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Roberton Williams’ plan was to retire on his government pension and take a part-time job to make up the difference in salary. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Williams, 68, did retire, but then started another full-time job with the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.  “The plan was to work full time just until I got my feet wet,” Williams said. “But I ended up working full time for the next nine years.”

He’s far from an aberration. Many aging baby boomers are caught between a desire to work less and a labor market that just isn’t ready to let them go.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 17.7 percent of people 65 and older are still working in some capacity, compared with 11.7 percent in 1995.

But after nearly three years of waiting, many other federal workers are wondering if the program will arrive in time for them.

“We have people with over 35 years of experience waiting to retire here, and it’s a shame that many of them could walk out the door without the ability to pass on that knowledge,” said David Maxwell, 64. Maxwell is an air quality specialist with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Maxwell said if the bureau does offer the program, he’d be interested.

In a statement, BLM said the Interior Department recently issued guidance and “expects to complete a draft phased-retirement policy by the spring of 2016.”

Reasons for delays

One explanation for the ongoing delays is that agreements must first be struck between management and labor unions. Email and phone requests for comment to AFGE, the largest federal labor union, were not returned.

There are also just basic difficulties of scale. How do you offer the same option to all workers when not all jobs are created equal?

“A lot of these people who would qualify for phased retirement are senior staff and managers,” said Jessica Klement, legislative director for National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE). “How do you allow someone who is managing a department to take off two days per week?”

Klement said union members are calling asking when phased retirement will come to their agency. “I just don’t think there is a strong desire from federal agencies to do this,” she said.

In the private sector, some older workers looking to spend less time in the office are simply leaving one job for another.

Sally Korth, 65, has spent almost 40 years in the healthcare industry — first as an emergency room nurse and later as an executive overseeing the transition to electronic medical records for large corporate accounts.

“I was working 60 to 70 hours per week. One Christmas I was spending some time with my kids and grandchildren, and I just thought, ‘What am I doing?’”

So, Korth took a new job for significantly less pay, and recently scaled back her hours to four days per week. “That extra day off is huge,” she said.

As for Roberton Williams, he hopes to cut back to four days a week next year — and then finally retire at 70, “whether I like it or not.”

— AP