There's nothing quite like retirement to make you want to go back to work.

Statistics Canada reports that 40 per cent of Canadian retirees return to work on a full-time or part-time basis. Their reasons for doing so are not strictly financial.

"The whole 'rocking-chair syndrome' is no longer a joke - it doesn't even exist," says Judy Cutler, director of communications at Canada's Association for the Fifty-Plus (CARP), a national lobby group.

"People who are 65 don't turn into a homogeneous group. They want to continue to participate in the workforce. They feel bored, useless or helpless if they suddenly stop working. They don't all have families or activities to keep them busy."

Brennan O'Connor, Business Edge
CARP director of communications Judy Cutler, with employee Melvin Dennis, says seniors "want to participate in the workforce."

Adds Deanna Rosenswig, who co-authored the book Dreams Have No Expiry Date with childhood friend Laurie Gottlieb: "None of us want to say the 'r' word. It doesn't say anything good."

Rosenswig says she was impressed by the tenacity and resilience of the women interviewed for the book. "One woman wanted to be an Anglican priest. It took her 26 years, but she did it.”

Another has "tried on" a handful of businesses, from knitting sweaters to decorating cakes.

Jim Hayhurst sold his advertising agency at age 44. Now 64, he runs his own career-counselling practice in Toronto called The Right Mountain Inc.

He attributes the return to work of many recent retirees to boredom - the need to "get things going again" mentally to remain interesting and interested - and the pursuit of a satisfying answer to the burning question of many 55- to 65-year-olds: "What is my legacy?" Sarah Welstead helped found Retiredworker.ca, an Internet site devoted to matching up older (generally 50-plus) jobseekers with employers who recognize the value these workers deliver.

She started the business for her mom, Linda, a 62-year-old retired teacher who found that traditional jobsites such as Workopolis and Monster did not cater to her demographic.

Welstead, the company's managing director, hired her mom and some of her friends as a temporary talent pool for her marketing business.

When colleagues wanted to hire these older workers as well, Welstead recognized a demand. Her site has flourished - there are currently 15,000 North American jobseekers registered with Retiredworker.ca - without, Welstead wryly notes, "a lick of marketing."

"The 50-plus demographic was taught that retirement was the holy grail and to get there as fast as they could," Welstead says. "Once they retired, played some bridge and did some gardening, they thought, 'I've got 30 more years of this and I'm going to go insane. What can I do?' " Retiredworker.ca offers "non-career" jobs of up to 20 hours per week on a largely part-time, temporary or contract basis.

"These are not lucrative positions," notes Welstead, "but 85 per cent of our jobseekers say that money is not their first motive. It is a contributing factor. They want to try something that they didn't try before."

One jobseeker who had been a government lobbyist for 30 years complained that there was nothing senior enough for him on the website.

Later, he wrote Welstead to say, " 'You know, I always wanted to be a chauffeur.' " Sure enough, Welstead had such a posting.

Welstead has worked to convince employers that "this demographic makes good business sense."

Chocolate manufacturer Laura Secord was "the first big name that bought in.”

Winners, HomeSense, Home Depot and Tim Hortons have all hired from her pool of "unretirees."

Welstead did not seek out government assistance in starting her business because she "didn't want to perpetuate the myth that this group needs subsidies, that we're a charitable outfit.”

The big "battle," as she describes it, is ageism.

"Companies that wouldn't dream of discriminating on the basis of sex, religion or race have implicit age discrimination. They won't look at someone over 45 years old, yet these people are mature, reliable and have lots of skills."

Cutler concurs: "Ageism is a huge factor still in our society. We need to change attitudes. Forty-five is considered an older worker. The attitude is that you aren't as productive and that you're more expensive to hire because you've had all these years' experience and more raises. Being older doesn't mean you slow down, you can't do anything new, you can't be innovative ... " Hayhurst adds that the HR departments in major corporations "feel as if they're supposed to be hiring for the future, setting up a succession plan. So, they'll get asked, 'Why are you hiring a 58 year-old?' " When Welstead has offered a free trial posting, some prospective employers "won't officially say no. They say, 'this is a fairly dynamic, young organization' or 'this is a very high-tech environment,' " she notes.

What they really mean is: "We don't want those kinds of people," Welstead adds. "The biases are so entrenched. They aren't about facts. They're still so resistant."

Hayhurst remains upbeat about the career prospects for older workers: "Privately held organizations don't have to answer to Wall Street. There's a whole herd of Tier 2 or 3 organizations that would love to have" older workers.

The challenge for these employees, according to Hayhurst, is to understand both their skills (what they do) and, fundamentally, themselves (who they are).

They must be able to articulate what makes them tick, not just their last job title.

"I went on a Mount Everest climb and watched two guys die on the mountain who didn't know who they were," explains Hayhurst, who is also an inspirational speaker. "It cost them their lives."

Fiorella Callocchia, a principal with HR Impact - a Toronto management consulting firm - refers to the pool of highly skilled recent retirees as the "forgotten frontier" for employers in their quest for top talent.

"Retirees can play a pivotal role in coaching and mentoring less-experienced employees and in ensuring that the knowledge base that resides with them is transferred within the organization," he says.

"Moreover, their input may ensure that the organization remains (or becomes) competitive in the marketplace."

(Anastasia MacLean can be reached at maclean@businessedge.ca)