WORKSHIFTER - Dispatches from the New Executive Frontier

The excellent “Knowledge@Wharton” newsletter recently published an extensive piece on the impact of shifting attitudes as well as demographics on the meaning of retirement. After the Boomer generation, it so much as predicts, so-called traditional retirement will never be the same. And the end result will be a win-win for both employers and professionals.

In “The 'Eldercare Generation' Cares About Continuing to Work: Are Companies Interested in Keeping Them?” Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade warns that “Companies are making a big mistake assuming that older employees will not have the will, motivation or physical stamina to continue working.” Those that fail to tap into the older workforce “are likely missing out on excellent employees who have important institutional knowledge and are still ready, eager and willing to do excellent work.”

This is highly positive, flip side of the “talent gap” coin. It’s not just about filling in for the younger generation whose birth rates fall short – it’s about realizing the potential of a vast, untapped talent pool of highly capable people over age 50.

Wharton professor Olivia S. Mitchell adds, “I do think ... that boomers will change the definition of retirement." In an upcoming book, Mitchell and her co-authors argue that "people are not going to follow the old pattern of work, work, work and then quit. Instead, they are going to take what we call bridge jobs -- leave their long-time career employer and move into part-time transition arrangements. This is different from previous generations, and there is some evidence that expectations have changed.” Might we add, some of them will become Workshifters.

Says Lynn Selhat, an editor at Wharton's Center for Human Resources, "It’s not at all just about a lack of younger workers. It's about what the older workers bring to the companies. Companies are bringing on those who are 50 plus. When they talk about older workers, they talk about dedication, understanding customers, loyalty. Experience is important."

(Full Disclosure: I am a Wharton alumna.)