WWR - a matter of working while retired

Peggy Campbell is a 76-year-old grandmother who has been working full-time since she was 64. I can tell part of her story because it was already reported in the Nov. 27, 2015. edition of the Portland Oregonian newspaper.

She works for a small business in the Portland area. There are 35 employees in that business, and 10 of them are “senior” employees. The oldest is 78 years old. Peggy’s boss, 49-year-old Matt McCann, is quite impressed with Peggy and her geezer-in-training colleagues.

“Older, more mature individuals have a better work ethic, and they make great teammates”, McCann said. “Plus, they’re sick less and they complain less.” Seven of those ten older employees work because they need to in order to make financial ends meet.

This brief description of people who are “WWR” — working while retired — is played out in so many parts of the Northwest, in fact our whole country. Here in Bonner County, I wonder if we will see an even grayer workforce in the next 10 years. I think we will.

My hunch is based on a few markers: 1) our county seems to be attracting a good number of people moving here to retire; 2) economic realities are pushing retirement-age folks to look for part-time or full-time work to supplement their incomes.

I visited recently with another geezer-in-training who is working part-time. His decision to work gives him a financial supplement to his retirement income.

He has an interesting take on why some people may need to work longer than they intended: the monetary policies in our country have made saving money a bigger challenge than it used to be! I suspect that many people’s retirement plans have been “re-directed” for a wide variety of reasons, governmental monetary policies being just one of them.

As I shop at Sandpoint businesses and other county businesses, or in Coeur d’Alene, I do notice more older workers than I used to. I have asked some of them why they are still working. There have been a variety of answers.

Some work because they need to. Others work just to “keep busy.” Still others simply enjoy working as they did when they were younger. Some continue to want to contribute in some way to their communities, and work is a tangible way to do that.

At next Tuesday’s Geezer Forum, April 12, we are going to spend time exploring some of the dynamics that have resulted in more older adults joining, or staying in, Bonner County’s workforce. Bridgette Bradshaw- Fleer, manager of the Sandpoint office of the Idaho Dept. of Labor, will lead us in that conversation.

Together we will consider “Working Older Adults: Challenging Opportunity.” Ironically, some older adults won’t be able to join us: they will be working! But if you are WWR, I hope your schedule allows you to join us. I also hope you might share some of your story about why you still work.

If you are retired without “gainful employment” (a euphemism for getting a paycheck), please join us to share your own view of WWR. We will, as usual, meet at Columbia Bank’s Community Room, 2:30-4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12. Feel free to join us.

Paul R. Graves, M.Div., is lead geezer-in-training of Elder Advocates, a consulting ministry on aging issues. Contact him at 208-610-4971 or elderadvocates@nctv.com.