Why do companies offer early retirement incentives? Because it is easier to reduce your workforce when folks choose to leave rather than if they go unwillingly

Why do companies offer early retirement incentives? Because it is easier to reduce your workforce when folks choose to leave rather than if they go unwillingly. If you get enough reduction from this method, folks aren't as worried about their jobs. And i'm guessing in the long term, there are fewer disgruntled ex-employees. Wouldn't it be cheaper to wait until the day(or week or month) that you'd otherwise offer them to leave on, and fire them right then without any benefits? Especially since the stated purpose of it is to save money. Possibly upfront, but not in the long run. The nearly retired folks are more likely to earn more money and will likely be retiring at some point anyway so a fair amount of the costs will be happening nevertheless. From what I've seen, usually there is a decent one-time bonus and possibly earlier earning on retirement. With regular firing, unions generally require the lowest seniority folks go first. Over time, this is actually more expensive with day to day operations because these folks tend to earn the least. Plus all the hits to the employee morale.