Hetavi Shah

Retirement today is a curtain call, as if experience and relevance had an expiry date. It’s often attached with the stereotypical notion of a permanent exit from the workforce, marked by farewells rather than acknowledged as a pivotal transition that is deeply personal and layered.

This project explores the retirement transition in India’s IT industry, challenging its conventional definition. With India’s legal retirement age as 58, among the lowest globally and over five million IT professionals working with unsystematic retirement policies, they are often at the mercy of employers with desires of continued professional engagement being curbed. Additionally, India is on the brink of a demographic shift with rising life expectancy and a shrinking working-age population, making it critical to question ‘How can we help pre-retirees in the Indian IT industry to find equitable and relevant opportunities thereby supporting them during the retirement transition?’.

Today’s solutions mainly present a blanketed approach that misses the bigger systemic challenges of ageist mindsets, rigid retirement policies and non-inclusive institutional structures. In response, this project proposes ‘Phased Retirement’ – a gradual, flexible transition to retirement that enables pre-retirees to maintain identity, purpose and income whilst helping organisations retain wisdom, expertise and diversity. Though gaining traction globally, phased retirement remains unexplored in India. The proposed service model bridges government, IT companies, and pre-retirees to reframe age-relative narratives and offer tailored resources, guidance, and community support for better utilisation of their potential. As part of the scope for the outcome of this service, a DEI strategy blueprint was identified as a key touchpoint for delivery, understanding that it serves as a precursor to the acceptance and introduction of phased retirement. The blueprint was created for an Indian MNC, ensuring that the implementation aligns with diversity, equity, and inclusion principles.

More than just a design intervention, this project is a provocation to reconsider retirement as a purposeful transition rather than an afterthought. By equipping pre-retirees with agency, fostering age-inclusive practices, and aligning individual aspirations with organizational needs, it envisions retirement as a new chapter of contribution, one where pre-retirees are no longer shoved to the backseat.