ACE|Sloan Faculty Retirement Transitions Projects

Jean M. McLaughlin

American Council on Education

Presentation to HERC NJ

April 2, 2014

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Agenda 1. Background on ACE/Sloan retirement projects & Faculty

Retirement 101 quiz (5)2. How did we get to here? (20-10)

• Overview of issues surrounding faculty retirement• Faculty satisfaction and awareness of institutional programs and

supports

3. What are the Challenges & Some Solutions? (10-15)• Legal Issues & burning questions• Best practices in faculty retirement transitions

4. The Challenges Ahead (5)• The challenge of working with academic affairs• The challenge of being humane

5. Concluding Thoughts (5-5)• Why HERC should care

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Background of the ACE|SloanFaculty Retirement Projects

• ACE, like HERC, is a presidential-member association, with approximately 1800 members.

• ACE has been partnering with the Sloan Foundation to investigate faculty career flexibility since 2003; 5 awards programs; 3 invitational conferences; lots of presentations

• New grants in 2009 & 2010 to investigate institutions which were becoming concerned about the pace of faculty retirements.

• Activities (e.g., literature review, site visits, interviews, focus groups, invitational conference) were designed to examine the perspectives from both faculty and administrators to learn on the campuses what these experiences are.

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Faculty Retirement 101 Quiz

1. What percentage of faculty plan to remain connected to their institution after their retirement?

A. 29%B. 54%C. 62%D. 75%

2. With whom do faculty find the most helpful in discussing their career plans?

A. Fellow colleaguesB. Department ChairC. Provost/Dean of the facultyD. Human Resources/Personnel

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Faculty Retirement 101 Quiz

3. In our faculty study, which selection below represents the largest percentage of years served by faculty?

A. 6-10 yearsB. 11-15 yearsC. 16-20 yearsD. Over 20 years

4. Whom do faculty think values senior colleagues the most?E. Junior colleaguesF. StudentsG. The administration

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Faculty Retirement 101 Quiz

5. How do you know when someone has retired?A. They have moved to a warmer climateB. They turned 65 and are now on Social Security/MedicareC. They have accrued the appropriate years of service and/or

age requirementsD. They are now working for your competition

6. What do faculty feel are the best program(s) their institution offers them in making retirement easier?

E. Financial PlanningF. Part-time teaching after retirementG. Phased RetirementH. They don’t know

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Faculty Retirement 101 Quiz

7. What do faculty feel their institution can do better in making retirement easier?

A. Discuss retirement more often and earlier in their careerB. Create retiree centerC. Improve post-tenure systemD. They don’t know

8. In our study of over 3300 faculty, what were faculty most likely to be dissatisfied about concerning retirement supports and transitions?

E. (Lack of ) Office space on campus F. Senior colleagues being valued by the administrationG. Opportunities to discuss their future career at their institution with

their department chair or deanH. Senior colleagues making the transition into retirement at the

appropriate time

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Faculty Retirement 101 Quiz

9. In our study of over 3300 faculty, faculty in which institutional type are most likely to be dissatisfied with their institutional supports for retirement transitions?

A. Liberal Arts facultyB. Master’s Large faculty (state schools/large regional or religious

schools)C. Research Universities faculty

10. In our study of over 3300 faculty, which age group felt most satisfied with how senior colleagues were treated by their administration?

D. 30-39 years oldE. 40-49 years oldF. 50-59 years oldG. 60-69 years old

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How did we get to here?Looking at the generations, and major legal changes in retirement

laws…lack of need for planning compared to prior generations.

Name of Generation

Birth Years of Generation

Age Range in 1967

Age Range in 1982

Age Range in 1994

Age Range Today

SilentGeneration

1925 to 1942

25 - 42 40 - 57 52 - 69 71 - 88

Baby BoomerGeneration

1943 to 1960

7 - 24 22 - 39 34 - 51 53 - 70

Generation X

1961 to 1981

> 6 > 1 - 19 13 - 33 32 - 52

GenerationY

1982 to 2004

N / A > 1 >1 - 12 9 - 31

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How did we get to here?• Psycho-Social Issues

– “Who will I be tomorrow?”• Financial Issues

– “I don’t trust the suits!”• Two-Body Problem

– “My wife doesn’t qualify for Medicare.”• Children (or the Second Wives Club)

– “I know I can retire, but I just had a baby.”• They Need Me!

– My students…my colleagues…my discipline

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How did we get to here?

Site Visit Findings:• Most faculty are unaware of existing supports for faculty

eligible for retirement.• Faculty have trouble figuring out where to find

information on retirement—some are looking in the wrong places, while others are getting misinformation from fellow colleagues.

• “They took care of us before, why won’t they take care of us now?”

• Faculty in private institutions emphasized that the process is very “secretive, like an opaque black box.”

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How did we get to here?

Themes from official site visit reports:1. Communication issues

2. Transparency of policies and practices

3. Faculty want to be respected and valued

4. Issues of on-going workshops, seminars, and supports (especially health insurance)

5. Little support for psycho-social aspects

6. EAP usage

7. Office and research space

8. Faculty want a better understanding of what their relationship with the university will be after retirement/how do they stay involved

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Faculty Survey of Satisfaction and Supports• The competition was open to Research Universities, Master’s Large

Institutions, and Liberal Arts Institutions.• Winter of 2012: Institutional and Faculty surveys were conducted. • For the Faculty survey, ACE had over 3,300 tenured, tenure-track

and retired faculty nation-wide of participating schools. – Most were Full Professors (53.4%), Associate Professors

(20.9%) or Retired/emeritus (14%); – Tenured (77.1%); – Married (80.7%).– The majority were long-serving:

• Over 20 years (53.1%)• 16-20 years (9.8%)• 11-15 years (13%)

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How did we get to here?

• Asked to mark from “Very Dissatisfied” to “Very Satisfied,” included “Don’t Know” and “N/A.”

• The Faculty survey asked 37 questions on these areas:1. Post tenure review and other pre-retirement opportunities

2. Phasing and transitioning supports [don’t know about]

3. Campus culture regarding senior faculty [most happy]

4. Financial planning and medical insurance

5. Ongoing supports and opportunities in retirement

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What do Faculty Not Know About?

1. Medical Bridge Program (53.1%) 2. Legacy Programs (46.2% to 50.8%) 3. Tools (e.g., calculators/comparison charts/demos) (46.1%)4. Retirement Transition Counseling (36.2% to 45.8%) 5. Employee Assistance Program (used for retirement transitions)

(43.5% to 45.4%)6. Ability to participate in tuition remission for partner/dependents

in post-retirement (42.6%)7. Ability to participate in continued health insurance (40.1%)8. Ability to have my spouse/partner/family be included in retirement

conversations and opportunities (33.2%)9. Individual Financial Planning that is independent of retirement

fund companies (32.7%)10. Amount of time given to senior colleagues to phase into

retirement (31.4%)

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What are Faculty Satisfied About?

1. Senior colleagues are valued by their junior colleagues at my institution (69.7%)

2. Senior colleagues are valued by the students at my institution (68.5%)

3. Email privileges (62.6%)4. Library privileges (61.2%)5. Senior colleagues are valued by the administration at my

institution (55.2%)6. Ongoing opportunities to discuss my future career at this

institution with my department chair/ dean (52.7%)7. Participating in lectures/performing arts/international

opportunities (50.4%)

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What are Faculty Dissatisfied About?

1. (Lack of) office space on campus (in retirement) (21%)2. Senior colleagues are valued by the administration at my

institution (19.2%)3. Ongoing opportunities to discuss my future career at this

institution with my department chair/ dean (16.1%)4. Senior colleagues make the transition into retirement at the

appropriate times in their careers (16%)5. 14.8% wanted individual Financial Planning that is

independent of retirement fund companies 6. 11.6% feel that senior colleagues are not valued by junior

colleagues7. 10.1% feel there are not opportunities for mentoring junior

colleagues

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What are the best things that your institution does to make the retirement transition smoother for faculty?

Theme Total Number of

Responses (N=2017)

Don’t know 672Phased retirement program 491Retirement counseling/seminars/lectures 241Campus benefits after retirement (office space, access to library, computer support, etc.)

158

Active/helpful Human Resources office and website 90Encouraging and fostering a very active retired faculty community to stay connected to the institution

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Willingness to work with each individual/flexible 72Financial benefits 71Having a retiree center 63Continuing medical insurance and health care benefits 53Senior leadership’s communication of options/commitment to faculty on this topic

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Financial planning 44Part-time teaching after retirement 43Offering emeriti status/emeriti benefits/teaching by emeriti 34

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What are some ways your institution can make retirement more manageable and smoother for faculty?

Theme Total Number of

Responses (N=1779)

Don’t know 257Discuss retirement more/improve communications/provide more information about options earlier in career

228

Improve health care benefits 162Implement/improve phased retirement program 132Improve retirement workshops/seminars/counseling options 114Nothing more the institution can do/the institution does a good job 109

Offer more campus benefits for retired faculty (office space, parking, library privileges)

108

Create more opportunities for retired faculty to stay involved with the institution 86Improve financial incentives/benefits 75Allow for retired faculty to teach part-time 43Acknowledge/value/respect faculty contributions 34Put a formal, transparent institutional retirement policy/process in place 30Provide greater flexibility during retirement transition 25Improve Human Resources office and website 24

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Faculty Plans to Stay Involved Post-Retirement

• “No, I have other commitments that will prevent me from staying active with my institution post-retirement” (11.8%)

• “No, there are no or few opportunities for me to remain involved after retirement” (13.2%)

• “Yes, I plan to stay connected with my department or discipline” (32.3%)

• Yes, I plan on staying connected with my department and other parts of the academic community” (42.7%)

• Therefore, 75% of faculty plan to stay connected to their institution in some capacity.

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Faculty Plans to Stay Involved Post-Retirement

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What are the Challenges & Some Solutions?

3 Types of Laws Create Difficulties for Institutions• Age Discrimination Laws

– Federal– State

• Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)• Internal Revenue Code• To avoid problems with laws:

– Read our legal issues brief and bring it to your legal counsel!– Make sure that retirement decisions are voluntary– Use third parties to conduct financial planning seminars– Ask about someone’s retirement plan in the “right way”

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What are the Challenges & Some Solutions?

• Legal difficulties stem from institutional need to balance faculty compositions. Several types of retirement plans are offered. These plans include:– Use of individual buy-outs– Phased retirement programs– Time-based retirement plans (aka Window Plans)– Age-based retirement plans (Must ensure “one bite” rule)

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Competition Winners

Liberal Arts Master’s Large Research

Albright College Bentley UniversityGeorge Mason

University

Carleton CollegeSan José State

UniversityGeorgia Institute of

Technology

Mount Holyoke College University of Baltimore Princeton University

Skidmore College Xavier UniversityUniversity of California,

Davis

Wellesley CollegeUniversity of Southern

California

University of Washington

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Best Practices in Faculty Retirement Transitions

• Mentoring program partnering retired and new faculty• Life-planning seminars• Online tool for evaluating financial plans• Emeriti center and emeriti college• Dedicated and private office and laboratory space• Transition grants, which faculty can use to complete

specific projects before retirement• Post-retirement opportunities both on campus and within

the community, such as encore careers

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Best Practices in Faculty Retirement Transitions

Pre-Retirement• Comprehensive “one-stop-shop” website for

retirement • Retirement checklist for faculty• Communications campaign• Discussing retirement process with senior faculty

without violating age discrimination laws • Financial planning with an outside expert • Health insurance transition planning • Individual counseling—life planning sessions

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Best Practices in Faculty Retirement Transitions

Retirement• Phased retirement policy options• Transparent policies• Tracking usage of policies• Legacy projects • Acknowledgement and celebration of

career upon retirement

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Best Practices in Faculty Retirement Transitions

Post-Retirement• Creating a culture that includes retirees • Ensuring that retired faculty can maintain

connections to the campus • Supports post-retirement (maintaining email, library

privileges, shared office space)• Retiree associations • Encore career programs• Volunteer options within the community• Part-time teaching at campus

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The Challenges Ahead

Canisius College, faculty in the Alfred P. Sloan Emeritus Faculty Suite. Daniel Starr, Professor Emeritus of History; Anthony Bellia, Emeritus Dean; Frank Riga, Professor Emeritus of English.

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The Challenges Ahead

The Challenge of Working with Academic Affairs:• Institutions worry that their outreach to faculty may be

perceived as discriminatory, so institutions do little to no outreach.

• Since the institution has worked with the faculty to manage their careers up to this point, the faculty feel that the administration should continue to reach out to them to support them in their retirement transition as well.

• Each campus needs to determine how to communicate to faculty at this stage in ways that are transparent, humane, and legally compliant.

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The Challenges Ahead

• Be able to explain the transformational value of the oftentimes transactional nature of faculty retirement options that HR offices provide

• Position your office as offering strategic recruitment and retention options to deans and department chairs, even for young faculty– Mentality is “I have time to make up my retirement

portfolio”• Know who your faculty gatekeepers are. Befriend

them!

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The Challenges Ahead

The Challenge of Being Humane• “When you make sure your emeriti are treated well, you

reinforce a culture where people naturally make the decision to retire, because they’re not giving up what’s made them a successful member of the community for so long.”– Steven Poskanzer, President, Carleton College

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Concluding Thoughts

• “This is supposed to be a humane profession, but are we treat each other, in our most private lives, so harshly.”

– Female Academic Surgeon

• Younger generations are not saving enough for retirement.

• Faculty Retirement is a presidential issue! – Their board asks them about this issue– Strategic HR– Retirement vendors’ push– Their own retirement

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Q & A

• Any questions, comments, or thoughts?

• For more information:– http://www.acenet.edu/leadership/programs/Pages/Faculty-Retir

ement-Transitions.aspx