Will New Zealand baby boomers retire gracefully at 65 to do charitable works?

“Will New Zealand baby boomers retire gracefully at 65 to do charitable works?”

No, they will not, and yes, they will. They will, in very large numbers, not retire. But they will do charitable works.

They won’t retire because they don’t feel old, they are full of youthful spirit and not at all ready to remove themselves from the mainstream, from mattering and from making a difference, or from enjoying the fruits of their labours.

It is not part of the New Zealand baby boomer character to give up and do nothing for 30-40 years. The vitality that is an essential part of their character drives them to greater adventurousness, fitness, and personal enlightenment. They are prepared to take responsibility for themselves and their families, and assume roles or responsibility in the wider community, paid or unpaid.

Meaningful work matters to them, and New Zealand baby boomers find meaning and purpose in their jobs, which they will not yield. However, they will use their ingenuity to find ways around the rules and conventions of the traditional workplace to get the balance of work, adventure, personal enrichment and fitness they want. In numbers as large as the baby boomer cohort possesses, what begins as ingenious ways around the rules will quickly become accepted workplace convention.

They are self-determined and will seek opportunities to learn new things within the workplace and in the community, and a new wave of “elderpreneurs” will emerge; indeed it is arguable that this phenomenon has already begun to emerge.

The core vitality of New Zealand baby boomers will continue to make them valuable, productive contributors in the workplace – if employers can keep them there. 30% plan to start a new career; 38% say they will be running their own business, 21% will start one.

New Zealand baby boomers, after all, see endless opportunities before them and have very low resistance to change. They are risk takers and they back themselves. They are currently at the height of their productivity, retain youthful, vigorous approach to work, and exhibit a great capacity to continue to learn; unless the workplace engages and continues to challenge them, they will move on to new career adventures.

Whether they work for others or for themselves, two-thirds of New Zealand baby boomers will focus their energies and invest their time in the next 5-10 years on excelling at their job and at passing on their skills to others. Their desire to engage in meaningful work for many more years as well as pursue their other life adventures and responsibilities will balance well with the need to retain their expertise in the workplace while still making room for the generations behind them to progress. The lack of barriers New Zealand baby boomers see between themselves and younger people will enable them to integrate and share their skills.

The sense among New Zealand baby boomers that they distinguish meaningful work from the workplace will inform the wave of research currently underway in New Zealand (Allpass, 2008; McPherson, 2008), which is revealing what new workplace trends are beginning to emerge and asking questions about why they are emerging. They are emerging because baby boomers are starting to find ingenious ways around the current conventions of the workplace; with the force of a million baby boomers behind it, this trend will explode into the mainstream over the next 10-20 years.

New Zealand baby boomers are hungry for new experiences, adventures, and learning. This characteristic is prevalent in baby boomers but not in the generational cohorts before them. It is counter-intuitive to the traditional view that “old people” are overwhelmed by how much information is now available to them, and suggests that baby boomers are prepared to use technology to help them gather the information they need. The challenge to business is to throw off their historically-based preconceptions of how they believe baby boomers should behave as workers, because baby boomers will not act their age; neither will older baby boomers exhibit the conservatism of their American counterparts, making proxy assumptions unreliable.

The global wave of baby boomers is likely to see a push for different benefits in the work environment.

Jobs to attract baby boomers will offer less stress, lots of social connection, more flexible working hours and conditions, and a chance to learn – these things are more highly valued than money. New Zealand baby boomers, like their American counterparts, are looking for jobs with a mission that offers them opportunities to continue to grow.