Just decided to continue working for longer
And then coronavirus struck
This happened to Simon Pen. Instead of working at the office with your colleagues, you’re suddenly sitting at home with your laptop. We speak to him for this Life & Pension. It was at the end of May 2020.
Simon is a software developer at the Geological Survey of the Netherlands, part of TNO, in the Geo Data & IT department in Utrecht. The variation in his work really appeals to him. And he has always liked the database work too. He finds puzzling over a concept with colleagues, fleshing it out, and seeing if it works especially rewarding. Simon has decided not to retire when he reaches state pension age.
When did you decide to continue working? ‘Not long ago,’ says Simon. ‘The prospect of your retirement is a satisfying milestone at first. It’s nice to take things a little slower then. But the idea of working a bit longer started bubbling under the surface six months ago. I had a conversation with my manager at the time, because work had also asked whether I wanted to continue working a little longer. I then decided to continue working several days a week after my state pension age. That was supposed to start on 15 March 2020, but was brought forward to 1 March because we were busy with a project.’
And then the coronavirus crisis struck and you heard you had to work from home. How was that for you? ‘Pretty annoying. I was really busy working together with a colleague from another team on a project. Contact with colleagues is an important reason for me to keep working. Besides, working from home is not my thing at all; I’d never done that. Normally I travel from The Hague to Utrecht by train and bicycle. Then I went by car; I had permission from my supervisor to work in the office for a few more days. Now I work mostly at home.’
‘I just like going to work and having a purpose.’
Are there any small positive aspects? ‘It’s quite a change for me to work from home. My desk at TNO is much better. Now I work in the living room and have asked for a monitor from the office so that I can work more comfortably. I also have a much better understanding of how online meetings work through Teams and other software now. It’s actually not that complicated. So I’ve learned that at least. Contact with colleagues is now via Teams. We do the scrums, stand-ups, and a retro every two weeks via online meetings, and chat every Wednesday for an hour. But it’s different from personal contact. I hope we can return to an adjusted office setting soon, I would enjoy that more than working at home like this.’
What are your plans when you retire? ‘I’m going to fix up my house. I’d like to renovate it so it is also pleasant to stay there during winter. The house is not well-insulated yet and is still heated with old gas heaters. All in all, enough jobs are needed to make it comfortable. I also want to take some time to be calm and reflect. And take some short or long trips. Perhaps I’ll play guitar again. And football, of course. But first I hope I can play football with my colleagues in Utrecht again. Everything is at a standstill now because of all the coronavirus measures. If we can return to the office, I hope we can play a game of football every week during our lunch break.’
‘I’m looking forward to playing football with my colleagues for an hour each week again.’
Lastly, do you have any tips for others approaching their state pension age? ‘It’s nice if there’s an opportunity to continue working. But that’s very much a personal decision. Other people may have very different plans. I like the idea of gradually winding down your work anyhow. If you can also do it flexibly, that’s great. So working extra hours when it’s busy and working less when it’s quieter. For now, I just hope that we’ll be able to work in the office again at some point.’