The 9-to-5 grind that is the bane of many workers has kept Anna Baran at her Anne Arundel County government post for more than 30 years.
“Routine is what makes a vacation enjoyable,” said Baran, a senior personnel analyst in the county?s personnel office. “I like working the routine. When it gets taken away from you, you realize how valuable it is.”
Baran will retire Sept. 1, ending a tenure that began in 1975 in the county?s Public Works Department as a personnel manager.
She picked the county government because her husband was working in Annapolis.
The only gaps in Baran?s career came when she took time off to have two children.
She is one of the 225 county employees eligible to retire this year, a growing number that has county officials fearing a potential “brain drain” in the coming years.
“If everyone at retiring age retired right now, we?d be in trouble,” Baran said. “But we have plans in place and I don?t think that?s going to be a problem for Anne Arundel.”
Baran said she has mentored others in her department “so someone has the knowledge I have by the time I leave,” especially her historical knowledge of contract negotiations.
“These kind of programs are very important to us,” county Personnel Officer Andrea Fulton
said. “Without them, we?d be lost.”
Baran would not disclose her age, but said she?s old enough to join the AARP.
Baran said her family may move to Delaware and spend time with her grandchild, but so far the retirement plans have not been finalized.
“I loved working for the county and I tremendously enjoyed helping employees,” Baran said. “But I?m ready to travel and enjoy some things like gardening.”
