work-retire-road-signs

Millions of older adults are choosing work over retirement

The 50+ worker has experience, knowledge, and soft skills that add value to the workplace.
-

Two decades ago, 10 percent of Americans over the age of 65 skipped the traditional retirement age and kept working. Today, that number has grown to about 25 percent. It’s expected to be even higher — 33 percent — in just a few years, with more than 14 million older adults being a part of the workforce.

There are many reasons for this increase in older workers.

In an article titled, Need or desire keeping record number of older workers on the job, for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, author Christopher Quinn points out: “The American workforce is graying. Baby boomers are staying on their jobs longer and finding new work after retirement in record numbers. The surge in older workers can be attributed to multiple factors, such as the disappearance of company pensions, the increasing age to collect full Social Security and growing lifespans. It will change the workforce and economy for decades to come.”

Earlier this year, WorkingNation’s Editor-In-Chief Ramona Schindelheim brought together nonprofit leaders for Rethinking Education as We Live and Work Longer at SXSW EDU in Austin to discuss the same issue. Joining Ramona and WorkingNation President Jane Oates in the conversation were Trent Stamp, CEO of the Eisner Foundation, and Gary A. Officer, president and CEO of Senior Service America.

It was clear from the conversation that there are hurdles to overcome. Chief among them is the way older adults are looked at in our society. The overall conclusion of the panel was that the 50+ worker is sometimes seen as tech-phobic, un-adaptable, or a social misfit in the work culture. What is being overlooked is the experience, knowledge, and soft skills the seasoned worker often brings with them when they enter a new job.

Panel on stage at SXSW EDU
WorkingNation’s Ramona Schindelheim moderates SXSW EDU panel discussion, “Rethinking Education as We Live and Work Longer.”

When the AJC reached out to Ramona for her thoughts for their article, she reiterated what she had learned from the conversation she hosted at SXSW. Ramona pointed out that “some companies won’t hire older workers for fear the technology revolution has left them behind, or that they won’t be good team members for younger workers, or fit into current culture.”

WorkingNation believes that in order to solve the challenges that the future of work presents, companies must diligently address the issues that older workers face. An example of a solution to these challenges lies within the story of Joe Konopka, who didn’t think he could be one of the millions of middle-aged men who are out of work.

Joe had the education, the status, and the stability of a long industrious career. His job in academia was secure because it couldn’t be off-shored or automated. But in 2016, the 51-year-old was called down to the office. What followed was a life-changing moment, as his identity was suddenly stripped away. His services would no longer be needed.

Joe’s story has a happy ending, you can watch it below or read When finding your job is the job here. It’s part of our Do Something Awesome mini-documentary series, that showcases solutions to the challenges that the future of work is presenting employers and the workforce.

You may also like…

The winners and losers of globalization

Amazon plans to invest $700 million to retrain workers

Bilger CNBC Op-Ed: Creating a career path for underserved communities

WorkingNation Overheard at ASU GSV Summit

First suggestion: Don’t panic!

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.