Career and retirement planning used to be simple. Climb the career ladder before you retire and enjoy the twilight decades of retirement. It was a binary opposition. This means that he worked until he could no longer work.
Those days are gone, just like the pension system. Demographic trends and aspirations are reshaping the very concept of what is involved in retirement, when and how. This is not your parents’ retirement plan. Society’s infrastructure and attitudes will need to adapt quickly to this new world of work.
Most Americans still want traditional full retirement, but it’s a smaller majority than expected.according to Recent Harris Poll, 56% of Americans want to eventually leave the workforce. The rest vary. 30% want to partially retire (e.g. work part-time or consult). Meanwhile, 7% have no intention of quitting their jobs, and 6% don’t know what they want to do.
According to one study, about 1 in 5 Americans over 65 was employed last year. 2023 Pew Research Center Report − Almost twice as many as the approximately 1 in 10 people still working in the 1980s.
Views of retirement are changing
When it comes to retirement, three different camps have emerged: “clean breakers” (full retirement), “reinventors” (shifting to part-time work), and “never stoppers” (no retirement).
Surprisingly, our research shows that the desire to fully retire is strongest among younger workers and declines as they approach the end of their actual careers. That is, while 63% of non-retired workers under the age of 34 want to fully retire, that figure drops from age 35 to 59% at age 54, and from age 55 to 59%. plummets to 36%.
Good salary but no job:High wages, 32-hour work weeks sound great, but the price is very high
There is an unchanging economic logic to this. Too many Americans don’t feel financially ready to quit their jobs.appear A new kind of job lock − People who cannot retire because they cannot afford it.
It’s been 40 years since major changes began to be made in the way people pay for their retirement. In 1984, the number of Americans participating in defined contribution plans such as IRAs exceeded the number of Americans participating in pension-type plans for the first time, but we learned more about what that meant. is still being worked on.
But there’s something more at work here. Life expectancy has increased over time, and people after the age of 65 are viewed in a different light.
Americans now live not only in terms of longevity; healthy life expectancy (a period of time when one is not only alive, but healthy) and yes, Work period.
Older people are working longer hours. American companies, take note.
What was once a period of twilight now seems brighter and longer. Suddenly, age 65 no longer seems like the end point of your career.
What does that mean for American companies? Multigenerational working is here to stay, and today’s companies need to tap into the potential of multiple generations, not just her third or his fourth. Five.
Work-life balance is life itself.We need to create better workplaces.
Harnessing the new multigenerational workforce, with five generations working side by side, will lead to higher output and economic growth.A 2020 study by the World Economic Forum and other researchers found that investing in this future Raise GDP per capita by almost 19% Over the next 30 years.
This makes intuitive sense. Older employees have more experience when they join, so retaining them is a plus. Modern business strategy requires diversity of experience and perspectives to lead to stronger outcomes.
Some forward-thinking companies are already preparing to make the most of the gray workforce of the future. general motors and boeing has launched a returnship program to enable older workers to return to work and add value.
Other companies are Looking for ways to retain older workers. Microsoft, for example, keeps benefits largely stable as older employees move to part-time work, while Marriott offers more flexible schedules. These case studies should not be outliers. they are pioneers.
Companies that fail to take advantage of extended tenure are leaving value and money behind. Gone are the days when only three or four generations contributed.Maybe it’s just a matter of time chief longevity officer They become executives.
The age of the 2024 U.S. presidential candidates is a hot-button issue, but we all need to get used to the reality of an aging population. Increased social participation is a positive development, and older Americans bring perspectives that Millennials and Gen Zers have not yet accumulated. Baby boomers are not only experienced; Lowest levels of burnout and highest levels of work engagement..
As long as these older participants remain sharp and passionate about problem-solving, a multigenerational America will become a stronger society.
Perhaps in a few decades, people won’t be so scared when people in their 70s run companies like JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft or win the White House.
Will Johnson serves as CEO harris pollone of the world’s leading opinion, market research, and strategy firms.
