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When words don’t say it all …
by Brian Shakes, chief executive officer, Over 50s Association.
If you’re an interested observer and participator in changes, as we are here at the Over 50s Association, you’ll be aware that language often takes a while to catch up with the nuances of social change.
For example, we still talk about ‘retirement’ as if our lives continue to fit neatly into the pattern that operated for much of last century – a period of study, a period of work and then an abrupt changeover to a period of retirement. And, when the notion of retirement was introduced into the workplace early last century, most people only lived a few short years after the gold watch.
For some people, the three-stage life pattern still operates, of course, but for many others, the demarcation lines have blurred; many ‘retirees’ still work, many people are involuntarily ‘retired’ long before they’re ready, and people can and do take up study and change careers at any age.
Yet our language still prompts us to continue thinking in the old ways. We need a word or words that allow us to think of these ‘retirement’ years not as years of ‘hiding away’, which is what the word implies, but as years full of life, purpose and usefulness.
At the launch of the Over 50s workingconnections employment-matching service in March, Charles Brass, chair of the Future of Work Foundation, also challenged the notion of retirement.
He suggested we still think of retirement in terms of "a thick black line that divides life into two bits: a productive, useful, contributory and remunerative life, followed by some hedonistic activities – preferably out of everyone’s way".
This is not the reality for many, however, as one glance around the office of the Over 50s Association with our band of older workers will testify.
Mr Brass said for a growing number of people, a working life made up of a full-time job away from home, followed by an abrupt retirement, would be replaced by a phased exit from the workforce. People would perform varying amounts of contract work, often at home, until well past conventional retirement age.
The pattern of contract, contingent and insecure work that makes up a phased retirement, is already all too familiar for many people forced out of the full-time workforce long before they are ready – financially or emotionally – even to think about traditional retirement.
Since Mr Brass’ address at the launch of workingconnections, I’m pleased to say that many in this invidious position have contacted us and become members of the service.
So, too, have some who are wanting to phase in their ‘retirement’. We’ve had quite a bit of contact with employers, too, and have been able to make some productive work ‘matches’.
We’re continuing work on the website – www.workingconnections.com – and I’m pleased to say that, overall, we’re on track with the re-vamping of this service that is so much part of the Over 50s service and history.
And, any suggestions for a word to replace ‘retirement’ would be most welcome!
