It is seven-fifteen in the morning. Wang Chi-chang (王吉昌), dressed in a light blue shirt and khakis, walks into a familiar China Steel steel mill and prepares to get to work.

After joining China Steel in 1980, Wang worked in the same building for four decades. But since his retirement in 2021, Wang is no longer an official employee. He is a contract worker—a consultant for the steelworks planning group.

Veteran reserves ready to leap into action

Back in 2012, to prepare for the oncoming waves of retiring workers, China Steel proactively established a “talent bank” of retirees. Human resources authorized department directors to rehire retirees past the age of 65 if they were willing to continue contributing to the company. 

Like reserves in the armed forces, business units and subsidiaries under the China Steel umbrella are able to browse through the talent bank if they need additional manpower. The retirees sign three-month contracts and become consultants. Their pay and benefits are connected to what they enjoyed when they were official workers.

Huang Mao-yuan (黃茂源), human resources director at China Steel, points out that learning from the valuable experience of senior employees is in the DNA of China Steel’s corporate culture. Senior managers above the rank of vice president are regularly rehired as consultants after their retirement. The creation of the retiree talent bank is a way to turn the established practice of utilizing the professionalism of retired technicians into a well-regulated system.

The registry of retirees is updated annually. There is no restriction on age. Currently, the bank has 750 veterans who are ready to leap into action. Around 30 of them are actively working as paid consultants. 

Imparting valuable advice to new blood

Before he retired, Wang was the section manager at the steel mill’s operations planning group. He was responsible for all the support necessary to the assembly line’s continued operations. Everything from raw materials procurement and allocation, to production scheduling and setting the output targets, to material quality monitoring for the blast furnaces—all of these tasks fall under the purview of the operations planning group.

Wang Chi-chang( Right) supervised the steel manufacturing process (Source: Ming-Tang Huang)

In his new role as consultant, Wang doesn’t need to roll up his own sleeves, but his advice is highly sought after.

Steelworks operations section chief Wu I-liang (吳怡亮) uses the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine as an example. The prices of raw materials like iron sand and coal are fluctuating due to the crisis. Are there other countries they could be purchased from? Is there a difference in quality? Team members ask Wang for advice, but Wu is the one who makes the final decision.

Precisely because workloads and accountability are clearly designated, there is a high degree of flexibility for China Steel’s retirees-turn-consultants.

Since his retirement in August 2021, Wang has already been asked to sign on as a consultant three separate times. After each three-month stint, he allows himself a couple months of rest before signing on again. 

“I was kept very busy the last forty years. I am retired now but still in good shape. I don’t want to have nothing to do, but I also don’t want to exhaust myself. So, I let myself rest after each period of activity,” says 66-year-old Wang. He is very satisfied with his currently reduced—but not interrupted—workload. 

Joining the chairman’s carbon reduction task force

On the other side of the China Steel plant, a new cooling tower is being built. The environment protection consultant, Hsiao Hui-huang (蕭輝煌), has a shock of gray hair. He points at the two diagonally placed water towers and explains how adjustments to pipe placement in the building process can maintain energy efficiency during production and meet carbon reduction requirements. 

Hsiao Hui-huang (Source: Ming-Tang Huang)

Hsiao is 68 years old. He is China Steel’s energy expert and takes charge of making the most out of the water, power, oil, and gas that the company consumes. 

After he retired in 2020, Hsiao acted as a consultant for China Steel’s subsidiary China Ecotek for a year. In 2022, he was rehired by China Steel’s environment protection department. He became part of the Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Task Force, headed by none other than China Steel chairman Chao-Tung Wong himself. Hsiao is tasked with helping to conduct carbon footprint verification and developing brand-new zero-carbon production processes. 

Because the pursuit of carbon neutrality is a long-term project, Hsiao’s contract has never been terminated. However, he only has to come to work two days a week; if he is needed at other times, he is willing to hop onto a video call. 

If I had to work five days a week, I would probably opt out. At this age, you want to have a little time for yourself, says Hsiao. 

Both Wang and Hsiao have mentioned that the savings and pensions they’ve collected after working 40 years at China Steel are enough for them to lead a content and relaxed life. They were willing to put on the uniform again not only because of sentimentalism, but because they got a sense of accomplishment out of still being able to contribute to the company with their professionalism even after they’ve retired. 

Growing stronger every day

Compared to regular employees, who are busy with their appointed tasks every day, retirees who come back as consultants have more time and space to ponder the company’s long-term strategies for transformation. 

For example, Hsiao is looking into advances in hydrogen-fueled steel production techniques and poring over how it may be combined with China Steel’s existing production processes. Wang is focused on using natural gas to replace coke in the smelting process; he is evaluating the possibility of introducing it into China Steel’s future production processes, from the perspectives of raw material and production equipment. “Even though I’m retired, I am learning and growing every day,” says Wang.

Huang points out that as the industry matures, the steel industry’s toll on the health of its employees is less than what it was before. Many China Steel retirees past the age of 65 are still at their peak, whether professionally, physically, or mentally.  

The retiree talent bank not only satisfies the company’s need for manpower, it is also a way to offer workers who are still able to contribute a relatively flexible working schedule. “Retirement is a process, it is not one or the other,” says Huang. 

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Translated by Jack Chou
Edited by TC Lin
Uploaded by Ian Huang