The impact of re-employment after retirement is not limited to reduced income: the psychological gap and workplace restructuring among Japan’s elderly workers

The impact of re-employment after retirement on older workers is not limited to a decrease in income. (Reuters)

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] Re-employment after retirement may not be the most difficult thing when your salary decreases. A 62-year-old man in Japan has worked in the company for nearly 40 years. After retirement, he was re-employed with an annual salary of 5.5 million yen (approximately NT$1.11 million). Although his income has shrunk from the past, it is still within an acceptable range. Unexpectedly, his former subordinates became his bosses, and even the customers he had been in business for nearly 30 years were handed over to young employees. He was transformed from his former supervisor into a support role. The huge psychological gap made his legs weak on the spot, and he finally decided to resign. He sighed: "What the hell did I work for for 40 years?"

Japanese media "THE GOLD ONLINE" reported that the man Shuichi Takahashi (pseudonym) is 62 years old. He has worked for a manufacturing company in the metropolitan area for nearly 40 years. He has been engaged in business work all the way. When he was in his 50s, he served as a section chief and was responsible for many important customers.

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After Takahashi retired at the age of 60, he accepted re-employment from the company, and his annual salary dropped from more than 8 million yen (approximately NT$1.62 million) during his tenure to about 5.5 million yen. His wife also works part-time and earns about 70,000 yen (approximately NT$14,000) per month. The couple lives without much financial pressure. Takahashi's only "salary reduction" is that his monthly pocket money is reduced from 40,000 yen (approximately NT$8,076) to 30,000 yen (approximately NT$6,057), but he doesn't care about this. He bluntly said that he usually has nothing to spend money on, and what he really values ​​​​is the content of his work.

The company initially expressed to him that it hoped that he would continue to use his years of accumulated experience to serve customers. Although he no longer serves as a supervisor after his retirement, and the current section chief is responsible for final decision-making and sealing, Takahashi can still communicate and negotiate with customers in person, and his work content is not much different from before retirement. He also believes that he can make it all the way to 65 years old.

Takahashi's most important client has been with him for nearly 30 years. During this period, the opponent's organizer changed many times, but the relationship with Takahashi has never been interrupted. When encountering price negotiations or delivery issues, the other party often comes to him immediately. He even once said, "Discuss with Takahashi and the matter will be resolved the fastest."

However, about a year and a half after re-employment, the situation suddenly changed. The former subordinate who had become his boss came to talk to him and informed the company that it was preparing to redistribute work. Takahashi originally thought he might be able to increase the number of responsible customers, but the answer he didn't expect was that he was expected to "support employees" in the future.

The company said that in order to promote generational change, active employees will serve as the main window for customers in the future, while Takahashi will retreat behind the scenes, responsible for explaining past experiences and providing advice when younger employees encounter difficulties.

This also means that important customers that Takahashi has been operating for nearly 30 years will be handed over. On the day of handover, Takahashi accompanied the new business manager to visit this old customer, and the person who took over was the former subordinate who he had guided in the past. After the customer learned about it, he asked: "Will Mr. Takahashi no longer be responsible?" Takahashi could only reply: "That's just the way it is."

After returning to the company, his former subordinates asked Takahashi to organize the information in order to complete the handover. Takahashi began to sort out the transaction records of the past 30 years, the problems that had occurred, the personalities of the clients, and the price negotiations over the years. This was equivalent to personally handing over to the younger generation the connections and experience he had spent decades building.

That afternoon, his former subordinates gathered together to discuss work, while Takahashi was sorting out information. When someone asks about past events, he answers; when someone needs advice, he provides assistance, but he can no longer contact clients in his own name.

Just when Takahashi was about to stand up, his knees suddenly lost strength. Upon seeing this, his former subordinates hurriedly stepped forward to care. At this time, a sentence kept popping up in his mind: "What do I mean by working hard for 40 years? What on earth am I working for?"

This blow caused Takahashi's willingness to work to drop sharply, and he finally decided to leave the company he had served for nearly 40 years.

The report pointed out that the impact of reemployment after retirement on older workers is not just a loss of income. The proportion of male non-permanent employees in Japan is 10.5% when they are 55 to 59 years old, and rises sharply to 39.8% when they are 60 to 64 years old. Changes in status, position and work content after retirement may affect the willingness of older employees to continue working.

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