Boomer managers reinventing retirement
So long, conventional retirement! The generation known for its trend-setting, breaking down barriers spirit - not to mention its sheer size - is carving new paths in the workforce, even as they leave it. A new Canadian study provides further proof that baby boomers are breaking the "one size fits all" retirement mould.
The study, led by Professor Mary Dean Lee at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management with colleagues from McGill and York University in Canada, looked at the diverse and complex ways boomer managers approach retirement. The first part of the study involved in-depth interviews with over 100 managers and executives from a variety of Canadian companies and industries.
The study set out to explore managers' late career and retirement plans in light of the many challenges we see today - such as longer lives meaning more years to plan for, the pressures of dependant children and caregiving, and employment trends such working for more than one employer during one's career. Managers and executives were the focus because being able to afford retirement wasn't a concern, allowing researchers to consider how people view retirement without the financial pressures of working longer. The average age of participants was around 57-58, and nearly two thirds of them were men.
The results so far? Just as boomers are a diverse generation, so too are their approaches and attitudes towards retirement.
"In the past, there's been an assumption that retirees are a homogenous group, that everyone wants the same experience," reported Professor Lee in an interview with 50Plus.com. "What we're seeing now is tremendous variation. People are saying 'I don't think I want to do what my parents or neighbours did'. Or after a couple of years off, they might realize, 'This isn't for me.'"
While wanting to spend more time with family and pursuing leisure activities like travel play a role in boomer managers' decisions to retire or to keep working in a new capacity, there's a little more to the story. The study identified three different types of workers - organizational managers, experts and strategic managers - and how their roles correspond to their needs and wants in retirement. For example, organizational managers, who have an administrative role in the company, were more likely to see conventional retirement as a fulfillment of their career - and when to retire was often a question of age and accumulated assets.
In contrast, the break wasn't so simple for experts, who provide special knowledge and expertise. Many respondents felt that retirement was akin to losing a part of themselves, and therefore found new pursuits to capitalize on their skills and creativity - like continuing on with their careers with part time or consulting work or a new business. Many strategic managers, who help companies innovate and seek their full potential, left their jobs as a result of change at their companies.
How "retirees" view retirement also takes many forms. The study examined a key set of metaphors that represent how people feel about leaving full time work, including loss, detox, renaissance, liberation, downshifting, staying the course, milestone and liberation. For example, some workers feel burned out or used up by employers and therefore view retirement as freedom, while others experience loss of a piece of their identity. Others see retirement as an opportunity to "rebalance" their lives to include some work, but their focus shifts to loved ones. Still others embrace retirement as an opportunity to try new things.
Read full article: Yahoo Canada Finance, March 24, 2011