Georgia-Pacific develops retiree staffing program

To combat an ever-changing industry, Atlanta-based packaging company Georgia-Pacific (GP) created a program that utilizes retirees' skill sets, matching the former employees to suitable projects.  

GP’s Retiree Talent Network Program is led by the company’s internal staffing agency, Encadria Staffing Solutions. Natika Boyd-Johnson, GP senior client services manager, says the program was designed to leverage the wealth of experience and knowledge from the company’s retirees, which in turn provides them with opportunities to continue contributing to GP’s organizations in meaningful ways. 

“Although we’ve always placed retirees at Georgia-Pacific and other Koch companies, we decided to create a separate database to streamline this process when facilities have a need,” Boyd-Johnson says. 

GP is a supplier of building products to lumber and building materials dealers and warehouse retailers. Its Georgia-Pacific Recycling subsidiary is among the world's largest traders of paper, metal and plastics. Boyd-Johnson says the company operates more than 150 facilities and employs approximately 30,000 people directly, creating more than 80,000 jobs indirectly. 

Placing retirees

Steve Hendricks worked full-time at GP for about 15 years, starting as an engineering manager. He says he wore many different hats during his time at the company and got the chance to build four new mills during the last five years he worked there.  

Hendricks retired from GP in June 2022. After retiring, he took about four months off before returning to GP to work in increments where needed. 

“When I first started, I was doing more things I could do from the house ... getting to the mills just a little bit,” he says. “Doing capital planning and asset analysis, because I knew all the mills so I knew the condition they were in, and I could do it a lot easier and simpler than people that didn’t know the mills.” 

The program was initially created in late 2024 by Sue Strong-Gossage, the previous Encadria general manager who has since retired. Boyd-Johnson says the program currently has 123 retirees placed at Georgia-Pacific and Koch Companies across the U.S., and a total of 30 retirees signed up to be placed. 

Retaining institutional knowledge

“[The retirees] provide particular skill sets for special projects or short-term assignments,” she says. “Often, their expertise is used to train or guide employees with less experience or those who are being trained to be leaders in a particular area, department or long-term project.” 

Throughout the program, retirees have been involved in maintenance and process optimization, standard facility outages and capital machinery installations. The retirees are all former GP or Koch employees and are compensated for their work.  

Boyd-Johnson has received feedback from retirees involved in the program. She says that many reported enjoying the flexibility of the program’s schedule. There are no set shifts within the talent network program; schedules are made based on the facility’s needs and the retiree’s availability. 

“There are also those retirees who were interested in maintaining their earning capability, so we’ve heard from them [that] the opportunity to generate post-retirement income is valued,” she says. 

After spending some time working from home, Hendricks says eventually he asked the vice president of lumber if there was something in the mills for him to work on. Over the past year and a half, he spent time helping at a mill that they built brand new. 

“As things happen nowadays, a lot of turnover ... leadership turnover and maintenance turnover, they started to struggle,” he says. “So, they asked me to come in and help. I’d go spend a week down there every few weeks, primarily coaching a lot of the new leaders.” 

He says his work on this project, which he worked on until last fall, involved helping others understand what issues they had with equipment and training them on the way that things were designed and how they should work. Because Hendricks worked on the start of some projects and developments, he’s able to detail how things should function for those who weren’t there at the beginning. 

Mutual benefit

“One of the biggest impacts has been the amount of time and money saved by not having to source for specific talent, training time saved and keeping key players involved that are directly connected and aligned to the business’ vision and priorities,” Boyd-Johnson says. 

The program also benefits current GP employees, as it provides gap coverage during recruitment and onboarding processes, as well as in situations where knowledge transfer is critical to continued business operations. 

“For any company that’s interested in bridging their talent and experience gaps and retaining knowledge, a retiree program would be mutually beneficial,” she says. 

Hendricks likes to keep active, as he’s an ultra-triathlete. During retirement, he participates or volunteers in running, swimming and biking events and spends time building tree houses for his 14 grandchildren. 

He says the program benefits him, as he likes to be around people and do things he’s good at. He also enjoys sharing his experiences with the newer, younger people at the company and going out to the plant. 

“When you retire, you’re at home a lot alone. It’s kind of fun to just get out and interface with people,” he says. “Of course, it also gives me a little extra spending cash for some of my adventures I like to go on and some of the things I like to do for my grandkids.” 

When it comes to retaining institutional knowledge, Hendricks finds the program effective. He’s been able to share his industry knowledge with newer employees, as well as give leadership advice. 

“When somebody retires, a lot of knowledge goes out the door,” he says. “People need to retire and enjoy life and all that, but I think [for] somebody like myself that likes to keep moving, I think it’s a benefit to the companies to be able to continue to draw on that knowledge and things that they learned over a long career.”