Going from working 35 hours a week to zero can be unsettling.
Retirement brings major changes and requires you to reinvent your daily routine. If you have the desire and the opportunity, you could experience a period of transition between work and retirement, allowing you to better adapt to this new stage in your life.
Employers in the public sector offer various measures to reduce your working hours:
- time management and work reduction program;
- sabbatical leave with deferred pay;
- phased departure.
The measures could also be known under different names depending on whether you work in the public service, education or health and social services sectors. The terms may vary from one employer to another, just as your eligibility for them may vary, and they are not necessarily offered in all public-sector pension plans.
Your employer can provide you with information about the options available. The measures you could benefit from depend on your working conditions.
Time management and work reduction program
Do you want to spend less time at work each week or take longer vacations?
This program allows you to change your work schedule, either by reducing your number of hours per week or by grouping your hours into fewer days.
For example, with a "reduced week" arrangement, you can work four days a week instead of five, giving you one day off per week.
Certain programs also allow you to accrue compensatory leave. For example, you could work 35 hours a week and receive a pay equivalent to 32 hours of work. This means that each week, three hours are banked to allow you to accrue compensatory leave.
You can participate in either of these programs throughout your career.
Sabbatical leave with deferred pay
Do you need a long break, but do not want to quit your job right away?
This type of leave allows you to spread your salary over a period of two to five years, during which you take six to 12 months of leave. For example, you could receive 80% of your salary over five years and be on leave during one of those five years.
The sabbatical leave with deferred pay is possible throughout your career.
Phased departure
Leaving slowly but surely can be an interesting option.
Phased departure allows you to reduce your working hours before retiring. The period during which you benefit from a phased departure agreement must last a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 60 months.
You are required to retire at the end of that period, unless you reach an agreement with your employer to return to work.
Before entering into an agreement, find out more!
Regardless of the measure you want to benefit from, take the time to learn about certain aspects that could impact your retirement planning:
- Will you continue to accrue years of service as if you were working full-time?
- Will you need to contribute to your workplace pension plan from the salary you will actually receive or from the salary you would have received without an agreement?
- Will the salary taken into account to calculate your pension under your workplace pension plan be the salary you actually receive or from the salary you would have received without an agreement?
Careful: it is the salary that you actually received that is used to calculate your retirement pension under the Québec Pension Plan. This could decrease the amount of your pension if you reduced salary is lower than the maximum pensionable earnings, which are $71 300 in 2025.
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