Redesigning Retirement

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Personal Development, Leading & Managing Section | 1

Redesigning Retirement

By Ken Dychtwald et al.,  | Harvard Business Review Magazine | March–April 2024 Issue

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Today’s workforce and workplace are in unprecedented flux. Organizations have serious talent gaps to fill, for all sorts of reasons: high employee turnover, low employee engagement, the dramatic shift to remote and hybrid work, the continuing Baby Boomer retirement wave, rapid advances in technology. Many of the most critical positions require sophisticated skills, experience, and social acumen. Those needs can’t all be met simply by hiring and training inexperienced workers or leveraging AI.

In fact, an older workforce is already here. It’s projected that by 2032 one in four U.S. workers will be 55 or older, and close to one out of every 10 will be 65 or older. In Germany, Japan, and Italy, workers 55 or older already account for a quarter or more of the workforce. A Bain & Company study forecasts that 150 million jobs worldwide will shift to workers over 55 by 2030.

People who are 65 or older now represent the fastest-growing segment of the labor force – by far.  Companies will need to think in creative new ways about how to engage these workers and the most of what they have to offer.  How companies can engage older workers.  Preserve experience (phased retirement, new skills training, lateral transfers, and rotations; and sabaticals); replenish experience (rehiring retirees, refresher courses to update skills, recruiting through retiree networks); share experience (mentorships, instructors and adviser roles, institutional knowledge systems); offer flexibility (schedules, locations, benefits); and leverage age diversity (DEI programs, multigenerational teams, connection opportunities).

All those changes are part of a broader and deeply significant transformation in the shape of people’s lives—and in what it means to “age” and “retire.” Seventy-one percent of Americans who are 65 or older say that the best time of their lives is not in the past but right now or still in front of them. And 83% say that feeling “useful” is more important to them than feeling “youthful.” Working longer can make them feel both. This has a powerful implication: If “retirement” means completely ceasing work and devoting two or more decades to 24/7 leisure, it’s increasingly impractical, unappealing, and obsolete.

We need to overcome lingering ageist stereotypes and start thinking of older and retired workers as a large, versatile, and valuable labor pool—one that’s significantly underutilized. Nearly 60% of people who are in or nearing retirement say they would be open to working during their retirement. That includes some 20 million retirees under the age of 75. If employers can get better at hiring, retaining, and engaging older workers—redesigning the employment deal—they’ll discover countless options for mutually productive matches.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. People who are 65 or older now represent the fastest-growing segment of the labor force – by far.  Companies will need to think in creative new ways about how to engage these workers and the most of what they have to offer.  
2. How companies can engage older workers.  The following suggestions can work: preserve experience (phased retirement, new skills training, lateral transfers, and rotations; and sabaticals); replenish experience (rehiring retirees, refresher courses to update skills, recruiting through retiree networks); share experience (mentorships, instructors and adviser roles, institutional knowledge systems); offer flexibility (schedules, locations, benefits); and leverage age diversity (DEI programs, multigenerational teams, connection opportunities).
3. All those changes are part of a broader and deeply significant transformation in the shape of people’s lives—and in what it means to “age” and “retire.” The people increasingly feel that “useful” is more important to them than feeling “youthful.” Working longer can make them feel both.

Full Article

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Topics:  Old Age, Retirement, Productivity