The Maturing Workforce

Continuing the Conversations...

I came to IBM in late 1993 to reengineer IBM's global corporate social responsibility efforts and to launch IBM's efforts at strategic philanthropy including the initiation of the Reinventing Education Program; and here I am a dozen years later talking about boomers reinventing retirement. While the topics seem unrelated, I believe they are actually intimately connected.

In the U.S. for example, replenishing tomorrow's workforce will require a national effort in our schools and in our businesses. On one hand, we have the potential for a mass exodus of millions of experienced workers, and on the other, we have both a crisis in student performance and a massive teacher shortage in our schools, especially in the areas of math and science. As job demand for skills in science, engineering and technology increases, 76 million workers are approaching retirement and fewer U.S. students are expressing interest in math and science -- all while competition from developing nations grows. This is no time for the U.S. to have a labor shortage especially in these critical areas and no time to be losing our teachers. However, we believe innovation can bridge these trends and create opportunity.

This is why IBM recently announced its Transition to Teaching Program. We're helping our interested, eligible and experienced workers become certified teachers. Our internal response and industry reception has been overwhelming. We've invited our partners and competitors to participate and will openly share methodology, materials and ideas on the topic. But this is one program, and across the U.S., we need more. We need more from business. We need more from academia. We need more from government.   

We believe the socio-economic implications of the maturing workforce are worth discussing today. And based on the number of people who have attended some of our recent events, clearly, we are not alone. Since May, IBM has hosted a series of small "salons" on the topic of the maturing workforce. Our intent from the start has been simple -- create a forum for the open exchange of ideas and information.  From Washington, to San Diego, to Chicago as well as cities in Europe and Asia, we have uniformly heard that this type of conversation is not only welcome, but necessary. Which is why we will be culminating this series with a larger event in New York on November 14. We expect some of the nation's leaders on economic, labor and workforce issues to join us -- including former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.   

I invite those of you who've been part of our salon discussions, as well as the folks we'll meet at the November event, to share some of your own research and insights on this blog. Feel free to post on any issue relevant to this topic -- whether it's government programs, business insight, consumer marketing, or macro-economic implications. I look forward to continuing the conversation at the event in November and, on an ongoing basis, here on the Maturing Workforce blog.

-- Stan Litow, Vice President, Corporate Community Relations, IBM    

 

Early retirement still popular

I lead a research team working on age and employment issues at the University of Cambridge. Despite many reports over the last 15 years on the implications of demographic ageing for labour markets early retirement remains popular among governments, employers and older people themselves. Ambitious European targets on the employment of older workers are unlikely to be met. On the one hand European governments sign up to these targets, yet policies aimed at the inclusion of older workers coexist with ones aimed at their exclusion. Our research also shows that even among 'best practice' companies, when push comes to shove, early retirement remains a popular management tool. European workers, expectations raised by decades of early retirement, are reluctant to work for longer, and react angrily when they feel their rights are being threatened. One area of study for us is workplaces as we believe that workplace barriers have been neglected. We have undertaken a number of organisational case studies in recent years. Some findings may be of interest:

• Awareness of the financial implications of retirement is often low among non-managers. 
• A significant minority of employees have thought little about what they are going to do in retirement.
• Early retirement is often the preferred option by some distance amongst staff. Some kind of gradual retirement is much less popular, and few staff want to work on to normal retirement age or beyond.
• Analysis of our survey data has shown that a lack of flexible employment opportunities and a lack of recognition for good performance are associated with an increased propensity for an employee to state a preference for early retirement.
• Many of those we have surveyed have a ‘conventional’ view of retirement transitions.  The vast majority are not interested in the option of downshifting (i.e. dropping a grade or two or transfer to a post with less responsibility before retirement).  However, the majority are interested in reducing the hours they work prior to retirement.
• A stereotype concerning older workers is that they are not interested in training.  Yet one of our surveys found that training and skill needs were important to the vast majority of staff aged 45 or over (90 per cent).
• Yet when asked whether their needs were being met, the majority of respondents (69 per cent) replied in the affirmative regarding training and skill needs, but the opposite was the case regarding career development, with just over a third (36 per cent) stating that their needs were being met. The majority of respondents also felt that they received insufficient support in terms of managing their careers, with only 28 per cent stating that their needs were being met. 

I hope this contributes to the discussion.

-- Dr. Philip Taylor, Executive Director, Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing, University of Cambridge