We Can and Should Normalize Pre-Retirement
Gardening has been my thing. With less work hours, and more time at home, I get to love my plants even more! I can walk around outside, get some exercise, meet the neighbors and spend time with the dogs. It’s truly a better way to live.
Like most Gen-Xers, I grew up with an expectation that I’d work until I retired. I really didn’t know what that meant when I started, but for most of my life that meant working about 50 hours a week, on a structured schedule in an office. I imagined that when I retired, I would stop working. On… then off. Normality is comfortable and that seemed normal.
Fast forward 30 years, and I have a very different life. Fewer hours, less structure and more focused roles. For me, this workstyle started before Covid. When the pandemic hit, the rest of the world adopted what, for me, had become a new normal work life: remote working, flexible hours, more self-management, etc. For a year and half, we have been holding our breath, waiting for a return to normalcy. Many of us have concluded that there is no going back. Normal was not healthy for individuals nor for businesses.
I’m not here to flip all the tables, but I think there is one area that we should consider carefully. It’s not unheard of for a seasoned pro to phase out and be a “consultant,” but it is far from normal. I think we are ripe for a major change in the lifecycle of the average worker.
Pre-retirement should last a decade, not a year or two. Here, let me make the case:
Many professionals are at their peak in their last decade of work. They have institutional knowledge and experience that will leave with them and is wildly hard to replace.
Some professionals in their 50’s are ready to work less, earn less and enjoy their lives. They may be financially stable enough to downsize, meet and enjoy the next generation of their families and spry enough to really live the life they want.
A decade of slowing allows the same professional to mentor and train their replacements. Share their knowledge and shadow them until they have gleaned all they can.
Building a smoother transition may lead to happier, healthier workers who are able to contribute their best without fear of being downsized or cut out.
Companies can look truly cross-generational, hiring younger and putting those less costly team members under the guidance of a seasoned professional. At the end of the day, it may end up as a net zero, from a cost standpoint.
I don’t think this will work for everyone, but I can certainly see it working for many in the workforce. For trade workers, this isn’t new. Mentoring, training and creating journeymen was the traditional method for learning a skilled trade. There is a lot to be learned from this older method of transition. By the time a mentor retired, that trainee was the master. It may be more difficult to transform white collar culture, but not impossible.
If there are learnings we can take away from the pandemic, I think the biggest ones revolve around how work and productivity fits into our lives. Not vice versa. Nobody leaves this world wishing they worked more and spent less time with their family.