Archive for April, 2010

What will you do when you retire?

Posted by Catriona in Musings on April 29th, 2010

Create retirement success

Create retirement success

Do you have an answer to this question? It’s a commonly posed question, but think about the answers you get. My experience is that the question is oft met with a shrug of the shoulders and a laugh.

” Oh - definitely play golf every day.”

” Don’t worry; my wife has a long to do list for me.”

” I can’t afford to retire the rate my kids are going.”

Our business is built around influencing work and life decisions and slowing the rate of retirement so thatorganisations are sustainable in the future.

Last week I had coffee with a  CEO of a not-for-profit in Adelaide. Whenever I talk about our Create seminars which are designed to support employees in their ‘retirement’ decisions, I throw a version of the above question in: What do you want when you retire?  She impressed me with her answer:

“I plan to work a few more years at this level. Then I want to retire and provide support for organisations that help underpriveleged children, because my children have had such a comparably priveleged upbringing. I also plan to do some study in the Fine Arts. I imagine that I will always work in some capacity, but not the way I’m working now.”

Retirement is an assumption. What most people we come across want, is the opportunity for redirection. Working, but working differently. Making time for other success factors like your nearest and dearest, your own wellbeing and your long time goals.

What do you say when you’re asked this question? Do you shrug it off with some glib answer? Or can you articulate what ‘retirement’ looks like for you? Try it..

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a bright future

Posted by Catriona in Commentary on April 15th, 2010

Great article from last weekend’s Sunday Age. Here’s an excerpt:

Here’s another image: a newer, more sombre reality. You work in an office. Your 65th birthday comes and goes. Life as you know it ticks on, the humdrum of the office continues. You turn 67, then  70. You watch your salt-and-pepper hair turn grey, then take on a silver-white shimmer. You look across your ergonomically designed desk (with the adapted lighting to aid your weakened eyesight) at your colleague; he or she is older and more silvery than you. Forget the  golf course; you are not going there - at least, not yet.

Welcome to 2050, where, according to the Rudd government’s intergenerational report, nearly one in four of us is over 65. The future is grey.

Here’s the trick: How do we work longer but work differently? I’ve had a stab at providing an alternative picture. Organisations who invest now in workforce development for their late career employees could assure their staff of something like this:

Here’s another image: a newer, bright reality. You work in an office. Your 65th birthday comes and your Gen Z manager gives you a day off to celebrate with your grandchildren.  Work as you know it has taken on a whole new dimension, the hum of the office alternates with the trill of birds when you work at your home office two days a week. You turn 67, then  70. You watch your salt-and-pepper hair turn grey, then take on a silver-white shimmer. You add a purple streak to it in acknowledgment of the wisdom you share with your two mentees over lunch. They thoroughly approve.

You look across your ergonomically designed desk (with the adapted lighting to aid your weakened eyesight) at your colleague; he or she is older and more silvery than you. Forget the  golf course; they are packing up for ’snow goose’ leave and will return in three month’s time from their beach holiday to be part of the contingent workforce for the ‘busy season’.

Welcome to 2050, where, according to the Rudd government’s intergenerational report, nearly one in four of us is over 65. The future is surprisingly bright.

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