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Great Resignation or Great Reset? What’s your path?

A conversation with Dr. Jean Accius, SVP Thought Leadership and International Affairs, AARP
By Ramona Schindelheim
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In this episode, Dr. Jean Accius, SVP Thought Leadership and International Affairs for AARP, joins me to discuss the midcareer workforce and the Great Resignation.

I recently read a startling statistic: there are 3.3 million more retirees in the U.S. as of October than in January 2020, just before the start of the pandemic. That’s a 7% increase. Call it what you will—the Great Retirement, the Great Resignation, the Great Reset—it’s important that we understand what is driving this trend of older workers leaving the workforce, particularly as the country is struggling with a labor shortage.

In this conversation with Dr. Accius, we discuss some of the factors that are behind older workers dropping out of the labor market. He cites concerns about their health during the pandemic and also their fears for others’ health when they are caregivers. Another factor is many have gained a renewed sense of purpose and belonging.

“What I mean by that is the people have really taken this time to really assess exactly what do they want to do in their life? What’s given them a sense of meaning? What’s given them a sense of fulfillment and they’re making those tradeoffs. People are looking in terms of exactly what are the opportunities to really live that fuller life as they have defined for themselves. Some are taking big jumps because, if not now, then when?,” offers Dr. Accius.

Not Everyone is Staying Home

This is where the idea of reset comes in, he adds. “In some cases, people are taking on other opportunities in other sectors, either because it matched what they’ve always wanted to do with their life, or in some cases it might be better wages or better benefits or better working conditions.”

Still, the fact remains there are fewer people in the workforce and that has employers thinking about what they can do to change that dynamic and recruit and retain more older workers. “Many companies are managing five different generations. What AARP’s been doing with great organizations like yourself at WorkingNation is really elevate those solutions and to really assess what are the opportunities that cut across generations that really leverages the workplace and the workforce in a way that’s going to be mutually beneficial?,” Dr. Accius tells me.

We talk about one of the tools available through AARP that can help prepare midcareer and older workers for the opportunities ahead, AARP Skills Builder, which offers online training and certificates for in-demand skills.

“We are seeing increased automation and also increased digitalization in the marketplace. We know that there are some skills that are going to be in growing demand as companies start to move into this direction. So, it’s a combination of an assessment of the marketplace, and what we’re seeing in terms to what employers are looking for. This is a tool that’s continuing to be updated with new courses, new resources, to really be able to be a value add for individuals. I think that all of us across all life stages and ages have an opportunity to provide value. I also think that this is a tool that can provide you with some guidance on how to go about doing that,” he says.

There is so much more in the podcast, including an important conversation about health care and longevity and how you can start thinking about it, and planning for it, now.

I invite you to listen here, or find us and download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 215: Dr. Jean Accius, SVP Thought Leadership and International Affairs, AARP
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.

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