The Graying Work Force

Some interesting articles in the Sunday Times.

One, of interest for obvious reasons, detailed the general idea that as people in my generation begin to plan to retire, many of them are doing it with the assumption that they'll continue to work through retirement. This means that they'll work less hours at what they're doing, or that they'll switch careers and work at something brand new. These are people who are doing it to supplement their retirement savings, so that they do not draw down on them until they are truly retired (interesting logical conundrum, there). Some of them do it because they enjoy what they do, and want to continue, but at a reduced pace. And some are doing it as an opportunity to branch out and do things that won't pay as well, but which they've found worthy of their time. None of these people have to work, per se; they choose to. I'd like to think I fall into that category; the truth is, if I retired in two years, I would, and if I retired tomorrow, I wouldn't without more attention to finances than we normally give. But if you recall my comments about daydreams -- could I do this, could I do that -- and I do truly appreciate the supportive comments about those dreams -- you can easily see how the two might dovetail together.

They also fit with comments in the article to the effect that 'some' companies are beginning to restructure their work environment to deal with people with these attitudes. It was careful to point out that such enlightened self interest is rare, but it is coming. And that tied in with some thoughts I've had, which is: if you assume that more companies -- even big ones like the one I work for or the one my wife works for -- are going to have to restructure to face the graying of their workforce, and the difficulty of replacing that workforce (we both work in the computer services industry, but the mainframe part, and thats not particularly sexy), then a reasonably intelligent person ought to be able to make plans now to be in a position to benefit from their requirements in ten years. The question is, what will those requirements be? Because, absolutely, they won't be the kind of thing that gets written up in Fast Company as The New Gray Workforce -- that would be the sort of article where they talk about how wonderfully responsive and flexible and understanding companies now are, when in fact very few will be. There are certainly a couple of companies who can be described that way, but its a funny thing -- you only hear of them in Fast Company! Rather, the requirements are the kind of thing that will be written up in CIO magazine with titles like Lessening the Impact of the Departing Gray Worker. Because when those problems are laid out, fixing them is where, I think, the opportunities will be. I think.

I wish I was better at thinking this sort of thing through.

=================
Later: I googled 'graying work force' and found this. None of the other articles say much more -- gee, when these people leave, its going to be a problem; gee, there goes your process knowledge, skills, and intellectual capital; gee, if your customers have a relationship with someone who's retiring, that could be a problem. Clearly, no one has given this much detailed thought (well, no one that I could find in thirty intensive seconds of looking. ) But heck -- its a start.