Transitioning to retirement
Are you over 53 years of age and considering retiring from Australia Post within the next few years?
The average working age of Australia Post employees was highlighted very clearly to us in a survey conducted in the lead-in to EBA8 discussions. At that time, a number of matters were raised with
Australia Post separate to EBA discussions to encourage better retirement transition plans and workplace flexibility within the company.
EBA9 survey results demonstrated that the average working age continues to rise and members are actively considering their options in terms of their future working lives.
There are a few different ways that employees can enter in to a transition to retirement arrangement – you may want to consider whether your financial situation allows you to sacrifice a portion of your salary to enable a reduction of hours. If so, then options such as job-share arrangements, a voluntary reduction in hours, change of hours or conversion to part-time hours are available to apply for.
If maintaining your current income level is important to you, there are also arrangements that can enable you to reduce your overall days worked per fortnight by utilising accrued ARL or long service leave available to you.
As always, whenever considering options that may impact on your financial situation, it is critical that you obtain some independent financial advice. A qualified financial advisor will be able to provide advice that may prevent you from making an expensive mistake that impacts negatively on leave accrual or your final superannuation benefits.
Most State Branches have arrangements with leading financial planners in their state which usually include free initial consultations – members are encouraged to contact their Branch Official for a referral to such services.
Once you have decided you want to proceed with an arrangement, Australia Post’s Post People 1st (PP1st) coaches are also available to assist with workplace flexibility options and offer a useful information booklet for staff. They can be contacted on 1300 077 178 (option 1).
And, of course, we are here to help with the industrial side of things, including assisting you with applying for your workplace flexibility request.
Ready to go now? You may want to consider registering your interest in a redundancy swap. You can do so via the PP1st portal. It is a simple online form which can be found by following the link at the bottom of the PP1st portal page.
