Sponsored by 30 major public and private organizations in North America and Europe, the project explored the emerging business challenges presented by workforce aging and other profound shifts in workforce demographics. On the basis of our findings, we developed a series of management actions and pragmatic techniques for anticipating, coping with, and capitalizing on those changes. Member organizations shaped the focus and direction of the project, shared their experiences as part of the field research, and participated in a series of workshops.
If companies are to win back the hearts and minds of baby boomers and other generations of mature workers, they need to start with the work environment itself, which has become increasingly alienating to anyone over the age of Human resource practices are often explicitly or implicitly biased against older workers, and these biases can seep into the culture in a manner that makes them feel unwelcome. It starts with recruiting, in subtle ways such as the choice of words in a job advertisement.
Traditional recruiting channels such as want ads or help wanted signs may not attract older workers either. Twelve years ago, pharmacy chain CVS looked at national demographic trends and concluded that the company needed to employ a much greater number of older workers. Now the company works through the National Council on Aging, city agencies, and community organizations to find and hire productive new employees.
Interviewing techniques can be unintentionally off-putting as well. Training and development activities also tend to favor younger employees. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, older workers age 55 plus receive on average less than half the amount of training that any of their younger cohorts receive, including workers in the 45 to 54 age range. And yet many midcareer and older employees require refresher training in areas from information technology to functional disciplines to nonhierarchical management methods.
At Dow Chemical, the companywide expectation is that employees at all levels will continue to learn and grow; as a result, employees regularly seek training and development opportunities, readying themselves for their next career moves.
Most important, mature workers will be attracted to a culture that values their experience and capabilities—an environment that can take some time and effort to build. The Aerospace Corporation is a company that has, over the years, built a reputation for valuing experience and knowledge. Nearly half of its 3, regular, full-time employees are over age 50—a clear signal to job candidates that experience is appreciated. CVS has made great strides in creating a company that is more welcoming to older employees, having more than doubled the percentage of employees over age 50 in the past 12 years.
It has no mandatory retirement age, making it easy to join the company at an advanced age and stay indefinitely six employees are in their nineties. The company boosts its age-friendly image through internal and external publications.
For most of history, people worked until they dropped. Older workers can see that CVS honors experience. What influenced his decision? She was recently given a year pin. By giving Penn credit for time served before she joined the company, CVS once again sent a strong signal about the value attached to experience.
Companies need to design jobs such that staying on is more attractive than leaving. Many mature workers want to keep working but in a less time-consuming and pressured capacity so that they may pursue other interests.
And many baby boomers have a direct and compelling need for flexibility to accommodate multiple commitments, such as caring for children and elderly parents at the same time. The concept of flexible work is not new, of course, and many companies offer it in some form—job sharing, telecommuting, compressed workweeks, and part-time schedules. But such programs are usually small in scale and, in practice, are often taken up by new mothers and others with consuming family commitments.
Kansas City hosts some 90 call centers, so employees had numerous other options, and the applicant pool was shallow. He then actively recruited baby boomers, who were attracted to the flexibility, to fill these jobs. While some younger workers signed on initially, the company found that these employees missed having an office community and largely dropped out.
Meanwhile, ARO gained access to a large pool of mature, experienced employees, who, on the whole, have stayed with the company longer than younger employees have. ARO has found that younger, entry-level workers cannot make these connections as easily. Other companies offer flexibility in work assignments to reignite older employees who have come to find their jobs a bit stale—an approach that can be of particular value in appealing to highly paid managerial talent.
The committee then sat down with each nominated employee to customize a second career with the firm, including flexible hours and work location, special projects, and the opportunity to engage in mentoring, research, training and development, company promotions, or global expansion.
Deloitte still has about a dozen active senior leaders, most of whom opted for full-time work in their rejuvenated roles. Being a senior leader became extremely prestigious both to the firm and to the clients. The reduced hours are an attractive option because it gives workers opportunities to pursue outside interests.
At Varian, a leading provider of radiotherapy systems, employees age 55 and over who have a minimum of five years of service and who plan to retire within three years can negotiate a reduced work schedule. The typical arrangement is four days per week the first year and three days a week thereafter.
Half-time is the minimum, and two half-timers can job share. Participants retain full medical and dental benefits and can request a return to full-time work if the new schedule results in economic hardship. Flexible retirement is flexible work in the extreme—a logical extension of the flexible work models just described, where the work may continue indefinitely. For almost all of history, people worked until they dropped. It was only during the Great Depression that, desperate to make room in the workforce for young workers, governments, unions, and employers institutionalized retirement programs as we know them today, complete with social security and pension plans.
When the modern notion of retirement was first articulated near the end of the nineteenth century, the designated retirement age of 65 was longer than the life expectancy at the time. Over the last 50 years, the average retirement age declined steadily; in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, the average retirement age is currently around Meanwhile, life expectancies have increased, leaving more years for leisure.
People tend to identify strongly with their work, their disciplines, and their careers. Many wish to learn, grow, try new things, and be productive indefinitely, through a combination of commercial, volunteer, and personal pursuits. They enjoy the sense of self-worth that comes with contributing to a business or other institution, and they enjoy the society of their peers.
For some people, the workplace is their primary social affiliation. For all these reasons, the notion of retirement as it is traditionally practiced—a onetime event that permanently divides work life from leisure—no longer makes sense.
Some regulations currently restrict our vision of workers moving seamlessly in and out of flexible work arrangements without ever actually retiring. And pension calculations often discourage people even from reducing their hours with a current employer prior to retirement because payouts are often determined by the rate of pay in the last few years of work.
In an ideal world, flexible retirement would allow employees to move in and out of the workplace seamlessly, without ever choosing a moment to retire. Employers would offer flexible work, compensation, pension and benefits arrangements, subject to sensible and straightforward tests of fairness and merit. Employers would need reasonable flexibility in selecting employees and legal protection from discrimination claims from those workers not selected.
Flex retirement would embrace a variety of trajectories—different work for a former employer, the same type of work for a new employer, a career restart, variable schedules. The obstacles start with pension and benefits regulations:. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act imposes rules of uniformity in the treatment of employees and their pension benefits.
The job market changes constantly. By marketing yourself strategically, you can land an opportunity where you make a meaningful impact and leave a valuable legacy. Be prepared to develop a resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile that aligns with current job market trends.
Then learn how to interview effectively via video. Focus on your history and achievements from the last 10 to 15 years. Otherwise, you can age yourself out of consideration if you insist on talking about work you did 30 years ago.
Ageism is sadly very real. If you are not sure how to get started, find a career coach experienced with mature and late-career professionals. Whichever route you take, consult with your accountant or tax professional to understand the impact of any new income. We will be offering assistance with annuities, life insurance, Medicare and financial planning. Sign up for updates and be the first to know when these services are available. Sign up for our newsletter for our latest retirement planning guides, tips and more!
Your web browser is no longer supported by Microsoft. Update your browser for more security, speed and compatibility. If you need help pricing and building your medicare plan, call us at Medicare View Subpages. Coverage Simulator. Medicare Open Enrollment Information. Supplement Plans Medigap. Medicare vs. Customer Service. Medicare FAQ.
Life Insurance View Subpages. Types of Life Insurance. How Much Do I Need? Life Insurance FAQ. Annuities View Subpages. Types of Annuities. Fixed Indexed. Payout Options. Buying an Annuity. Companies and Providers. Annuity FAQ. Retirement Planning View Subpages. Retirement Accounts. Retirement Age.
Estate Planning. Social Security. Wealth Management. Retirement FAQ. About Us View Subpages. Frequently Asked Questions. Contact Us. Expert Contributors. Our Partner. But research indicates that retirement is becoming much more fluid in America. Returning to work is a unique, personal decision. More from Personal Finance: How to choose an executor of your will Climate change is impacting retirement plans How to decide which debt to tackle first.
If you do start getting those monthly checks early, there's a limit on how much you can earn from working without your benefits being affected. Then, when you reach full retirement age around age 66 or 67 — the exact age depends on your birth year — the money comes back to you in the form of a higher monthly check. At that point, you also can earn as much as you want from working without it affecting your Social Security benefits.
In addition to extra income from a job potentially pushing you into a higher tax bracket, it also could trigger additional costs for Medicare. Basically, higher earners pay a premium surcharge for Medicare Part B outpatient coverage and Part D prescription drug coverage. See charts below. Generally speaking, the government uses your tax return from two years prior to determine whether you owe those surcharges.
Working when you reach that RMD age can make it easier to forget those required withdrawals, experts say.
0コメント