Protect Your Employees’ Retirement With a “Golden-Opportunity” Parachute - Betty Fisher, CMF
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Author: Betty Fisher, CMF
Source: The Human Resource Guide
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| Protect Your Employees’ Retirement |
| With a “Golden-Opportunity” Parachute |
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The spectrum of benefits for retirees and early-outs spans a broad range. At one end is the gold watch. This token of esteem lost its glitter long ago when retirees discovered they needed more than the time of day to sustain them in their so-called golden years. At the other extreme, the golden parachute. This is largess for the corporate elite, but its extravagance has also begun to level off due to closer shareholder scrutiny.
To span the great gap in-between with positive results, Career Strategy Associates, a full-service corporate outplacement specialist, offers an affordable benefit for companies seeking a soft and safe landing for their employees in retirement. Career Strategy Associates calls this its Golden-Opportunity Parachute.
Employers have struggled mightily for the last decade to prepare their workers for post-employment life with 401 (k) plans health plans, Medigap insurance, retirement-planning workshops and the like. Despite the best efforts by HR managers to alert employees to the importance of retirement planning, nearly three-quarters of Americans in all age groups still save money at rock-bottom levels. The average American family, say experts, has less than $20,000 saved for retirement – about six months’ worth of living expenses for people with a 30-year post-retirement life expectation.
That’s why millions of people are “un-retiring.” Approximately half of 65-year-olds are still in the workforce, 34% of retirees are reporting to new jobs the work-day after leaving old ones, and 17% of retirees are starting their own businesses.
These statistics may be heartening from a personal-fulfillment perspective, but they mask an alarming fact: Paychecks cover neither living expenses nor the marketplace value of “new” employees.
CSA incorporates its Golden-Opportunity Parachute in our three-option Senior Division program, “The Bridge to Retirement,” for people in the 50-to-65 age group, available through workshops or on a one-to-one-basis.
The Job Search Option trains your retirement-eligible employees in job skills for today and gives valuable advice on finding better-paying work so they can take advantage of demand for older workers, part-time and full-time, in this period of record-low unemployment.
The Entrepreneurship Option is for people who want to go into business for themselves. CSA specialists assist future business-owners to develop a business plan, assess funding needs, analyze the market, evaluate the competitive landscape and other requisites for a sustained and successful business operation.
Corporate sponsors testify that relatively small investments in self-help job-search programs have high payoffs. The programs offer important emotional benefits to long-time employees by providing the training and the tools to raise eligible employees’ confidence of their future in the marketplace. This translates to continuing financial benefits for them beyond the scope of corporate retirement packages.
Retirement – real retirement – constitutes the third option of our program. Candidates learn to allocate time for interests, hobbies, leisure, traveling, and volunteerism. They get advice on handling personal relationships, health, diet, and exercise -- all important segments in retirement planning. A retirement-living plan for former employees can be as important as a business plan for entrepreneurs.
CSA has seen over the years that a strong post-employment program that offers a safe and soft landing into retirement can make the difference between acceptance and rejection of retirement by eligible employees.
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