Equally important, phased retirement lessens the reality shock often experienced
by those who retire all at once. It helps employees grow accustomed to leisure life and
withdraw emotionally from the organization. A growing number of companies have
some form of phased retirement. Pepperdine University and the University of Southern
California, for example, implemented a phased retirement program for professors that
allows them some choice about part-time employment starting at age 55. The program
is intended to provide more promotional positions for younger academics and to give
older professors greater opportunities to establish a leisure life and still enjoy many
benefits of the university.