It’s a new day and a new time in today’s world of work. A shifting economic landscape continues to drive significant changes in the American workplace. Nearly every aspect of the country’s workforce has changed in the last 50 years.
In 2010, I wrote a booklet for Career Partners International, a leading outplacement counseling firm, in which I compared the 20th century workplace with the 21st century workplace. In simple terms, I made the case that the once-upon-a-time dominant workplace of regular, full-time workers was fast becoming a workplace of workers who work part-time, some of the time, for free or for a fixed fee.
As we begin to put the harshest effects of COVID behind us, large numbers of us are developing ways to live and work that create positive outcomes from negative change. The emerging opportunities featured in this post are associated with fast-growing careers throughout Hawai‘i.
This past year has has served as a glaring stoplight for many people who assessed their slim chances of ever working again. The truth is that the changes we have experienced — those due to COVID-19 and more — have opportunities embedded within their threats. As previously promised, here is a straightforward, basic planning model for future work.
Our changing workplace dynamic at this stage of life requires a new set of rules to help us navigate our careers. The first rule of the “new game:” To remain financially secure, most of us (over 50 percent) will need to continue to work — in some capacity — much later than in past generations.
There is plenty of evidence revealing that work boosts cognitive health. Delaying full-time retirement means mitigating the risk of several types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s.
Even in this time of uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, two simple rules dominate the future of your life’s work and options that are available today: 1) Full-time, regular 8 to 5 jobs are off the radar as the singular source for employment. Sometimes we will work for others this way, but who needs long commutes if they can be easily avoided? 2) Even in the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely that we will live longer than any previous generation. Do you wonder how you will handle your financial, mental, emotional and physical health? This is the time to consider multiple strategies.
Whether you wish to work in a full-time, part-time or in a just-in-time capacity — for a fee or for free — here are several predictions based on trends and research for you to consider when preparing to work in your 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond (yes, beyond).
our first step in exploring your future is to take an internal journey in order to make a decision to work for pay, for fun or for the good of others. Part-time and other ways of working flexibly are bountiful. Many offer unique advantages to mature workers over that old classic — the 9-to-5 job.
Over 30 percent of the people who work don’t have full-time jobs. In a few years, that will increase to almost 50 percent. Working even one day a week will provide psycho-social advantages to an engaged senior. There are plenty of options.
