Lidl Ireland announces removal of mandatory retirement age

Lidl Ireland has announced the removal of a mandatory retirement age clause for current and prospective employees, saying all staff will be given the option to continue working for the grocery retailer beyond its current retirement age of 65.

The German-owned company said it was the first large employer in Ireland to make a public commitment to support employees who wish to work past the age of 65.

“It is our hope that Lidl’s public commitment will support wider, positive conversation in relation to retirement age and that other companies will follow suit to make similar commitments,” it said.

The change, effective in the coming weeks, will have a near-term impact on more than 40 people in its current workforce who are close to retirement age, Lidl added. Many of this group are long-serving employees. Those who choose to continue their service can opt to extend their pension plan on an individual basis.

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“While it’s a relatively small percentage of our workforce currently, the trend is that more and more people are staying with Lidl and building long-term careers and we want them to know that they are valued by our organisation no matter what age they are,” the company said.

“This policy update underscores our commitment to being an inclusive workplace and is designed to support our existing employees but also to attract external talent who have the invaluable maturity and life experience that they can bring to the business.”

While there is no statutory retirement age for the private sector, many employers do stipulate a mandatory retirement age in their employee contracts.

Amid promised reforms to the pension system, Taoiseach Micheál Martin recently said employees should be afforded more flexibility when it comes to retirement age and that workers could be incentivised to continue to work until 70 if they wish to do so.

“As one of the largest workforces in the country, we are aware of the broad scope of employees and age groups that work at Lidl, and we want to support those who would like to choose to continue working with us and are not limited by the mandatory retirement age,” said Maeve McCleane, chief people officer at Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland.