Governments occasionally offer early retirement incentives to employees as a strategy to reduce payroll costs or stimulate short-term turnover among staff. These incentives are temporary, usually offered during a window that covers a specific period of time. They might increase the economic value of the standard retirement benefit or be a one-time payment that doesn’t affect an ongoing defined benefit or defined contribution retirement benefit, or they can provide other financial incentives to facilitate retirement before an employee’s otherwise planned retirement.

• Publication date: August 2020
• Authors: Melanie D. Purcell, CPFO, SHRM-SCP and Robert Biles