Reluctance to Retire

A study of academic physicians in a teaching hospital showed that their self-identity, their self-worth, was so connected to their job that they actually had great anxiety and even depression when it came time to retire.* The culture of the organization was that work came before family, before friends, and that advancement in that job was most important in their lives. When you think about your later career life and retirement, do you feel the same way these physicians feel?

They felt that they would die on the job, that the job was too important to leave for others to do it. The physicians hadn't really planned for retirement; they hadn't saved money for it nor had they thought how they might spend their time having never had time to cultivate a hobby. It was ingrained in them by the hospital organization that work was more important than family so much so that they didn't see how younger generations would succeed when the younger physicians put a greater emphasis on non-work activities than the older ones had ever contemplated. Younger ones were considered lazy and uncommitted, which added to the older generation’s fear of retiring and leaving the organization in the hands of less qualified people. Meantime, the hospital, despite having created the reluctance to retire culture, felt that older physicians needed to retire in order to renew and refresh the work force.

I think this points to a need to greater enhance the transitional process from employment to retirement. Employees need a way to step down slowly from full time employment to full time retirement. Of course, I still believe that you should work as long as you want to work, but I think it's possible, maybe good, to move from a stressful all-encompassing job to a less stressful job. As I've said before you can volunteer, become a mentor, try something you've always been passionate about. Think about what you want your later career and retirement to look like, and make a plan.

* Reluctance to Retire: A Qualitative Study on Work Identity, Intergenerational Conflict, and Retirement in Academic Medicine by Michelle Pannor Silver, BA, BS, MPP, PhD and Sarah A. Williams, MA. The Gerontologist, advance article published online September 2016.