Why early retirement is bad for the brain, and for business

For many employees, when they retire is a goal they want to reach on their own terms. Yet often, employers may be forcing their hand. 

While the average retirement age is currently 62-years-old, Pew Research found that half of adults 55 and older left the workforce for retirement in 2021. The pandemic has only exacerbated the idea that older workers don't belong in the workforce — the rate of people who involuntarily retired was ten times higher during the pandemic than in previous years, according to research from the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. 

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Age discrimination plays a large role in driving older employees out of the workforce before they are ready, and comes with a slew of detrimental effects for both employers and employees alike, says Dr. Afik Gal, co-founder of Assured Allies, which provides evidence-based solutions to help people age healthfully. 

"People can easily continue working, both cognitively and physically, beyond the standard ages of retirement," Gal says. "And as a matter of fact, if a company wants to sustain itself, they probably should. People [at this age] can dedicate themselves more to work. And to be as diverse as possible, you want to hire people of all ages." 

Employees who retire early — either by choice or by force — struggle with faster rates of cognitive decline, depression and other challenges without the structure and support of the workplace. Academic research found that those in retirement had a 38% faster rate of verbal and memory loss than those still working, and separate research from the National Institute of Health estimates that a third of individuals have symptoms of depression in retirement. 

"We deal a lot with what's called successful aging, which are the things that drive an aging adult toward less disability, less impairment and being more able to do what they want to do for a longer age independently," Gal says. "There are a couple of negative phenomenons that are tied to aging — depression, isolation and cognitive decline — and those can be correlated to other things like an environment that doesn't support the aging population, or not being in contact with other people, or leaving your home." 

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Employees in the workplace have the opportunity to "work their brain" in advantageous ways every day, Gal says; they may interact with colleagues, or work on a challenging project. They may leave the house to avoid isolation, and stay active in other ways that can keep their brain and body healthy. 

Gal says employers should be supportive of their older cohort of employees by providing training and upskilling opportunities if necessary, and acknowledging the breadth of experience they can share with younger workers. Instead of looking at a person's age, look at performance, he advises. 

"Ignore age as a parameter for success and have a scorecard that's based on motivation or performances and the perspectives they bring to the team," he says. "Base your hiring or promotion decisions on that and it will take care of ageism in the workplace." 

Read more: How AARP is getting older employees back to work

For older workers, feeling like their time in the workforce is up can be mentally debilitating — Gal says his own mother struggled with feeling like she had more to give when she retired herself. Employers should take advantage of that dedication instead of driving employees out the door. 

"My mom worked in government service and when she had to retire, she was super frustrated because she was super motivated and there was so much more she could do," he says. "In general, if you have a motivated employee, it doesn't matter what their age is — you want to keep them."