Dive Brief:

• Employee Benefits News (EBN) reports that while many employers claim to be "aging-friendly," only 39% actually are. Employers claim they want to offer workers of all ages flexible work schedules, training and tools to perform their jobs, but fall short of the goal when older workers are involved, according to research by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.
• The study also shows that 72% of employers believe workers plan to work beyond age 65 and 27% cite organizational change, layoffs, termination or early-retirement incentives as the reason older workers retire.
• Only 27% of employers encourage older workers to participate in success-planning, mentoring or training programs before retiring. 

Dive Insight:

The stigma of aging might be keeping employers from helping older workers ease into retirement. Stereotypes about groups of all ages (such as millennials being job-hoppers and older workers being unable to keep up with work demands) drive some decisions that aren't always appropriate. As it is the 50th anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is paying particular attention to this issue — meaning employers need to do so, too.

Phased retirement, which allows older workers to remain employed by working part time or reduced hours until full retirement, is a way for employers to avoid "brain drain" by keeping them in the workplace a little longer to fill the skills and knowledge gap. But it seems not all employers are taking advantage of this option.

Some older workers remain in the workforce because they want to stay active, but others don't have enough money saved for retirement — a problem that some employers are trying to solve. Other employers, however, are taking the opposite approach, attempting to incentivize older workers' exits from the workforce.