The Age of the Seasoned

By 2050 one in four persons living in Europe and Northern America could be aged 65 or over They will control 70 to 75 percent of the wealthCompanies will be desperate for workers with experience as the workforce shrinksThe fight against sexism and racism may in time extend to ageismFlexible work and new technology behaviors due to COVID will create massive new flexibility and opportunity for the seasonedAccording to data from World Population Prospects the 2019 Revision by 2050 one in six people in the world will be over age 65 16 up from one in 11 in 2019 9 In 2018 for the first time in history persons aged 65 or above outnumbered children under five years of age globally The number of persons aged 80 years or over is projected to triple from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050Older people tend to be more active politically and vote more often so they will have significant heft in democraciesPeople over 55 now control nearly three of every four dollars and the share is growingThough the generational picture is stark the difference in US household wealth by age makes the picture of shifting wealth even clearerUntil 2001 the shares of household wealth held by different age groups were relatively stable People aged 4054 and 5569 held around 35 each of household wealth retirees aged 70 hovered around 20 and younger people aged under 40 held around 10Since that time however the shift in wealth to older generations is clear The 70 age group has seen their share of wealth increase to 26 while the share held by ages 5569 has grown from 35 to almost halfBut not all ages are seeing an increasing slice of wealth The 4054 age group saw its share drop sharply from 36 to 22 between 2001 and 2016 before starting to recover towards the end of the decade while the youngest cohort now hover around just 5Clearly within the older generations there is wide disparity in wealth with tens of millions not having enough to retire and others with enormous fortunes but as a cohort the seasoned is where the money isAs populations begin to shrink and assuming antiimmigration fervor does not dissipate businesses will increasingly have to rely on older employeesPopulations in most Western countries are shrinking fast The United Nations has said the number of people in the EU bloc will drop to 365 million by 2100 down from 446 million todayBut a new study published in the medical journal The Lancet predicts it will fall more sharply to 308 million by the end of the centuryThe year 2021 is the first time since 1937 that the US population grew by fewer than one million people featuring the lowest numeric growth since at least 1900 when the Census Bureau began annual population estimatesBoth for financial reasons of countries delaying pensions due to financial constraints and the desperate need for workers there is going to be a massive aging of the workforceIncreasing Sensitivity and Awareness of the Other quotIsmquot AgeismRecently a research report titled Workplace Equality for All Unless Theyamp8217re Old conducted by professors at Stanford and New York University revealed that while there was less and less tolerance for any form of racism or sexism ageism was still relatively widespreadTheir research revealed that more people tended to endorse this idea that there should be equality for everyone and striving to reduce prejudice toward traditionally discriminated groups there was this surprising correlation Those who were more egalitarian who were striving to reduce prejudice toward traditionally discriminated groups were less likely to endure racist views and less likely to endorse sexist views but weirdly they were more likely to support ageist views endorsing this idea of succession that older adults should step aside and make way for younger generationsHowever it is very likely that the advances against racism and sexism will likely also help against ageism because the concept of quotfitquot which might have held back women and people of color can also no longer be used to discriminate against older peopleAs the authors note quotThink of how many hiring decisions firing decisions promotions raises and opportunities are allocated based on socalled 39fit39 Man the word 39fit39 is so loaded when it comes to age right It39s a code wordquotAs a result more and more companies are facing and losing age discrimination casesHow COVID changed mindsets in ways that may benefit the SeasonedMillions of Americans have disappeared from the workforce and many of those who have left are older Their exit has many causes from positive ones such as appreciation of assets that allow them to leave to negative ones which are greater susceptibility to illness or inability to get back easily to a job This has left business scrambling for talent and more willing to increase pay provide greater flexibility and better hoursThe two biggest shifts due to COVID which will benefit the more seasoned is that fact of distributed work quotremotequot is not correct since being out of the office does not mean you are isolated and do not meet with people in other places and how quickly older people began to leverage and adapt to technology putting a nail in the quotthey fear technologyquot nonsenseDistributed work allows companies to buy a part of a seasoned person39s time making them affordable while giving them flexibility to go from full time to part time work and no longer a forced choice of work or no work Technology especially with Web 30 will continue to enable and extend capabilities without knowing how to code or being physically in great shapeFinally this supposed hunger for mentoring guidance and learning the ropes that people are missing comes from whom The Seasoned And it can be done in person outside the office or even on ZoomImplications to PonderWill generational divides be another axis of polarizationWill the disparate wealth between the Seasoned and Gen XMillennials be another driver of polarization or will the transfer of wealth via inheritance though likely to increase inequality ameliorate these possible fissures The implications regarding the future of taxes medical care and social benefits are likely to be significant Already young people are far more likely to be socialist as they wonder if they will ever do as well as the older generations with many ladders of advancement and wealth creation in short supplyIs your firm getting ready for the Age of the SeasonedEvery company should not just ask how they are getting ready not just for the next frontiers of technology but the Tsunami of the Seasoned From introducing or adapting products to designing services it will be key to keep this key constituency in mind HR and talent management needs to ensure your workplace can take advantage and leverage their talentAre you planning your career keeping in mind the Age of the SeasonedCareers are likely to last five decades In 12 Career Lessons a key learning is to think in long cycles and keep in mind that the reason the grass appears greener on the other side is that is often fertilized by bullshitAs firms increasingly leverage distributed and unbundled work to find new ways to architect teams most people are going to work across generations and not just across time zones What emotional and intellectual skills what expertise and craft will you need to hone and grow and how will you reinvent yourself over your seasons in an increasingly plug and play worldClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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