'It's out of date to think about a retirement age.' More Americans want to work into their 70s. Smart companies will find ways to work with them.

MW 'It's out of date to think about a retirement age.' More Americans want to work into their 70s. Smart companies will find ways to work with them.

By Richard Eisenberg

Many companies invest in early-career development but neglect retaining institutional knowledge at the other end of the career spectrum

Retailers get high marks from workplace experts for letting people work in retirement, often with flexible schedules

At a recent conference on longevity where dozens of experts discussed rethinking ways to develop and support talent across extended careers in an era of longer lives, there was one point everyone agreed on: Many older Americans want - or need - work to be part of their longer, healthier lives, including in retirement.

"We're likely going to work into our 70s or beyond, and work differently," said Martha Deevy, associate director of the Stanford Center on Longevity.

There are plenty of reasons. Americans are living longer than in the past; healthcare can be extremely expensive; the cost of food, housing and gas is high; and, perhaps most importantly, retirement security has become increasingly uneven amid widening wealth disparity. A recent Fidelity report touted a record number of 401(k) millionaires, but a median 401(k) balance of just $34,500. With private pensions vanishing, workers shoulder much of the responsibility for saving, but many - especially those at small businesses - lack access to 401(k) accounts. Some who are offered such plans struggle to save.

Read: When will you retire? Maybe never.

Planning for the new longevity?

Working past traditional retirement age, even if it's not in a traditional career, is something for which many of us are planning. That assumes employers let us keep working.

"I'm not sure that's quite on the radar" for companies, said Mark Kaestner, who is responsible for talent at Ball Corp. $(BALL)$, an aluminum-packaging company. Susan Kelliher, the former chief human-resources officer at chemical manufacturers Chemours $(CC)$ and Albemarle $(ALB)$, agreed. "Most companies don't really have a plan," she said.

'The majority of corporations are not set up yet to capture the full bounty of the workforce that could be there across all life stages.'Donna Morris, Walmart

Kristina Raner, executive director of the Age Equity Alliance group, which educates employers about the value of older workers, said: "Many workplace systems were built around this idea that people would work for about 40 years and then retire. Today, many people just don't want to, or they need to keep working longer. The structure hasn't fully caught up with the reality."

But as Walmart's $(WMT)$ chief people officer, Donna Morris, said in "The future is now," a report on work trends from the Sands Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and the Stanford Center on Longevity: "It's out of date to think about a retirement age. We know that's not a reality."

Employers in Australia, England, Germany and Spain have typically been doing more to hire older adults than those in the U.S., Raner said. Often, the foreign governments have led this push.

U.S. employers are decrying a talent shortage that the Korn Ferry consulting firm said could leave 85 million jobs unfilled and $8.5 trillion in lost revenues by 2030. But "the majority of corporations are not set up yet to capture the full bounty of the workforce that could be there across all life stages," Tracy Layney, former chief human resources officer at Levi Strauss and Shutterfly, said at the event, which was convened by the Longevity Project and the Stanford Center on Longevity

Many companies invest in early-career-talent development but neglect retaining institutional knowledge on the other side of the career spectrum. Demographically, the workforce is shrinking, so companies will need more reliable and seasoned workers. They can get them if they are willing to be flexible.

A few years ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic led some older workers to retire and created a talent drain, many businesses were forced to let employees do their jobs remotely or allow hybrid work, allowing staffers to adopt flexible schedules.

"COVID required all companies to think much more expansively about talent - how you get it, how you keep it," said Kelliher. "But unfortunately, the balance of power has shifted back and employers are pretty stuck in their ways."

What's in it for employers?

Some employers do get the new longevity paradigm - although it's generally retailers more than manufacturers or tech firms.

There's a strong financial incentive for employers to hire retirees part-time, said Anne Trumbore, lead author of The Future Is Now and chief digital learning officer at the Sands Institute. "Having employees who say, 'You know what? I have my health benefits covered, I'm on Medicare and want to work 15 hours a week' is actually quite attractive from a balance-sheet standpoint."

Which companies are letting older workers work?

Here are the types of companies hiring retirees and how they're doing it:

Some big retail chains like Walmart, Starbucks $(SBUX)$, Home Depot $(HD)$, and Kroger $(KR)$ get high marks from workplace experts for letting people work in retirement, often with flexible schedules.

"My sense is folks who work in retail are happy to have part-time employees who are older," said Trumbore.

Sometimes, that's because older adults are also their customers or understand them. "In 'The future is now,' we heard that Baby Gap $(GAP)$ loved hiring older people because the customers coming in were generally new parents or other grandparents," said Trumbore. "Walmart and Kroger also said their older workers can identify with some of their customers."

At Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, 13% of the workforce is over 60. The company's employees - known as associates - range in age from 16 to 100.

"We strive to be a great place to work at every stage of life," said a Walmart spokesperson. "We're especially thankful for our long-tenured associates who share their experience and demonstrate the importance of building meaningful relationships with customers, helping shape the next generation of associates."

A few manufacturers are looking to grow - especially globally.

Manufacturers have generally been slow to acknowledge the longevity trend because their shift patterns built around full-time workers have been around for decades. "By the nature of that shift pattern, you're excluding a lot of potential talent," Kaestner said.

But some are evolving. The 140-year-old Albemarle, for example, taps the knowledge of some of its older workers concluding their careers by helping the company make detailed specifications for aging plants. Documents and data these workers create would be hard to outsource, said Melissa Anderson, Albemarle's chief transformation officer.

The company also matches its employees entering their careers with the company's more experienced workers. "I think it's probably one of the highlights of their new-hire experience and onboarding. And those relationships tend to keep going," said Anderson.

Companies are looking to let older workers take gradual exits, phasing out their work hours. Kelliher said flexible-workplace strategies like gradual exits that pair early-career learners with later-stage employees who've reduced their hours can mitigate productivity loss and safety risks while backfilling roles. "The sage person knows the processes," she said.

Companies are bringing back retirees who formerly worked there full-time, known as boomeranging. Sometimes ex-employees ask to return; other times, the employers check to see if those workers would like to take on a project, gig, or part-time work.

"We do leverage folks that have retired and come back," said Ball Corp.'s Kaestner.

Albemarle boomerangs, too. "Those individuals know our operations really well," said Anderson.

A win-win for companies and workers

If these types of efforts were supported, they could make a real difference. There's an army of willing and experienced workers and companies looking for expertise in certain areas. Marrying these could solve problems for both. Retirees would get money and purpose with the hassles, commitment and responsibilities of a full-time job; employers get workers who don't want a career or need healthcare but who would like to use their brains and make money.

"The opportunity is really there for organizations to rethink their training and career-mobility models and be flexible across the entire lifespan so they can better position themselves and their own needs as a business," said Raner.

-Richard Eisenberg

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March 21, 2026 11:07 ET (15:07 GMT)

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