Retirement Reimagined: The Perpetual Worker

Persona Name:?The Perpetual Worker

Age Range:?mid 50s to late 70s (or beyond)

Planned years to voluntary retirement:?5 to never

Three words to describe:?energetic, confident, socially active

Professional affiliations:?Healthcare worker (Doctor/nurse), IT practitioner, managerial role

Location/Jurisdiction:?UK, US, EU

The third persona that we identified through our interviews is called “The Perpetual Worker”. The goal of a Perpetual is to continue to work with the expectation of being paid, although some have focused exclusively on unpaid but significant volunteer work. This could be at their current job, a consultancy ?after leaving their long-term job, signing on with a contractor with a recruitment agency, or through volunteer organizations.

Perpetuals want flexibility in so far as how much time is spent working.?Those that wish to remain in their full time jobs are often looking for part time opportunities in situ anything from 1-4 days per week.?Others are acting as contractors on project, carrying out an agreed upon scope of work of a few months or less.

These individuals want their skills and experience to count for something – to have a positive impact on people and organizations. They achieve this by applying their skills to work that is personally important to them. They also show a great interest in being a part of one or many communities of practice and of interest allows them to be around like-minded people.

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Perpetual Workers have some common characteristics. They have had long and successful careers that are now behind them, or nearly so. They have achieved this through being highly skilled in their field and with deep expertise. It became clear that to them identity and work are closely intertwined. They also tend to be reasonably healthy, energetic by nature, and have a varying spread of interests.

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For Perpetuals, identity and/or finances are key components to their need and want to continue to work. Although financially prepared for retirement, some felt the insecurity of the unknown and want to continue to work to build an even larger pension fund. However, all of this is rooted in their identity. Perpetuals see themselves as ‘so-and-so of company X’ or ‘GP, nurse, doctor, engineer’.

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Not retiring from their long-term jobs or joining companies or organizations where they can do the same, or similar work is a way for them to retain their identities, while at the same time continuing to be intellectually stimulated.?The question is not ‘what will I do?’ but ‘who will I be’??These are people who grew up believing that they would train, get degrees, join the workforce and succeed.?This may be very much a generational phenomenon, as it coincides with a period of economic growth & the birth & maturation of the of the information age & globalization in economic terms.?For people born in the 50’s, 60’s and 70s, with the right kind of training and skills, it was one long upward trajectory.?It was also an era of displacement & decline for those industries that employed skilled and unskilled blue collar workers.?

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These individuals also demonstrated specific behaviors. They had many irons in the fire by committing themselves to both volunteer and paid work. They specifically sought out a community, or communities, that shared their interests or in which they could participate. They also enjoyed talking about what they’ve done, what they currently do, and what interests them overall. They pride themselves in the success and recognition they have achieved in their respective fields and worry about losing that if they were to not do anything relating to their field of expertise anymore.

Although financially motivated for some, others just felt the need to have busy schedules. Whether volunteering or paid work, part of a Perpetual’s need to continue to work is based around having many things to do to pass the time and staying intellectually stimulated, but with the flexibility of choosing when and where.

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As we mainly interviewed technology and healthcare professionals, these individuals were tech savvy. They feel comfortable connecting with and through technology. Specifically, occupation related, so anything from programming to managing, to nursing, etc.

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They displayed strong growth mindsets with a continued thirst for learning. The phrase “use it or lose it” was a phrased we heard used to describe their approach to what they did after retirement. Perpetuals focused their retirement activities, ?on going back to their passions that they were not always able to take part in while employed full-time and/or continuing to do what they loved both in hobbies and in work.

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Some elements of context for this persona:

·????????Lifelong affiliation with a profession and/or type of company

·????????Life partner is not working or already retired

·????????Life partner also still working and maybe close to retirement

·????????Financially ready for retirement, but want extra income for lifestyle or extra preparedness for any eventuality

·????????Retirement funds organized, but maybe waiting for state benefits to increase

·????????Married/single with grown children and grandchildren

·????????Healthcare, depending on their country of residence, may be a concern

Verbatims:

-???????“Use it or lose it.”

-???????“I am good at what I do. Now I just do it on my own schedule.”

-???????“I enjoy the people I work with & socialize with them, I want to stay in touch

-???????“ I have no plans to retire, my work is meaningful and fulfilling”

-???????“I’m healthy and I’ve got a lot of energy”

-???????“I retired but realized that I wasn’t done.?Not sure what’s next but I will almost certainly be coming out of retirement”

-???????“My profession was a vocation for me – working in children’s health.?I retired from full time but became a contractor for the health system.”

-???????“I needed a break from travelling for work, and wanted some time off and to spend more time with my spouse, be more flexible.?I am affiliated with a few groups, as a contractor, doing what I did in my job, which I found truly satisfying”

-???????“I like being with people, I like helping people and accomplishing work in a group.?Why not get paid for it”?