When you turn 50, you're only halfway through your working career
Many people start to think of themselves as seniors and begin planning for retirement. But that’s completely wrong, researchers point out.
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- Today, many of us pursue long educations. It has become common not to start a serious working career until you are around 30 years old.
- After that, you are expected to work until the new retirement age of around 70.
So, at 50, you are only halfway through your working life.
The real challenges lie ahead
Researchers Göran Roos and Andreas Norgår Thon have written a new report for Kristiania University College in Oslo, where they systematically review current research in the area.
They found that:
- The number of people working in the population will decline.
- An ageing population means that the average age of those working will increase.
- We are not doing enough to face the challenges that will come in 15-20 years.
- Much more can be done to make it easier for people to work until they are 70 or even older.
A new ‘multigenerational workforce’
Roos and Thon presented their report at Kristiania University College and spoke a lot about a new ‘multigenerational workforce.’
“In the future, many workplaces will likely see several generations working side by side,” says Thon.
It will become more common for a 25-year-old to work next to a 70-year-old.
People with different values and completely different life experiences will interact more frequently.
Will this pose a problem in the new multigenerational workforce?
Not necessarily.
“Looking at international studies, we found that differences between generations are often smaller than the differences between individuals," he says.
Age differences are therefore unlikely to be the major challenge in the future workforce. Young and old employees will probably be able to work well together.
Better personnel policies for older workers
Roos and Thon point to a much greater challenge:
Employers are not doing enough to support older workers.
“As a result, we'll simply run out of new people entering the workforce,” Roos warned when the report was presented.
Roos, who has advised many large companies over the years, believes that it is imperative for employers to develop better personnel policies for older workers than what they currently have.
Investing in continuous training of older workers is an important factor in helping workers remain relevant to their employers as they age.
“We need to create a culture for this in the workplace,” says the researcher.
But it is also the responsibility of individual older workers to remain attractive in the labour market by educating themselves, Roos adds.
“Finally, older employees are responsible for ensuring that they maintain their health so they can handle the mental and physical demands of a job,” he says.
People want to work until they are 68-69 years old
Roger Moen is deputy director at what was formerly called the Centre for Senior Planning, which focused mainly on retirement planning. In 2024, the publicly funded centre shifted its focus and was renamed the Centre for Extended Working Life.
Moen has gathered data on what older workers themselves want.
“We’re seeing a remarkable shift! When we asked people in 2003 when they imagined leaving the workforce, the average answer was 61 years. In 2015, the average response was age 66 years. That's an increase of a full five years,” he says.
Today, when the centre asks Norwegian 60-year-olds how long they expect to keep working, the average answer is 69.2 years.
In other words, much longer than most people actually end up working.
A fantastic starting point
“This is a fantastic starting point for reaching the politicians' goal that we need to work longer,” says Moen.
But what, then, is causing people to stop working long before they reach the age of 69?
Up until about 15 years ago, the obvious answer would have been the pension system.
Back then, it was financially beneficial to retire early. But the pension reform implemented by then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his colleagues has completely changed that. Now it pays off to keep working.
Declining health and the desire for ‘the good life’
When the knowledge centre – whose mission is to encourage people to work longer – asks individuals, Roger Moen sees that declining health is a clear factor.
Many people point to their health as a reason for retiring early from work.
"Family also plays a role. For instance, if you have an older spouse or partner, you might want to enjoy some quality time together while you can," he says, adding:
“Others simply want more time to enjoy 'the good life.'"
Would rather ‘get away’
These are the kinds of things older people often talk about with one another.
But according to Moen, there's something else that does not get discussed as much.
Namely, how the workplace itself affects whether older employees choose to stay.
“Lack of trust from a manager or being in a negative work environment causes many older workers to leave early,” he says.
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At the Centre for Extended Working Life, they also see how many older employees struggle with feeling less capable in their roles.
Others report age discrimination.
“These are the explanations we often hear. And that's when older workers start thinking they'd rather just 'get away.' The oldest workers are often the most vulnerable in the workplace. This is how older people get pushed out of the workforce," says Moen.
Low-hanging fruit
Moen and his colleagues now have a solid understanding of what helps keep older workers in the workforce.
Positive feedback from supervisors, satisfied customers, and satisfied relatives – these are all what researchers call 'stay factors' for older employees.
“These are low-hanging fruit to pick if we want to keep more people in their jobs. We know they're highly effective,” says Moen.
More broadly, getting people to work longer involves making the work experience part of what older employees see as 'the good life.'
Managers need to be willing to have the conversation
“Managers should be willing to talk to employees about their retirement plans, and what it would take for them to continue in the job a little longer,” says Moen, adding:
“These days, it’s no longer taboo to discuss sick leave with employees. It used to be a sensitive topic just a few years ago, but that’s changed.”
Managers should talk to older employees about what they envision for the later stages of their careers. Could they see themselves working for another 5, 10, or maybe 15 years?
For many, those could become the best years of their working lives. It could be a meaningful alternative to retiring in pursuit of 'the good life.'
These can also be valuable years where the employer benefits from the experience of an older employee.
The manager may have secured an employee who knows when enough information has been gathered to make sound decisions. An employee who knows how to handle the more challenging customers. Someone who might not master digital technology as well as the younger staff, but who can act as a mentor to them in several other areas.
References:
Herlofson et al. Veier ut av arbeidslivet. Senkarrierer og yrkesavgang (Exiting the workforce. Late careers and retirement), NOVA-Report, 2023.
Norsk seniorpolitisk barometer 2024 (Norwegian senior political barometer 2024), prepared by Ipsos for Norway’s Centre for Extended Working Life, 2024.
Thon, A.N. & Roos, G. Politikk, strategier og praksis for ledelse av en aldrende arbeidsstyrke, i et multigenerasjons arbeidsliv i Norge (Policies, strategies and practices for managing an ageing workforce in Norway’s multigenerational workplace), Kristiania Report Series, 2024. DOI: 10.57933/pt4y-7s94
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Translated by Ingrid P. Nuse
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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