OK, we’ve established that 65 is no longer the “automatic” age of retirement — if “retirement” itself is even automatic any more. We’ve run articles — here and here and here — about older workers and how people are staying in the workforce longer. We even call a category on this website Work & Unretirement.
But how old is an “older worker”? How far are people pushing this?
Never mind 65 or 70, the 80-plus worker is now becoming a recognized feature of the workforce. As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, 650,000 Americans aged 80 and more are still working, according to the US Census Bureau. True, it’s a tiny percentage of the total labor force — about a third of a percent — but it’s almost 20 percent more people than 10 years ago.
Most of the positions are professional, managerial and financial; fewer are in service jobs or in more physical categories like agriculture, fishing or forestry.
While finances are certainly a motive — the need to keep cash coming in, fear of outliving your money — a big motivator appears to be psychological. They feel more engaged, more productive, more relevant — perfect SuperAgers, in other words. There’s also the undeniable fact that having a purpose and a sense of accomplishment contributes powerfully to longevity.
The article cites a number of celebrity examples:
“Here are just a few examples of notables in their ninth decade who love their profession. Actor Harrison Ford, aged 80, stars in the newly released movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and a pair of streaming series, Shrinking and 1923. Primatologist Jane Goodall, aged 89, continues to protect chimpanzees. Singer, songwriter and producer Smokey Robinson is on tour at 83. President Biden is seeking re-election at 80. Actor, comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks, 97, recently wrote and produced the Hulu miniseries, History of the World, Part II. Add to that list of working actors 88-year-old Judi Dench and 85-year-old Jane Fonda. Then there is the investor, businessman and philanthropist Warren Buffett, aged 92, who continues to serve as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.”
But it isn’t just the famous. The 80-plus worker is sufficiently prevalent and visible now, that management consultants Korn Ferry, which specializes in recruitment and organizational strategy, produced this article on “The 80 Year Old Employee.”
The subhead is dramatic: “As people start working more into their golden years, corporations are facing the age of no age limit.”
Equally dramatic is this forecast of the future: “The worker of the future isn’t typically envisioned as someone in their 80s, or even very far into their 70s. But as demographics begin to cast their spell on the labor market, some older men and women are skipping the standard retirement route the world has prescribed for a half century and asking firms to hire them. With one in every seven Americans now over age 70, workers age 75 and up have quietly become the fastest-growing labor demographic. And their participation in the workforce is expected to increase by 96 percent this decade. (By contrast, the participation of workers age 16 to 24 will shrink by 7.5 percent.) It’s simple math, easily apparent to any HR executive: there are now so many boomers that if just a slice of them continue working, 80-year-old employees will become commonplace, and the corporate world’s age demographic will be turned on its head.”
OK, how does Korn Ferry think management should respond to this trend?
“Experts say that smart firms and managers will ignore age and focus on individual workers. ‘Look at the person, not the number of years they’ve been on the planet,’ says Michal Strahilevitz, director of the Elfenworks Center for Responsible Business at Saint Mary’s College of California … Many factors affect engagement, energy, and skill set, she says, all of which can decline or flourish over time—and should be matched with the proper job and support. The focus … has often been on ‘what workers can no longer do,’ which is irrelevant in 90 percent of workplaces, with the exception of fields such as fighter-jet piloting or emergency services, where traits like strength, endurance, and reaction time are essential. It is more appropriate to concentrate on what these workers can do, she says.”
At the same time, companies must be on the lookout for ageism: “Experts also point out the negative environmental messaging that older workers can face. Imagine, for example, an employee lounge with a ping-pong table and pizza-and-ice-cream bar, both of which may inadvertently exclude, say, an octogenarian secretary with dietary limitations (which tend to increase among older people). This can be ameliorated with inclusion training, so that the employees making design choices and partnering with older teammates understand that age inclusion is just as important as gender and racial inclusion, and that jokes about the “old guy” being unfamiliar with Venmo are insensitive. Social friction between demographics is common.”
We’re excited to see this trend highlighted and validated by Korn Ferry. It completely supports what we’ve been saying in our book Superaging: Getting Older Without Getting Old and on the website. And if the growth rate of 75+ or 80+ workers is anything close to these forecasts, you can expect to see a lot more news, updates and expert ideas right here.