Work

Work

Boomers represent the majority of political, cultural, industrial and academic leaders in the U.S. Their departure from the workforce through retirement may cause a huge drain on the institutional knowledge, relationships, and expertise of businesses and organizations. The Department of Labor projects labor shortages in the fields of health care and nursing, education, public utilities, and engineering over the coming decade.

At the same time, concerns abound regarding the Boomers’ lack of adequate financial readiness for retirement. A McKinsey Global Institute report (2008) found that having a workforce that continues to work beyond the traditional retirement age is the only way for Boomers to prevent a decline in their own standard of living and not drag down U.S. economic growth. The report estimates that a two-year increase in the median retirement age – from 62.6 to 64.1 over the next decade – would add nearly $13 trillion to real U.S. GDP during the next 30 years while reducing by almost half the number of Boomers who would find themselves without enough money for retirement.

Extended years in the workforce, however, will not mean “business as usual” for Boomers. They will want a new phase of work – one that is purpose driven, dynamic, flexible and radically re-structured. Many may pursue lifelong dreams previously seen as unrealistic or untenable but now ideal for mature individuals seeking new challenges. Encore careers and new business ventures may flourish. Recent Civic Ventures surveys found that more than 5 million people ages 44 to 70 have begun encore careers and of those not already in encore careers, half say they want them. Whether driven by the need to work for economic security or for meaning and purpose (or both), Boomers may retire “retirement” from our vocabulary and reinvent “work” in their second half of life.

Did you know?

Four out of five Boomers see work as playing a role in their retirement years.

Resources

Author/Presenter:Kunreuther, Frances.Resource:Up Next: Generation Change and the Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations.Publisher:Baltimore, MD: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005.Notes:Offers a series of recommendations on how a variety of stakeholders can improve the hand-off from the Baby Boomer generation of leaders to upcoming leaders from Generations X and Y. Research indicates that such leadership transitions will become more common within the nonprofit sector
WorldCat:www.worldcat.org/oclc/61486387

Author/Presenter:
Trautman, Steve

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Resource:
Teach What You Know: A Practical Leader’s Guide to Knowledge Transfer Using Peer Mentoring

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Publisher:
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007

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Notes:
Offers simple, practical mentoring techniques for effectively transferring years or even decades of experience and knowledge to those who need to learn. Includes easy-to-use checklists, sample training plans, lists of questions, step-by-step procedures, and a start-to finish case study
WorldCat:
www.worldcat.org/oclc/67239633

Multimedia

Work, Civic Engagement, and Lifelong Learning – 2007 (0:41)

Judy Goggin