This is the time of year when the knowledge Jerry Wester gained during 37 years working at Georgia Power is often put to use.
Wester, who retired in 2003, is a member of the power company's pool of reserves, a group of 200 retirees who return to work for special projects, such as teaching new employees how to safely repair electrical lines knocked down in an ice storm.
For about eight weeks in 2006, Wester, 59, taught new Georgia Power employees at the company's Lithonia training center, where his students worked on simulated power lines. He draws on his experience as a lineman and as a senior methods and training specialist.
Wester, like other retired Georgia Power workers in the reservist pool, is getting in a little post-retirement work to keep busy and earn a bit more income, while still enjoying extra time to pursue personal interests.
"I enjoyed my job," Wester said. "I left to spend more time with my two grandkids. But I like to have my schedule full, and this contributes to my pension."
Heyward Williams, Georgia Power's manager of diversity and work force planning, said the company was developing its employment strategy a few years ago and wondered whether it could better tap into its retirees' knowledge and experience.
"[We] decided we needed the information from our older workers to get our younger workers up to speed," Williams said. "Now, when people retire, as part of the package we give them we offer a form to see if they want to be a consultant."
Williams estimates that there are as many as 4,000 Georgia Power retirees, many of whom are retired for good and won't be candidates for the program. But when a retiring worker asks to be considered for occasional work, his or her name and work skills are entered into a database that Georgia Power's managers can use to find help dealing with peak workloads.
Not all of the post-retirement work involves power lines and transformers. Ira Turner, who retired from his position as a customer service manager in May 1994, has worked in recent years as a customer liaison to let people know what the company is doing just before a construction project begins.
For example, when the company wanted to improve access to old power lines hung over backyards in the residential area around Emory University about a year ago, Turner called and met with homeowners to explain that the company wanted to install a system of gates between properties.
"I let them know that, in the case of storms, we'll be able to get to their lines much faster, or it could be awhile without power," Turner said.
For nine years, Turner said, he "stayed retired" -- keeping busy with community work and volunteering at golf tournaments.
In 2004 he visited some of his former co-workers, who told him about a recently created program called the reservist pool.
"I think it's a win-win situation for the former employee and for the employer," Turner said. "What was good for me is it helped supplement the pension I was receiving and helped keep me busy. For the employer, it helps accelerate the time it takes to complete a project."
These days Turner is working on a community relations effort to let property owners along Austin Drive in Morrow know that the company is about to replace wooden poles in the Georgia Power right-of-way with concrete versions.
"Sometimes a homeowner uses the right-of-way for gardening or planting, and we're going to have to cross it with trucks," Turner said. "And when we do, we want to repair it. We give them respect and let them know that this is something that is needed."
The reservist pool is a formal version of a longtime, informal practice of hiring retirees as consultants, Williams said.
"Before, we had retired people who left their names with the place they retired from and said, 'If you need help, call me.' "
Those names came in handy during the months leading up to the 1996 Olympics, when many retirees accepted short-term jobs to help the company prepare for the event.
"And there is a lot of construction in metro Atlanta, so our retired engineers are helping guide newer engineers in how to keep things on pace," Williams said.
The program isn't for everybody, he said, but it is attractive for retirees like Turner and Wester.
"I wouldn't imagine everybody who leaves wants to come back," Williams said. "It's a voluntary program, and it's not meant to become another career."