My middle child, not yet old enough for middle school, recently asked me when I planned to retire. Me of no gray hair, of the too-small 401K, of exciting career accomplishments yet to be achieved!

For this, I have his wonderful piano teacher to thank. Though only in her late 50s, she’s fortunate enough to no longer need to work. Still, she continues to offer lessons because of her dual love for music and nosy little children like mine.

So here we were, me and an 11-year-old casually exploring concepts like job benefits and compound interest. There was a lot of quiet head nodding. Until I shared with him that some people never truly retire because they so love what they do. Now that caught his interest.

I could see his little mind working behind now-bright eyes: What kind of job could I have that I’d never want to quit? 

The question of who retires and who doesn’t has certainly caught my attention a time or two during the pandemic.

For every doomsday story  about mass flight from healthcare jobs, there’s been a no-less compelling tale of an individual postponing retirement.

Long-time staff have come back to nursing homes, despite burnout, despite the risk, despite having to take up the slack for missing workers. In Minnesota, nurse Cindy Roden, 70, recently came out of retirement not long after leaving Aicota Health Care Center. The facility needed to reopen a COVID-19 unit but had no one to work it. Cindy and a friend agreed to rejoin the labor pool and handle night shifts.

We need to better understand these super-performers. 

What are the career moments that solidified their loyalty? What are the conditions that made them feel appreciated, and willing to sacrifice their precious retirement years?

Of course, money matters. Roden told the Minnesota Reformer that she was paid a premium to return, but she also responded to the idea of being needed by a sector and residents she has “always loved.”

There are generational values and mindsets at play here that providers can’t teach by osmosis. But by keeping long-serving employees on board, they can increase the chances that those values are passed down. It’s an important signal to tomorrow’s workers that investing in community and caring can be as rewarding as investing for our own golden years.