Employers Serving Up Benefits for Part-Time Workers

These days, retirement is not as clear cut as it was when work stopped permanently at a certain age.  4 out of 5 workers responding to a nationally-representative survey (81%) by the Age-Friendly Institute say they would consider going part-time if they could still receive benefits.  

Half of workers responding to the survey (48%) say they would also consider delaying retirement under terms where their benefits are still available. 

Benefits brokers and consultants to larger corporations see a trend in employers getting flexible.  Says Ted Kane, Partner in the large employer benefit practice at Brown & Brown, “increasingly, we see employers making benefits available to employees working as few as 20 hours per week.  That’s down from about 30.  We always recommend to employers that they meet employees where they are, and it’s clear that people are not retiring in the same way that they used to”. 

Working part-time in retirement is now very common.  Whether this is part of someone’s early retirement strategy or an extension of work beyond a traditional retirement age, there may be a need to supplement savings and social security with part time work. This can help to cover the cost of benefits before age 65 when one becomes Medicare eligible.  For those who want to retire early, health insurance can cost up to $1,000 per month.

There is an opportunity for employers to retain valuable workers and facilitate a smoother transition of knowledge and responsibilities. Only 21% of workers say that when they moved from full time to part time it was with the same employer. This could be because their existing employer did not offer phased retirement or part-time opportunities, forcing them to look for other options when reduced hours or more flexibility was needed. 

Still A Ways To Go

While a trend is underway, health benefits for part-timers are not yet ubiquitous.  Only 10% of survey respondents working part-time indicated that their benefits were either partially paid for or that they had access to healthcare at group rates for which they pay the full cost.  

Even if a part time job does not offer healthcare benefits, as of 2024, the SECURE Act has provisioned that part-time workers who work at least 500 hours in three consecutive twelve-month periods now must be allowed to participate in 401(k) or ERISA-governed 403(b) plans to continue retirement savings just like their full time counterparts. In 2025, the work requirement will be reduced to two years. 

Though healthcare benefits are not the only reason older workers choose part time work, it can be a part of a larger objective.  Managing expenses, making money last and potentially delaying the start of claiming social security to receive the highest benefit possible can be improved both by the income of a part time job and from access to healthcare and other benefits provided by an employer. 

Availability of benefits to part-time workers is most prevalent in retail and food service where part-time jobs are common.  Roles can be found in almost every industry though they may be harder to find… for now.

Sampling of Employers Offering Benefits to Part-time Employees

[Employers in bold are designated by Age-Friendly Institute as a Certified Age-Friendly Employer]

3M
Abercrombie & Fitch
Accenture
Adobe
AECOM
Aerotek
Aetna (a CVS Health company)
Aflac
Aldi
Allegis Group
Alliant Energy
Allstate
Allstate Insurance
Altria
Amazon
American Airlines
American Express
American Red Cross
Amgen
Anthem
Aon
Apple
Applied Materials
Aramark
AstraZeneca
AT&T
Bain & Company
Bank of America
Barnes & Noble
Baxter International
Bayer
Becton, Dickinson (BD)
Best Buy
Biogen
BlackRock
Boeing
Booz Allen Hamilton
BorgWarner
BP
Bristol Myers Squibb
Broadcom Inc.
Capital One
Caterpillar Inc.
CenturyLink
Cerner Corporation
Charles Schwab
Chevron
Chipotle
Cigna
Cisco
Cisco Systems
Cleveland Clinic
Coca-Cola
Comcast
Compass Health
Con Edison
ConocoPhillips
Consolidated Edison (Con Edison)
Constellation Brands
Cost Plus World Market
Costco
Cox Communications
Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse)
Dell Technologies
Deloitte
Delta Air Lines
Dick's Sporting Goods
Disney (The Walt Disney Company)
Duke Energy
DuPont
Ecolab
Eli Lilly and Company
EMC Insurance Companies
Emerson Electric Co.
Ernst & Young (EY)
Eversource Energy
ExxonMobil
Fannie Mae
FedEx
Fidelity Investments
Ford Motor Company
GEICO
General Dynamics
General Electric (GE)
General Mills
General Motors
General Motors (GM)
Goldman Sachs
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
Google
Government Organizations
  - Cities (e.g., Boulder, CO; Minneapolis, MN)
  - Counties (e.g., Chesterfield, VA)
  - States (e.g., Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
H-E-B Grocery
Hess Corporation
Hilton
Home Depot
Honeywell
Humana
IBM
Intuit
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson Controls
JP Morgan Chase
Kaiser Permanente
Kaplan
KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root)
KPMG
Kroger
L.L.Bean
Lands’ End
Liberty Media
Liberty Mutual Insurance
Lockheed Martin
Lowe's
Lutheran Senior Life
Macy's
Marathon Petroleum
Marriott International
Mastercard
McKesson Corporation
Mercedes-Benz
Merck
Mercury Insurance Group
MetLife
Micron Technology
Microsoft
Monsanto (now part of Bayer)
Morgan Stanley
National Grid
Nestle
NetApp
New York Life Insurance Company
Nielsen
Nike
NiSource
Nordstrom
Northrop Grumman
Novartis
NYU Langone Health
Oracle
Owens & Minor
PepsiCo
Pfizer
PNC Financial Services Group
Progressive Insurance
Prudential Financial
PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group)
Qualcomm
Raytheon Technologies
REI
SAP
Siemens
Sodexo
Southern Company
Southwest Airlines
Sprint (now part of T-Mobile)
Staples
Starbucks
Starwood Hotels & Resorts (Marriott)
State Farm Insurance
State Street Corporation
Stryker
Sysco
T-Mobile
T. Rowe Price
Target
TE Connectivity
Textron
The Walt Disney Company
TIAA
TJX Companies (T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods)
Trader Joe's
Travelers Companies
U-Haul
UnitedHealth Group
UPS
USPS
Verizon
Visa
Walgreens
Walmart
Waste Management
Wegmans
WellCare (now part of Centene Corporation)
Wells Fargo
Whole Foods

The Age-Friendly Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of older adults age 50+ in December 2023.  There were 253 respondents.