My Plan After 50 Blog

If You’re Lucky, You Will be Old

Posted by Kris:

The generation that once condemned those over the age of 30 as being untrustworthy now range in age from 45 to 60+! This side of 30 doesn’t look at all as we imagined it when we stood on the precipice and pointed our fingers at the “old” folks on the other side. In some ways, it’s tougher over here; but in so many ways, our lives after 30 have been far more fulfilling than those years before.

We are now at a place of being able to reinvent our lives. Despite all our contributions to the world, it is ironic that we Boomers are now the brunt of stereotypes and jokes that paint us as has-beens or (worse yet) a huge mass of selfish slugs consuming resources that should belong to others.

 

One of the great lessons I learned as I aged is that we will all be old, if we are lucky, and how we treat those who are older is often a precursor of how we might be treated when we reach their age. The thirty-something that doesn’t hire the 50-year-old who is qualified for the job; the forty-something secretly hoping their aging boss will get out of her way; or the twenty-something IT professional who is fed up with providing tech support to their Boomer parents. We’ve all been there! However, we’re now experiencing being the victims of ageism, and the experience quietly eats away at one’s spirit, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than an accurate depiction of reality.

 

Recently, a professional recruiter shared with me his concerns about the rising trend he sees in his practice as well-educated and productive employment candidates are barely given a second look, simply because they are older. He spends as much time giving his older clients hope that they can still play an important role within today’s business world as he does locating suitable positions for them. I doubt you could have told me anything when I was twenty that would have made me sympathetic to the perils of my aging co-workers. Despite my best efforts to overcome my personal biases, I suspect I failed to give every older person I interviewed in my long HR career the respect they were due. So, while I might give a thirty-something some slack when they show their impatience with Boomers, I struggle mightily with a 50-something that turns their back on their peers, indirectly implying that they can’t even fathom ever seeing themselves undervalued or unemployed.

 

Today, I look at those who are pioneering the years ahead of me not as people to push out of the way or to discount as having little to contribute, but as a reflection of who I could become someday if I’m very lucky…or if I’m not. As you interact with those who are older than you are, I urge you to leave them with memories of how you made their spirits soar. And as you age and ask yourself, “Do I feel lucky to becoming older?”, I hope that your answer is (and continues to be) a resounding “Yes!” 

Sensitivity training for Alzheimer Caregivers

Posted by Beth

How many times have you heard family members express concern about placing loved ones in a nursing home? "I just couldn’t do that to my mother," they say. "No one would be able to give my grandfather the care that I am able to provide," they worry. The problem is that as a result of this worry and of overwhelming feelings of responsibility, many family caregivers take on too much, get burned out and become ill themselves. In the end, the elderly or infirmed family member is indeed put in a care facility, leaving the rest of the family crossing their fingers that their loved one is being taken care of with kindness and sensitivity. I read a recent article that addressed this exact concern.

The article outlines an "ultimate boot camp" for sensitivity training for nursing home personnel. The goal of this training was to give caregivers an intimate awareness of what some patients may be experiencing so that they would become more emotionally receptive to these people who are totally dependent on others for physical and emotional care.

The sensitivity training detailed in this article explores the many dimensions of care-giving for someone with multi system failure. Here's an example of one of the "boot camp's" experiments: Unpopped popcorn kernels were placed in participant’s shoes and their gloved hands to simulate the pain from bunions and arthritis. Hand dexterity was limited by wrapping fingers together. They were also given headsets with constant chattering to replicate the confusion that an Alzheimer’s patient may feel. Poor vision was also induced by giving Boot Camp participants goggles smeared with Vaseline so that only vague images were perceived. In addition to all these physical impairments, the participants were exposed to caregivers who were rude and lacked sensitivity in working with their "patients." After the program was over, participants expressed feeling helplessness and hopelessness.

I think this type of training could really turn around the nursing home industry.  If caregivers could truly understand the emotional and physical struggles that a patient experiences, it's my belief that the empathy level would rise.  Instead of seeing a needy client, the caregiver would see a person who happens to have needs. I hope that the "ultimate boot camp" becomes required training for all nursing home caregivers.

A review of Encore by Marc Freedman

Posted by Kris:

Part II

Here's the second part of my series on Marc Freedman's new book, Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life.

In his closing chapters, Freedman posits many of his most practical points. Here's a brief outline:

• There is absolutely no need to create labels, slogans and stereotypes for people who choose to extend their working lives. They are not “mature,” “older,” or “gray.” They are just contributing employees within the most productive country in the world. 
• If you have taken a job in retirement, then you aren’t retired.
• Boomers are not breaking the rules to reshape the workplace; they are remaking the rules.
• “Bridge jobs,” such as the Wal-Mart greeter, aren’t the only options for Boomers when considering encore careers. 
• Work that we’ve done prior to our encore career(s) was just as meaningful as the work we may do as our encore.
• While we must change the workplace to better accommodate the Boomer’s transition, we need to re-shape the workplace for all employees. Just as Betty Friedan realized in her ground-breaking work in the 60’s, we can’t have women’s liberation without men’s liberation. We can’t expect to change human resource programs and practices for one segment of employees, despite its size, in a vacuum.

Throughout Encore’s pages, Freedman implies that Boomers are “bored” with their work, without discussing the conditions within many work environments and the need for leaders who will serve as models by creating an “encore society” within current work environments. Additionally, Freedman implies that the only encore work with purpose and meaning is philanthropic. Of course, each individual will find their own unique path when balancing the practical need for money with leading a “purpose-driven life.”

Though I would have liked Freedman to expand on two very insightful chapters ("Inventing the Golden Years" and "The Encore Society"), overall he offers clear and practical solutions to spur individuals and employers alike to action. If achieved, the Encore Society can go a long way to creating the hoped-for vision Freedman portrays in the book’s opening pages.

In his closing chapter, Freedman seeks to stimulate readers to plan their personal encore by posing life questions and outlining career options and resources. While I applaud his intention, I think he underestimates how difficult it is for people to pose and honestly answer the tough questions about their future, then to set and act on specific goals. For expert and affordable assistance in creating and achieving such a life plan—including meaningful work—go to www.myplanafter50.com. And for employers with employees waiting in the wings for their encore, My Plan After 50 will help you to execute on Freedman’s suggestions for creating an Encore Society.

A review of Encore by Marc Freedman

Posted by Kris:

Part I

Noted author Marc Freedman has recently published his newest book entitled, Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life. He opens with polar-opposite pictures that are designed to illustrate the potential impacts retiring Baby Boomers could have on society. One scenario envisions a swelling population of retired Boomers continuing to push a self-serving agenda to the financial detriment of the entire country; in essence, a predicted and realized “Gray2K.” In the second scenario, many of the 76 million Boomers extend their working lives, serving as the foundation of employees and leaders in education, healthcare, non-profits and the government. Whole industries and institutions spring up to serve this workforce well into their 70s and 80s, since life expectancy continues to climb as a result of the health and intellectual benefits of continued engagement in purposeful work. 

Mr. Freedman makes the case for the latter vision of the future. He uses examples of pioneering individuals who are extending their work lives and of some who are even going further and creating opportunities for others to take the stage for their encore careers. The most compelling of these individual stories are used as introductions to each chapter and are written in each Boomer’s own words. Those of us in the Baby Boomer strata can easily find ourselves in one or more of the lives candidly shared with us.

One of Freedman’s messages relates to the development of our views of retirement over the last century. He draws interesting interrelationships between the Depression and the programs implemented during that era to bring the U.S. back to prosperity (social security, WPA) and today’s financial planners who have defined our views of retirement through marketing images and slogans. Freedman also takes us through the century-long evolution from virtually no financial support as we aged (“work until you drop”) to being “paid” to leave the workplace with guaranteed pensions. Freedman leaves it to others to take these concepts and draw the “fresh map” for how we could use the fundamental and visionary thinking that created today’s programs and practices as the architectural underpinnings of their re-design (e.g., how to bring social security back from the brink of a bankrupt welfare program; or social security as the loan program Freedman implies was the original intent rather than the entitlement it is now).

Indirectly Freedman asks, “Do we want financial planners and ‘ad men’ to define retirement in the future?” No matter how holistic the advertising firms try to paint the picture, it is still predicated on the notion of money – having enough; not having enough. While financial security in our later years is not to be ignored, having meaning and purpose in our lives should have equal, if not more, weight than the monetary costs of the transitions through our lives. 

In Part II of this blog entry, I’ll list Freedman’s most practical points and draw final conclusions from his book.

Do the Math: Replacing 76 million with 20 million doesn't come out even

Posted by Kris

Recently the LA Times published a forward-thinking article, Companies try to Retain Older Workers, spotlighting companies with heightened awareness as to the value of their long-term knowledge workers.  Most of the article highlights the efforts of these employers to retain these workers and rightly so.  For those companies who aren't as far along the enlightened path, take a note from your peers who have learned an early and valuable lesson. 

The reporter gives a moment in the article to those companies who believe the departure of 76 million Baby Boomers from the workplace can be solved through recruiting workers from overseas, technology enhancements and restructuring jobs.  Companies should always look at a variety of ways of gaining and enhancing productivity but they should never be short-sighted about the real issues they need to solve.  The departure of the Baby Boomers from the workplace is not solely a numbers game.  It's also a knowledge management issue.  The cost to recruit workers from overseas when a qualified talent pool is already here domestically seems a waste.  Alternatively, the money would be well-spent on employers and individuals collaborating to lessen the impact of the departure of wisdom workers.  Boomers can work longer, much to their personal advantage, and employers fill critical positions with highly qualified talent.  If and when Boomers opt to finally leave the workplace, negative impacts will be nearly non-existent through pre-exemptive planning.  Utilize transformational services such as My Plan After 50 to begin this critical collaboration.