Retired, But Working

Ken & Mary Gergen
November 26, 2004

Kenneth Gergen is the Mustin Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore College, and his wife Mary is a Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at Penn State University, Delaware County. This short article is taken from their newsletter "Positive Aging", which is published every 2 months. You can subscribe at: http://www.healthandage.org/Home/gm=22 .
Robert Griffith, Editor.

Introduction

Retirees are drifting out of work, back to work, or both, often in new jobs, or old jobs with new emphases. The notion of "phased retirement" is becoming increasingly popular with many white-collar workers. Jeri Sedlar, a consultant on senior work issues, described this and other options in her book "Don't Retire, Rewire!" A recent study indicated that 2/3 of 1,000 workers over 50 prefer scaling back their work commitments to full retirement. This desire coincides with the needs of companies to hire part- time workers who are skilled and experienced. Intel and Volkswagen, USA are among the companies creating positions with the right perks to entice such people to come to work with them.

Beyond sheer interest in the challenges and opportunities of "keeping a hand in", the financial rewards of continuing to generate income cannot be overlooked. With rises in health care costs, see-saw stock market prices, and declining interest rates on investments, extra income is a welcome windfall, and in some cases, a vital component of a comfortable life. Some executives have joined groups like YourEncore, an organization backed by Eli Lilly and Procter & Gamble to bring together executives from the biosciences, engineering and technology fields to work on special projects for companies that belong to the network, such as Merck, Dow Chemical and Abbott Laboratories. The best part about these projects, according to one participant, is the intellectual challenge that is provided.

In a landmark development, Home Depot has joined with AARP to announce a national partnership aimed at attracting and retaining older workers as full-time or part-time employees. Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, currently operates more than 1,700 stores and plans to open an additional 175 locations. In the first two months after the announcement, more than 7,500 job applications were submitted through the AARP web site, and more than 5,000 names were placed into a qualified applicants pool.

Elder Accomplishments

Counteracting the prevailing cultural bias that creativity is the provenance of the young, many periodicals now mention the great accomplishments achieved by those 60 and over. Here is a sample of some of the achievements of older people we have recently discovered:

• Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex at 70 and Electra at 90.
• Michaelangelo began work on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome at 70.
• "Grandma Moses" took up painting as a hobby at 76.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie, published her first book at 65.
• Benjamin Franklin helped write the Declaration of Independence at 70 and was named CEO of Pennsylvania at 79.
• Mother Teresa continued her missionary work until her death at 87.
• Arthur Rubinstein gave one of his greatest piano performances at New York's Carnegie Hall at 89.
• Golda Meir was named prime minister of Israel at 71 and held that office for 5 years.
• Mahatma Gandhi led India's opposition to British rule at 77.
• Frank Lloyd Wright completed New York's Guggenheim Museum at 89.

Source

• Getting Away From the Job, But Keeping a Hand in It. B. Cummings, New York Times, 2004, vol. 9, pp. 10--11

Related Links
AARP-Home Depot Partnership
Centenarians' Lifestyle - What Works, What Doesn't
Lifetime Engagement