A tight labor market is a motivating factor for many senior employers to stay in their current jobs, at least on a part time basis. The baby boomer generation was followed by a birth dearth that is going to place an even higher premium on senior working skills for the next 20 years.

Labor shortages may become a fact of life, even after a Covid 19 crisis. In 2021 there are several million fewer people aged 35 to 54 than in 2000. The law of supply and demand is moving to the side of the employee for many years to come. What this spells for individuals looking forward to working retirement years is the ability to write their own ticket in terms of job flexibility and responsibilities. Your workplace will need your experience, and it will grow increasingly willing to let you work on your own terms.

As stated earlier, two things must change to extend our working lives; those things are the story we tell ourselves about retirement and the way our corporations think. Having read this far, I hope you are convinced that work will always be integral, even if reduced, part of your life. Our corporations are beginning to see that they will need to change their attitude and culture toward an aging workforce if they hope to compete in the next decades. Companies that do not begin to respond to the new age working realities are in for a rude wake-up call. The models of hiring, developing and retiring employees that have worked in the past will backfire if used in the next decade. Two simple facts point to this looming employer crisis. First the baby boom generation, the largest segment of the workforce until recently, is aging fast. Second, the shortage of young talent is growing more acute with each passing day. These unstoppable demographic trends will have very profound implications for how companies manage their people.

These trends will force companies to:

• Rethink how they attract and retain people
• Change how they motivate and reward their help
• Work out how an aging workforce will affect innovation and productivity.

The companies that begin to address these demographic realities and begin catering to the valuable, but aging, employee will thrive in the coming years as they attract the best talent available. Employers are just beginning to feel the first tremors of a talent shortage that will reach ‘workquake” proportions within the next 20 years.