physically than the 74 chronological years he has under his belt.

One thing all those interviewed for this article commented on was that their income over and above NZ Super and private superannuation gives them financial freedom and opportunities they would not have otherwise.

In both Hull-Brown's and August's cases, that means being able to travel regularly.

August takes relatively adventurous holidays every year such as camel-back riding in Egypt and trekking up mountains in China - holidays she couldn't take as easily without the additional income from a day job.

Addison says he could have lived on NZ Super and his savings and is driven more because he enjoys the work and has a desire to help others.

One day he might take the world cruise and a few friends suggest he should be winding down. "I will do it in my own time," he says.

Working part-time may be an option in the future. But having been around for more than 20 years, Blase has hit one of those natural points where it is in expansion mode.

The Equal Employment Opportunities Trust has published a practical guide for employing older workers.

Tips include:

* Encourage job applications from older workers, consider different forms of flexible work arrangements including shorter weeks, extended leave and quality part-time work.

* Commit at the top of your organisation at chief executive and senior management level to ensure a business culture that values age and experience in the workforce.

* Equip managers and supervisors to enhance the performance of older workers through awareness training, career discussion tools and effective communication.

* Focus on performance, not age, to ensure workers have the skills, knowledge and motivation for the job and ensure your performance management system is flexible to cater for a diverse range of employees.

* Consult older employees about decisions that affect them and what would motivate them.

* Ensure your organisation has up-to-date skills, actively offer older workers appropriate training and ensure different learning styles are catered for.

* Redesign jobs to reduce demands such as risk of injury or burnout while retaining experience and consider older workers for mentoring or "buddy" systems, quality control or trouble-shooting roles.

* Offer phased retirement opportunities to extend the working lives of valued older employees.