Retirement Revisited

By Marc Verhoeve

The final stage in Donald Super’s career development matrix is the Decline Stage. By age, it is designated as “65 +”, and is characterized by two activities:

Adapt work to physical capacity

• Manage resources to sustain independence

Donald Super: The Psychology of Careers [1957]
Super indicated that his categories required redefinition. Just prior to his death in 1994 [at the age of 83], he admitted that he “did not think of himself as being in the Decline stage of his model. ….He described himself, rather, as always ‘innovating’ and one who wanted to be the cutting edge of his specialty”
[N.C.D.A. Journal, 1997].

In this twenty-first century, we are aware of dramatic changes in these life stages. Senior elementary and secondary school students are required to be more destination-driven with regards to their careers. The “Establishment-Maintenance” population, focusing on e-recruiting, e-resumes, virtual portfolios and career coaches, continue to be in dramatic flux, as is documented by the 1999 statement from the Alberta Human Resources and Employment : “New workforce entrants can anticipate having from 12 to 25 jobs in 5 different industry sectors”. The “mature workers” have become a major economic variable; the Conference Board reports that roughly one in three working-age Americans will soon be “mature” [age 45 to 64].

The term, “retirement” is an intriguing concept. By definition, it is “withdrawal from work, business, etc. because of age” [Webster’s Dictionary]. There is no biological basis for the retirement age of 65. According to research on the concept of social security, the history is that this age was arbitrarily chosen by the German chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, because he calculated that, if the government chose this age to begin offering seniors’ financial assistance, most German citizens would already have died. Life expectancy has increased dramatically. “In 1900, the average life expectancy at birth was 47 years; in 1991, it was 75…a net gain of 28 years.” [ Longevity Factor, c1993] In the article, entitled “Power to the (Old) People” in the January, 2003 issue of the National Post Business Magazine, Charles Davies predicts that
“…by 2021, Canada will have 14 million seniors. ….Today, Canadians age 20 to 49 outnumber those in the 50-plus bracket at least three to two. But the gap is closing fast. By 2021, Canada’s senior will be the majority – mirroring a global trend in which the percentage of the world population 60 and older will hit and estimated 21% in 2050, up from 10% in 2000.” He further states that the senior sector will have a dramatic effect on the following sectors: real estate, retail, travel, and financial services. To get a snapshot of the employment picture in Canada in twenty years, simply visit Florida now, and see the number of seniors employed in the above industries. Certainly, as one retirement-planning consultant stated: “Not everyone can be a greeter at Walmart. We shall experience more seventy-year-olds in consultancy roles because of their richness of experience and credibility with the demographic-skew of the client-base.”
In the Jan 29, 2004 article, entitled “Top Ten Forecasts: Workforce and Workplace: 2004” in the BJournal [www.bjournal.com], the author states:
“Retirement will evaporate. Retirement, as we have known it for two generations, will continue its metamorphosis. Fewer people will retire completely. Retirees will move into jobs in other fields, start their own businesses, and engage in other activities to remain active and productive into their seventies, eighties and even nineties”
here are several interesting new studies released by the mainstream news media. The New York Times Job Market conducted a telephone survey in 2002 to discover reasons that workers might stay in the workforce past retirement:

Motivating Factors to Remain in Workforce During Retirement Years
Enjoy working    69%
Find meaning in my work    66%
Not financially prepared to retire    50%
Will miss social contact of going to work    47%
Prefer extra income    40%
It is definitely time to revisit the concept of retirement. I work in the secondary education sector. It is possible to take “early retirement” in this area sometimes as early as 55. There is certainly pressure from colleagues to consider this. At a retirement workshop that I attended recently, the financial planner make a memorable observation that the participants in the workshop could look forward to as many years of retired life as they had in their entire work-life! At an American Counseling Association Conference a session on retirement was entitled “After the World Cruise, What Then??”

As I peruse the research and track persons in this career stage, I have decided to rename this stage “career renewal” because it is truly a watershed transition-event…..not an ending. In Jeremy Rifkin’s work, “The End of Work” [©1995], he describes the retiree as a “temporal millionaire” because, for the first time in one’s life, time is a personal possession…rather that something owned by one’s employer. The retiree has the power to say yes…or no…. to temporary jobs, volunteering, and casual pursuits. One has the ability…and time…to pursue one’s passions and interests without temporal or monetary constraints.

In my capacity as a careerpathing consultant [utilizing a career test called the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey], I have had the opportunity of assisting in career-transition planning for “early-retirees”. By utilizing the data from the JVIS profile, I have been able to assist these clients in their plans. What is remarkable is the richness of the data! There are two types of profiles: those who are still excited about their work-sector, and those who are ready to “move on”. Regardless of the type of client, the profiles are rich with possible alternative occupational directions.

In discussing these profiles with clients, I find that the high “career-impulses” are typically in areas that the client has always wanted to pursue, but has not had the time. In one case, the profile of a retired news-journalist flagged high “career-impulses” in the areas of the skilled trades. He had always enjoyed home repair and painting. He is now a professional interior painter for custom homes. Before it was a hobby; now it is a job. As a subcontractor, he can turn on and off the work-tap depending on other interests and vacations. He is truly a temporal millionaire! In other cases, the clients have pursued further education through Continuing Education courses at local community colleges. This has an additional benefit – networking at these courses with others at the same career stage. Also, these stagers hold the history of their profession, and can contribute to the rich evolution of their career field.

With better lifestyle management and advances in bio-technology, this last of Super’s lifestagers will not be identified with the words “decline” or “recline”. They will start the second major stage in their career development, career renewal.

Marc Verhoeve has been a counsellor since 1975. In addition to being a secondary school Counselling Head, he is also a private career practitioner, as well as a cybertraining consultant. He is a Board Director for Contact Point and the Ontario School Counsellors Association(OSCA). In addition, he is the PAC Vice-Chair for Conestoga College’s Career Development Practitioner Program.

Last Updated on Saturday, 28 February 2009 15:18