ACTIVE AGEING
New Zealand has an ageing population and it means our seniors are working longer — many remain in fulltime employment in their 70s. Carly Gibbs speaks to five older Bay of Plenty of workers about joining the great unretirement.
I still do the job as good as I ever did, and I still enjoy it, so that’s why I’m still doing it. — PHIL SMITH
MOST GREY-MOUSTACHED great-grandads relish the quiet life, but not Philip ‘Phil’ Smith. He rises at 2.05am each day to get ready for work.
He turns 68 next month and works fulltime as an excavator operator in Kaingaroa Forest for Ribbonwood Ltd.
Whether by choice or financial necessity, thousands of older Kiwis have made the decision to stay in paid employment past the official retirement age.
Statistics New Zealand says that in 2010, 86,900 people aged 65 and over were still working. In 2022, that figure rose to 198,700, partly due to our ageing population.
Projections manager Hamish Slack says the number of Kiwis aged 65-plus is increasing by about 80 people a day and is likely to reach one million within six years.
Smith started working life as a blacksmith and spring maker, before installing aluminium joinery and then moving into forestry in 1975 — initially running a saw, then switching to machines.
The grandad of seven and greatgrandad of one was born and bred in Rotorua and spent 20 years working in Auckland before returning home four years ago when he was 64.
At the time, he was nervous about telling his future employer his age, but his boss wasn’t phased.
“He [the boss] said: ‘I thought the new retirement age is 72’.
“I wasn’t ready to retire, I just thought I might have to. I still love my job.”
The feeling is mutual among his logging crew - average age, 55.
“All around the bush, there are a lot of old fullas, and they’re still going.
“I still do the job as good as I ever did, and I still enjoy it, so that’s why I’m still doing it.”
Many in younger age groups “can’t handle” the early starts, even though most start later than he does, he says.
“I keep telling them ‘you do it for a fortnight to a month and you get used to it’.”
He’s in bed before 8pm, wakes at 2.05am, leaves home at 2.50am, arrives at work at
3.40am, and starts his shift at 4am.
He has a coffee break at 7am, lunch at 11am, and knocks off at 3.30pm.
“By the end of the week you’re getting a bit tired, but I’ve done it for so long.”
Casual commercial fencer and former business owner Ian Pound, 70, reckons Baby Boomers like himself and Smith grew up with a different work ethic.
In fact, many don’t need to work, it’s a “choice” to keep themselves occupied, he says.
“Otherwise, I’m sitting at home. I’ve mowed my lawns, done the garden and I’m watching Netflix. In other words ‘just sawing sawdust’. Well, hell, that’s not a life.”
The president of the Rotary Club of Rotorua works a few days a month helping out one of his ex-employees who now owns his own fencing business.
Fencing can be hard yakka, and he’ll often fall asleep within five minutes of sitting down after work, waking to a cold cup of tea - but he wouldn’t change it.
Such was the case for John Williams, until he had a second heart attack at 72 and thought he better retire.
If he didn’t suffer from a hereditary heart condition, he’d still be working, the now 76-year-old says.
He was a small engine mechanic for nearly 40 years, servicing lawnmowers, and chainsaws, and prior to his retirement, specialised in servicing saw chains for harvesting machines and chainsaws.
He still sharpens the odd chainsaw chain for a handful of customers.
He writes to the newspaper, and does the washing and cooking, while his wife Jenny, 70, continues to work full-time as the office manager at Kea Street Special School.
“You’ve got to have a reason to get up. That’s the real risk for a lot of people who
I don’t think I had any concept of how my life was going to be when I was old. — SUSANNE GALLER
do retire. If they don’t have some community engagement [then perhaps they] find their reason for living at work.”
Susanne Galler, 74, works up to six hours a week as an English as a second language teacher.
To make extra money on top of that, she rents out her spare bedroom through Airbnb.
“I couldn’t sustain this life without doing extra work.
“The rates are incredibly high and I live alone. I realised this house eats money and so it’s got to make some.”
Behaviours and attitudes have changed since her parents’ day, she says, as has the need to keep physically fit.
“I hardly know anybody my age that stopped working when they were 65. Everybody kept working for a while and some of us still are.”
This is backed by Statistics NZ, which says employment rates grew from 16.4 per cent for those aged 65-plus in the year that ended September 2010 to 24.9 per cent in 2022.
Older people’s employment remains concentrated in those aged 65-69. However, there are growing proportions of people aged 70-plus employed too.
“I like being in the workforce,” says Galler. “When you live alone, you have to make an effort to have social contact with people.”
As for what’s meant to be her golden years, she quips she had those in her 30s.
“What can you expect when you’re in your 70s? I don’t think I had any concept of how my life was going to be when I was old.
“I do get more tired than I used to from less effort, but I seem to be able to recover.”
The nature of her teaching work “nourishes” her.
That’s echoed by Mr G (real name Ray Guilford).
A recipient of 1 News’ Good Sorts, he’s still working full-time at 71.
He works 24 hours a week at St Mary’s
School as a teacher aide and all-round helper; and 27 hours at Bunnings Rotorua in the trade yard.
“I’m a workaholic,” he jokes. “My thinking is that there are 24 hours in a day and I only work eight hours of that.”
He worked at St Michael’s Catholic School for 14 years before coming to St Mary’s, where he does all sorts of sports, gardening, woodwork and chess club projects, alongside teaching.
A formal agricultural adviser, Guilford believes there’s acceptance by business owners nowadays that if you want, and can work over 65, you still add value to a workplace.
It also means he gets to get out of the house and socialises.
“I very much like to be organised in terms of what I’m doing. It gives you the motivation to get out of bed, and you wake up at 3am planning the next programme. It’s just rewarding. I mean the money side of it is [also] helpful because the pension is not enough to give you those extras.”
Mr G reckons he’s got at least another three years before he even thinks about retirement.
“You live longer now [and] we’ve got longevity in my family so if I live until 90, I’ve still got a few years that I can contribute to the workforce and society. When I retire, I’ll just do community work.”