December 6, 2005
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Articles
Seniors Will Play a Key Role in Workforce of the Future
"Reuben Landau is a sharp-eyed, articulate Cambridge attorney who works part time. After suffering a heart attack at age 59, he quit working around the clock and began tamping down the stress in his life. Yet he doesn't plan to retire anytime soon. There's an old adage that age lends wisdom, says Landau, who turns 102 next week but looks about 80. ‘I can't quarrel with that.’ Not many of us will be working at 101, but in many ways, Landau, a widower who practices law with his 75-year-old son, is a poster boy of the future workforce. By 2010, almost one in three workers will be 50 or older. Eighty percent of baby boomers say they expect to work past retirement age. That means that soon it will be common for seniors to keep working both to boost their finances and stay engaged.”
Working the Clock
"When Katherine Daugherty began her marketing research career 13 years ago, flex time remained a foreign concept. Her company didn't even offer it. And the traditional 8-to-5 work day at Bloomington-based regional farm supply cooperative Growmark Inc. suited her fine. But two years later she and her husband, Kevin, had their daughter, Lena. Three years later, Eliza joined the family, which lives in LeRoy. By then, Daugherty had advanced to a marketing communication position at Growmark, marrying her market research skills with designing communication material for the company's energy division. Exponential increases in family commitments -- especially hectic mornings spent delivering children to school and baby sitter -- shed new light on finding a way to better balance work and family.”
Older Employees Prized in 'Golden Years'
"Hank Mann of Austin hasn't thought about retirement. The 63-year-old engineer is too busy diving into murky waters to inspect locks and dams for Stanley Consultants. ‘As long as I've got the energy,’ he said, ‘I'm sticking with this.’ His bosses are glad he feels that way. Iowa-based Stanley Consultants Inc., which designs buildings, highways and power plants, tries to hold on to older employees as long as it can. A third of its workforce is 50 and older. More companies are beginning to think like Stanley Consultants, which tops AARP's list of the 50 best employers for workers 50 and older. These employers are devising flexible arrangements, offering benefits such as long-term care insurance and allowing employees to phase into retirement over several years.”
A New Game at the Office: Many Young Workers Accept Fewer Guarantees
"When Vincent Papke joined I.B.M. in 1963, the implicit bargain was simple - his labor and loyalty for security. Getting rich was not an expectation, but a steady job and regular raises were. The company, he recalled, was a kind of extended family. There were company basketball and softball teams, company activities for the kids, and company social gatherings like Christmas parties. ‘They trained you,’ he said. ‘You worked hard, you played hard and you advanced’… Steven Cohn, 29, came to I.B.M. earlier this year with a very different mentality. He worked previously at an investment bank and an Internet advertising company, and then got an M.B.A., before signing up with I.B.M. as a software salesman. “
Homeward Bound
"Half the wealthiest, most-privileged, best-educated females in the country stay home with their babies rather than work in the market economy. When in September The New York Times featured an article exploring a piece of this story, ‘Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood,’ the blogosphere went ballistic, countering with anecdotes and sarcasm. Slate’s Jack Shafer accused the Times of ‘weasel-words’ and of publishing the same story -- essentially, ‘The Opt-Out Revolution’ -- every few years, and, recently, every few weeks. (A month after the flap, the Times’ only female columnist, Maureen Dowd, invoked the elite-college article in her contribution to the Times’ running soap, ‘What’s a Modern Girl to Do?’ about how women must forgo feminism even to get laid.) The colleges article provoked such fury that the Times had to post an explanation of the then–student journalist’s methodology on its Web site. There’s only one problem: There is important truth in the dropout story.”
We Can Make Work Something that Works for Us
"Social policies and organizational practices have not fully dealt with new realities. America needs creative ideas that are good for people and for the future of a dynamic economy… Work time. Some people have flexible work hours. Why not extend this and add flexible work years? Parents of young children might want months off during their kids' summer vacation. Mature workers might want months off during the cold winter season. Internet auctions could be used to match them, inside a company or across. Continental Airlines' website enabling flight attendants to trade schedules is a useful model.”