Many aging baby boomers are caught between a desire to work less and a job market that’s not ready to let them go; according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 17.7 percent of people 65 and older are still employed in some capacity (compared with 11.7 percent in 1995).

Part of this increase could be due to a growing fear by many Americans about financial insecurity during retirement: Survey data shows that fears about outliving one’s savings are factoring into retirement planning. It’s prompting 34 percent of workers age 60 and over to say they plan on working until they die or are too sick to work, according to a recent Wells Fargo survey.

Some just want a gradual transition, whether for financial reasons or just to continue being employed, to still make a contribution. According to a 2015 report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, slightly more than 40 percent of U.S. workers hope to cut back job hours or make a transition to a less demanding position before retirement.

Phased retirement is one option that’s offered by a small number of employers (8 percent so far); it offers retiring workers part-time employment while also mentoring their replacements, providing a smoother transition for all.

Another option: Employers are skipping formal arrangements in favor of short-term contracts. “One thing we see is that employers are increasingly able to tap into a more flexible labor market, rather than going through formal HR structures“, says Jean Setzfand, AARP’s senior vice president of programs. “So having hard-and-fast rules for this can be difficult.“

Legislation was passed in 2012 for federal workers that created a phased-retirement program; the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) formalized rules in 2014. So far, OPM has only finalized 16 applications for phased retirement from workers at various government agencies, but is expecting to soon receive 12 more from the Smithsonian Institution-where 45 percent of the employees are age 50 or over (OPM has stated that it’s up to the individual agency to decide if they will offer a phased-retirement option to their employees).

There have been rather long delays fully implementing the program, however (three years or more); many workers are wondering if it will arrive in time for them. One possible reason for the delays is that agreements must first be worked out and settled between management and labor unions.

And there’s job scale: Not all positions are equal, so how do you offer the same option to all workers? “A lot of these people would would qualify for phased retirement are senior staff and managers,” said Jessica Klement, legislative director for the National Association of Retired Federal Employees. “How do you allow someone who is managing a department to take two days off per week?” Klement says union members are asking when phased retirement will come to their agency: “I don’t think there is a strong desire from federal agencies to do this,” she said.

In the private sector, some older workers seeking less office or work time are simply leaving one job for another with the desired time they want. (Source: “Older workers seeking to reduce job hours”by Adam Allington-Associated Press-The (Sunday) Vindicator, November 29, 2015)