Ciara McLoughlin

Attendees at William Fry’s CounselConnect conference heard that a small but growing number of employers have already aligned their compulsory retirement age with the State pension age to address the gap between the time a person must stop working and when their State pension begins.

Alternatively, more and more employers are simply choosing not to include a mandatory retirement age in their employment contracts due to the difficulty with proving an objective justification for a mandatory retirement age.

“Irish businesses who wish to include a compulsory retirement age in their employment contracts would be permitted to do so if the government enacts legislation recommended by the Commission on Pensions,” said Ciara McLoughlin, senior associate in William Fry’s employment and benefits department.

“However, employers would need to be able to provide evidence that having a compulsory retirement age is objectively justified.”

Peter Cosgrove of Futurewise spoke to the conference about the changing nature of work during the Covid-19 pandemic, stressing that employers need to think how management can encourage behavioural changes and not just expect them to happen.

He said: “Employers need to continue to communicate to their employees and get feedback on their experiences so far. They need to let their employees know that this is a transition phase and not the way work will be forever. With any experimentation it is about iterating and changing things, therefore empower your employees to see how the office can work at its best for them.”