For some people work is a holiday camp — but now it could be a retirement option, too. Rather than being desperate to leave the working world, many older employees are preferring to spend their autumn years in the office, though not necessarily in a high-pressure position.

One such employee is Charles Dickerson, a part-time PA who took early retirement from his full-time position in scientific research. A few years on, he found himself enjoying his free time but not quite ready to give up the world of work.

“It’s funny. As you get nearer to retirement age, your attitude changes and you start thinking that you don’t want to be useless just yet,” says Charles. “After all, 64 is very young.”

His solution was to take on a role that utilised his career skills but allowed him to work part-time. Luckily, the perfect position came up in the form of a PA job with UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium, an alliance of scientists from Oxford University, Edinburgh University and Imperial College, London.

“Science is fast-paced and unless you’re full-time it’s difficult to stay on the research side,” says Charles. “But as a PA I give general support and I’m helping to ensure that research money is put to its best use.”

Does he ever feel the need to return to full-time work? “I sometimes envy the people working full-time on research projects,” he admits. “But I wanted to give myself some leisure time — and I don’t miss working five days a week.”

Employees who feel the same way as Charles will be pleased to note that the Age Discrimination Act, which came into force last October, deals directly with the rights of older employees to work past traditional retirement age if they choose.

“It set out that companies could no longer set an artificial retirement age,” says a spokesman from the Department for Work and Pensions. “It’s designed to allow people who can and want to work into old age the ability to do so free from discrimination. Those past the age of 65 can also continue to collect their state pension even if they are working full-time.”

So if, like Charles, you feel that you’re approaching an age at which you “don’t want to be useless just yet,” take comfort in the fact that the law is on your side — not to mention employers keen to recruit reliable and experienced staff.

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