Active retirement and Interim Management: New opportunities

What if retiring no longer meant ceasing to lead?

With the entry into force of Real Decreto-ley 11/2024, the pension system is adapting to an increasingly common reality: many people wish to continue contributing professional value after retirement. This reform regulates and facilitates three modalities – active, partial, and deferred retirement – which, together, open an unprecedented scenario for leveraging senior talent.

In this context, Interim Management not only fits in but is projected as the most effective and secure professional avenue to channel this continued employment.

What Changes with the Real Decreto-ley 11/2024?

The reform, in force since April 1, 2025, introduces significant changes in three key areas:

1. Active retirement

Allows combining the receipt of a pension with paid work. New features:

• The requirement of having contributed to receive 100% of the regulatory base is eliminated.
• It is possible to receive up to 100% of the pension if retirement has been delayed.
• It is allowed to combine it with incentives for delay.

2. Partial retirement

Allows continuing to work with reduced hours and receiving a proportional part of the pension. New features:

• Improves access in sectors where generational handover can be organized progressively.
• Reinforces the figure of the professional replacement, without an abrupt separation.

3. Deferred retirement

Consists of voluntarily delaying the time of retirement to obtain economic incentives. New features:

• An additional economic supplement compatible with subsequent active retirement is introduced.
• Facilitates combining bonuses for delay with the partial maintenance of activity.

A new fertile ground for interim management

With this new legal framework, Interim Management is strengthened as the ideal solution for those who wish to continue working temporarily and flexibly. This figure, which had already been growing as a project-based leadership model, now finds clear and favorable regulatory support.

Why does it fit so well?

• Because it does not imply indefinite employment relationships.
• Because it leverages experience without organizational rigidities.
• Because it responds to specific needs in defined times.

What value does this new scenario bring?

The reform of the pension system has not only expanded the possibilities of remaining professionally active after retirement but has also redefined the role of senior talent within organizations. This new legal framework offers clear advantages for both companies seeking temporary leadership and professionals who wish to continue their careers from a new perspective.

For companies

Organizations can benefit from this reform immediately:

• Proven talent, available and legally accessible.
• Strategic flexibility without structural burden.
• Acceleration of results.

Incorporating an Interim Manager in a situation of active or partial retirement allows access to vision, maturity, and immediate decision-making capacity at key moments, without long-term commitments or additional fixed costs.

For senior professionals

Also for retired executive profiles, this scenario opens a new professional stage full of opportunities. It allows them to remain active, leverage their accumulated experience, and contribute to projects that value their career:

• Maintain active participation in the labor market under their own terms and schedules.
• Participate in relevant projects that value their professional career.
• Possibility of obtaining additional income without giving up the pension.

This flexibility not only allows them to adapt their activity to their personal reality but also to continue developing professionally in environments that value their experience.

Servitalent: We activate senior talent with vision and rigor

At Servitalent, we have over 10 years of specialization in Interim Management, accompanying organizations and senior professionals in transformation and temporary leadership processes. We know that the value of experience does not expire and that many retired professionals still have much to contribute. That is why we work to:

• Identify and activate senior profiles eager to continue leading.
• Help organizations integrate this talent into temporary projects.
• Promote Interim Management as a solution to address strategic challenges.

This new legislation only reinforces what we already knew: that the future of talent is also written with experience.

Are you considering taking advantage of this new scenario?