Navigating Retirement: Busting the Five Myths – Part 1

A few years ago, the CEO of Daimler Benz, Dieter Zetsche, retired. Cheekily, their arch-rivals, BMW, put out an advertisement to honour the occasion. It showed Zetsche leaving the office on his last day, being lauded by many staff who came out to bid him farewell as he made his way out through the halls of the Benz head office, handing in his security tag at the front desk and much applause. Then a chauffeur drive to his home in a Benz of course. A final shake of the hands and a wave goodbye. Cut to the final scene where his garage door opens and out drives a liberated Zetsche in a bronze BMW i8 Roadster roof down and the tongue in cheek caption “Free at last.” But followed at the end with the more sincere, “Thank you, Dieter Zetsche, for so many years of inspiring competition.” The ad went viral. Benz responded a little later on twitter with “Thanks @BMW for the kind suggestion – but we’re 100% sure he already decided to #switchtoEQ 😉.”

What will your last day at the office be like? Will it be an opportunity to forget about the past and embrace a new future? When do you plan to retire? Will you have control over how and when? What will you do after retirement? How do you see your retirement years? Do you have a plan to make them the happiest and most fulfilling years of your life? As a leader or HR practitioner in your organization, what are you doing to prepare your staff well for this big transition in their lives? These are some of the questions we need to ask and work through as we think about navigating retirement well.

We begin by tackling the first of five of the myths about retirement.

Myth #1: Retirement is easy. It’s the ultimate vacation.

Perhaps, like Dieter Zetsche was portrayed in the BMW ad, you see retirement as an opportunity to be free at last. To put your feet up. Relax. Have some fun. Live without a care in the world. After all, you have worked hard all your life and you deserve it.

The reality is retirement is not as easy as people think. 9 out of 10 people actually fear ageing. But the good news is that if you navigate it well it can be the best years of your life. Today, more people need to rethink and reimagine retirement for a variety of reasons.

In their book, “The 100-Year Life,” authors Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott research and explore the implications of increased life expectancies based on advances in technology. They predict that 50% of babies born today in a modern world will live to the age of 100. As a result, they think that the typical 3 stage life of education, work and retirement will become a thing of the past. People will have to think and plan for multiple life-stages that are not necessarily linked with specific ages. They suggest that a “transition competency” will be a key skill for this future – how to manage transitions in one’s life well, including rethinking retirement and reinventing oneself.

In HR and Talent Management sadly we often do far too little if anything at all to prepare people well for this big transition. Retirement can easily be the 2^nd biggest transitions of one’s life – the biggest one is death and/or the death of a loved one. Sadly for many retirement is a kind of death that happens suddenly and unexpectedly even though there is a lot that can be done to navigate this transition well and to ensure that there is a meaningful and dignified “life” after the end of a career or a job.

As HR practitioners and organizational leaders, how are you preparing your people to combat this myth that retirement is easy? Do you see it as your last day with any responsibility in their lives, or are you willing to invest in them in the months and even years building up to this transition in a way that will prepare them well? Who knows, perhaps they will be able to give back to the organization in such a way that the relational and intellectual capital they have accumulated over many years can still be tapped into rather than getting lost when they leave.

At Xpand we have the experience and expertise to assist and support HR Practitioners and staff prepare well for this transition. If you have needs in this area, be sure to reach our to one of our consultants today.

This blog series is written by Gareth Stead.