Proposing a Win-Win Solution
for Extended Work and Phased Retirement
For decades, aged-out workers and their advocates have sought extended work and flexible paths to retirement. The time has come to mainstream these options by making persuasive, business-based proposals to skeptical employers.
For more than a decade, our colleagues at Rupert Organizational Design have pioneered highly effective formal phased retirement programs in major corporation. Respectful Exits has drawn on the proprietary tools that are at the heart of those successful processes and created ThePhazer™. It offers a complete self-help toolkit that can enable healthier futures on a large scale.
For a modest fee, supporters of Respectful Exits can access the website and download the tools and complete instructions on how to present a winning proposal to managers and employers. We encourage all aging workers and their supporters to review the summary below and then visit the site and use the process.
How it Works in 5 Sections
1. Qualifying
Scan for you and your company’s readiness, rules of the road and eligibility.
2. Selecting
Review options and select with your current status and future plans in mind.
3. Planning
Develop detailed plans for redesigning work and transferring knowledge.
4. Proposing
Use our proven tools to assess your profile and refine your proposal.
5. Persuading
Strengthen your proposal with prospective gains and winning dialogues.
Weighing the Use of ThePhazer™
After decades of indifference or resistance to enabling phased retirement, its use will likely follow the path of all other flexible arrangements. They typically began by assertive employees stepping forward and making their own proposals. The advantage for phased retirement today is that others have shown flexibility can work and there are proven tools to draw on.
While no one can guarantee the success of a given proposal – and there are risks in stepping forward – two truisms apply here:
“If you don’t ask, you won’t get” and “You don’t get what you deserve…you get what you negotiate.”
It is important to recognize, as we say throughout the Phazer site, that there are risks in stepping forward to make a proposal for the unconventional. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself — and the significant rewards can justify any risk.