WongonWork: The 60-year career?

John Goodenough (1922-2023) was awarded the 2019 Nobel prize for chemistry for his invention of the lithium-ion battery in 1980. In 1986, he accepted a Chair at University of Texas at Austin before he was retired by Oxford (Oxford today ) and remained research active at UT Austin for another 32 years as a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He stopped working as a research academic at the age of ninety-nine, something that wasn’t possible in the UK.

Goodenough is a rare exception. Dame Maggie Smith (1934-2024) is another. Not everyone will want to, or can work into their 70s, 80s and 90s but for those who feel they have much more to offer, notwithstanding official policies of no discrimination, the workplace can be quite ‘discouraging’.

So, imagine a world where There Is Light Somewhere for those extending their working lives:

?

Imagine that organisations and their older employees have co-developed a service that provides advice, support. There is enabling technology and processes available for experienced, knowledgeable, healthy, and motivated older workers to successfully transition to a new, mutually beneficial deal. For these, the meaning from extended work ameliorates some of the downsides of giving up the significant time lost, to the deferral of the long-anticipated period of leisure, and shelved retirement plans and projects.

For those who are wedded to the traditional default retirement age, followed by a complete exit from paid employment, their transition is supported by the Retirement Service Hub for a full year offering advice on flexible working, phased retirement, the option of joining the Associate pool after retirement, and psychological support for those new to full retirement.

Imagine also that the State, recognising the talent and skills crisis, but sensitive to strong cultural norms of set retirement ages and individual preference, have published official guidance on performance conversations that broach the imminence (or not) of retirement and/or performance managing staff towards retention or separation. Legislation exists that enables greater flexibility in employment relationships with their older workers with a range of different models on offer, each of which is accompanied by impact analyses on and negotiated rights and obligations. Employers are able then to have mature conversations with older workers, confident that they are not in breach of labour regulations. The valuable knowledge and skills of those choosing extended working lives benefits the older worker, their organisations, the economy, and the State. We already see this now as some workers are able to retire, only to return to work as consultants or agency workers.

We could also dream of a new ‘Retirement’ rite of passage, which in time, encompasses post-retirement work with far more flexibility and choice in scheduling and work practices, while still contributing value to firm and country. Innovation in legal forms of employment enable all performing older workers to enjoy the possibility of extending their working lives, not just bespoke employment deals for the select few. These flexible deals may also work well in balancing the ‘fairness’ of the psychological contracts in a multi-generational workforce.

These new forms of employment will not suit the needs of all older workers. The Retirement Service provides advice and support that is unlikely to be fully customised to the individual or company but co-created in accordance with templates to provide clear frames of fairness, understood and recognised across the workforce. These acknowledge the complexity of balancing individual differences with a stable, administratively workable, and coherent programme.

?

Why is there such urgency for a? ‘new deal’?

Demographics

In 1960 , life expectancy after pensionable age in the OECD was 13.4 years for men and 16.8 for women. In 2010, it was five years longer for men and more than six years later for women. By 2050 this is projected to reach 20.3 and 24.6 years, for men and women respectively (see 100-year life ). ?As the graphic shows, this has meant that the older worker is already a significant segment of the workforce in some countries.

While life expectancy post state pension age is growing steadily, total fertility rate (TFR) is falling off a cliff. In 1984-85, OECD countries total fertility rate tipped below replacement (2.1 children per woman) and is trending downwards (OECD TFR average in 2022 was 1.5). And it affects not just the developed North. China’s Academy of Social Sciences estimates that the pension system will run out of money in 2035 reflecting over three decades of ultra-low TFR (a result of the ‘one-child policy’) and increased life expectancy. Life expectancy in 1960 and 2021 was 44 years and 78 years respectively, with projections exceeding 80 years by 2050.

?

Worldwide skills shortages and consequent economic risks

The EU’s analysis of member labour markets show that shortages have been trending upwards for at least a decade (2013-2023). Globally, talent shortages are projected to lead to more than?85 million unfilled jobs ?by 2030, resulting in annual revenue losses of roughly $8.5 trillion. This jeopardises not just economic growth and competitiveness, but the necessary transitions to more sustainable economies requiring massive investments in fixed and human capital.

Knowledge obsolescence while lifelong learning not keeping up.

Notwithstanding the recognition that economic competitiveness and productivity require up-to-date (and relevant) skills and knowledge, investment in learning and development remains quite low in the UK, and lower still for older workers. Many managers share a glib assumption that older workers, being non-digital natives, are as a consequence, technologically inept. Hudomiet and Willis’s 2021 paper examining the impact of ICT on older US workers between 1984 to 2017 reports that the initial knowledge gap started to narrow quite early on and had disappeared by the 2010s. Note that this related to workers who had finished their High School education BEFORE computerisation became ubiquitous in the corporate workplace.

?

Taming the cognitive decline on retirement

A longitudinal study of 3433 UK civil servants (Whitehall II ) examining all aspects of cognitive function 14 years before, and a similar time after retirement, concluded that cognition in all its dimensions declined over time. For example, among the higher employment grades, the ‘protective effect’ against verbal memory decline while in employment was lost when individuals retired. This study points to the benefits of stimulating activities associated with employment that could benefit older people’s memory.

?

Improving mental and physical wellbeing

The evidence from Modini, Joyce & Harvey (2016)’s meta-analysis strongly supports the proposition that good work can be beneficial for an employee’s well-being, particularly if good-quality supervision is present and there are favourable workplace conditions. The benefits of work are most apparent when compared with the well-documented detrimental effects of unemployment on mental health.

?

… as well as financial wellbeing

With the post pandemic cost of living crisis and double-digit inflation experienced by so many in the past two years, working longer became a necessity in many households. The stories of choosing to ‘to eat’ or ‘to heat’ reflected how fragile fixed incomes for the working poor and pensioners are in many countries. While working longer post pension age is highly likely to improve one’s financial resilience and reduce the dependence on State support, the research suggests that the benefits of working beyond pension age depends, at least to some extent, on having a say in the matter. If work is a necessity, chances are you are in a group that won’t experience the positives of extended working lives.

?

What is working now for organisations and for individuals?

The individuals’ life stories

Professor Sarah Vickerstaff invited me to reflect as a discussant on the interviews of older workers as part of her research (Jeff’s story ; Luke’s story ; Kevin’s story ). I supplemented their stories, seeking out a few others who were contemplating extended working lives to discover what was uppermost in their minds.

Financial sustainability and being able to exercise options were both important. Another positive for continuing employment was the fulfilment derived from their current work (especially where work relationships were warm) balanced against the time and other activities they would have to reduce (or give up), in extending their work life. Control over time was also important, especially if the subjects had care responsibilities (some of which may bring a lot of pleasure, for example, in helping to bring up grandchildren).

So, flexibility at work was an intrinsic measure of that choice to accept offers of continued work, or not. Continued stimulation, ongoing learning, fresh experiences, a chance to grow personal interests, maintaining professional contacts, exploring their creativity, were amongst the key factors cited for choosing to work longer.

?

Organisations-Matching for mutual benefit.

At one global corporation I interviewed, I was offered the example of their CFO who wanted to retire. In discussions with the CEO and Senior Leadership Team, he disclosed that the day-to-day operations were no longer stimulating. He was offered discrete strategic projects to transform systems and to lead M&As – and a new CFO was hired for the business-as-usual. He is still there three years afterwards, and both firm and ‘retired CFO’ are thriving.

That was an individual arrangement. At an organisational level, we can see some attempts to retain older workers.

The best examples are from Japan where over 13% of the workforce are above 65. At Mitsubishi Corporation, they have a Career Design Center for employees aged 60 and older. The Center offers individualised consultations, information and training based on each employee’s personal situation and values. The support includes preparing employees for careers outside the Mitsubishi group with curated recruitment and job matching information. Very similar to the Mitsubishi programme, Tokyo Gas offers comprehensive support for over 50s through their Grand Career System .

In the US, CVS, a major American pharmacy chain, offer their older pharmacists nearing retirement the option of working in sunnier Florida or Arizona during the harsh northern winters. This ‘Snowbird scheme’ retained their more experienced pharmacists for a few more years. More significantly it also benefited CVS as these pharmacists worked in these warmer states when demand increased from the thousands of snowbirds moving to their winter homes.

At odds with the need to retain skilled workers are the findings from the KPMG CEO Outlook survey published today. The CEOs in the survey are insisting on returning to pre-pandemic ways of working, with 83% expecting a full return to the office within the next three years ( up from 64% in 2023). It was notable that the older the CEO, the harder the stance. Male CEOs were notably more insistent about the return to office than their female counterparts. Furthermore, 87% of respondents say they are likely to reward employees who make an effort to come into the office with favourable assignments, increased remuneration or promotions.

?

What next?

I had the privilege of sharing thoughts with Sergio Serapiao , Founder of Labora Tech and Lab 60+ ; we agreed that employers and company policies needed to catch-up with the inevitable: that older workers are - and continue to be - needed in the labour market. And that current approaches and discriminatory attitudes need to change.

In particular,

a.????? Older workers should not be viewed through the lens of medicalisation (retiring workers before they get sicker with age) but to recognise that people are on average enjoying longer, healthier lives, and that quality of work contributes to better lives.

b.????? Governments and organisations cannot consider themselves truly inclusive if they fail to support the older worker in staying both well and relevant in the labour market, in similar ways to assisting young adults to transition to the workplace through apprenticeships and career skills/advice. Citizens of any age in every country, whether in the Global North or South, have a right to age well, to be able to maintain self-care, and to have the financial and social resources to enable them to enjoy all three, in work.

c.????? The technologies of matching people and their skills to jobs, and the reality of needing to reskill and reinvent oneself across a 60-year work life demand a radically new understanding of recruitment, lifelong learning, relationships with organisations, and new ways of regulating work. By taking a holistic view on the extended work life, governments, employers and line managers can ensure workers will thrive and enjoy better health while delivering valuable work that much longer, reducing the negative impacts of ageing on national health systems, and postponing ?a dependency on social safety nets until much later in life.

?

Betty Friedan said, “Ageing is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” ?

Should we not share her optimism, remembering that without exception, all of us are growing older by the day? Re-engineering the deal for older workers is better addressed now, before it becomes a crisis that no one can fix.

? Wilson Wong 2024

?

Quite by chance, today is the UN International Day of Older Persons 2024, appropriately themed on Ageing with Dignity. May everyone take the time to understand the imperative to support older persons as they transition in society, at work, at play, at home.

In my monthly blogs, I’ll explore some of the drivers shaping (the future of) work and the implications for organisations.

*Hyperlinked orgs and sites aren’t endorsed by me but are sources I scan and include in some of my analyses.