What Next Your Career Change Companion - New Tricks

Old stereotypes die hard. And none die harder than the cliché of the old fogey worker – a bald headed cardie clad grumpy old man hopeless at technology and new systems, desperately clinging to the job he’s held for decades. In the past older workers were the first to go during a credit squeeze. But many organisations have learnt that the depth of knowledge and hard won experience mature workers possess can be difficult, if not impossible, to replace. Now that the ‘dream’ of full-time retirement has been revealed as a myth, many workers are planning on working into their 60s, 70s and beyond. This chapter looks at the employment prospects for mature workers, the reasons they will enjoy longer, more productive working lives and how they can ensure that they remain workplace relevant. Whether it’s a search for significance or a desire to top up the super – or both – the new workplace offers a much friendlier environment for the resilient. New legislation protecting the rights of older workers will reinforce this change but older workers will also have to ‘come to the party’ by taking charge of their ongoing skills update and accepting the demise of the notion of a ‘job for life’. The upside is a much more exciting multi-generational work scene

To do nothing is no longer an option
Charles Handy

Old dogs

In 2003 the BBC created a television show with a winning formula. It was originally aired as a one-off, but when it drew 67 million viewers, the beeb decided a series was definitely the way to go. Titled New Tricks, it starred a rogue’s gallery of older detectives brought out of retirement to solve cold cases. Despite the name of the show, these ‘old dogs’ employed few ‘new tricks’ depending instead on time-honoured policing methods to get their man.

At one level this program subverted the ageist workplace stereotype of older workers who are “past it” being overtaken by bright young things with higher qualifications. But at another level, it reinforced the notion that using “old ways” of policing was the most effective way to get results, particularly if this involved eschewing training or the use of new technologies.

That’s with the exception of the nerdy member of the team, Brian, played by Alun Armstrong. An interesting character with a quirky mathematical brain, Brian lives on the internet and makes connections few others can see.

Brian is, in fact, the only one of the old dogs who really gets the ‘new tricks’ of the trade as the best way of to remain workplace relevant.

The stereotype

Sadly Brian is an example rarely seen or acknowledged when the conversation turns to older workers, retirement and pension funding.

Instead the discussion is usually so negative it is enough to send a relatively “normal” 50-year old bolting to the gym or beautician looking to tone up, with or without the aid of Botox or implants, in case their age (a fact of life) is held against them in the quest to stay employed and employable.

How it came to this is a long, long story, but a brief look at the history of the idea of retirement is instructive.

In PrimeTime, an overview of the ways in which the talents of older Americans might be recognised and utilised, author, Marc Freedman, looks back upon the construction of Sun City, the first purpose built retirement village, in Phoenix, Arizona, as a turning point in the way Americans were encouraged to view, in fact, to anticipate their retirement. [endnote 1] The marketers, Del Webb, had seen the potential of a longer living, slightly wealthier segment of the population who would embrace the opportunity to live a life free of responsibilities but full of golf. Some 12 per cent of Americans aged over 65 now live in retirement cities or complexes, so this concept has obviously struck gold for many companies.

In Australia the number of retirement village residents of similar age is just five per cent, so we have been far less eager to embrace the all play, no work promise. In fact, if we reverse the numbers, the total of 95 per cent of men and women aged over 65 who are eschewing a retirement village lifestyle presents a robust rebuttal of the life of leisure.

The point, however, is not in the seven per cent difference in uptake of this way of retirement village living. It is how and why we ever allowed ourselves to be told that our final 20, 30 or more years on earth should be spent in some sort of adult kindergarten. When did not working as you got older take such a grip on the popular imagination?

Tim Lane: A step into a tougher world

I failed science at university where I basically spent three years floundering, then spent 16 months working in an Edgell pea cannery in northern Tasmania.

One long weekend in March, 1972, when all my mates were back at university, I was drinking, smoking and playing pool in the local pub. I remember a boozy conversation about football and horse racing with a local radio commentator, Elton Alexander, from station 7AD Devonport. He asked if I would like to go along and see how calling worked. I woke up the next day with a hangover and thought, ‘My God, did I have that conversation?’ I’d already applied for a sports journalism role at Channel Nine Launceston and been knocked back. But I thought if I followed up Elton may not remember me or may be embarrassed.

Four or five weeks later he walked into the same pub – we were both on our first beer – and he mentioned he was disappointed I hadn’t called. I said I would be there next Saturday which was May 6, 1972, the local Derby and East Devonport beat Devonport by a goal. I sat there while he called the first quarter. Then I joined him in the second quarter. The station only paid him $20 a week, so he couldn’t pay me but he gave me some cash at the end of the season.

Shortly afterwards I picked up a part-time job with the ABC in Launceston with the prospect of a fulltime position in the sports department which I gained after 18 months. I then gained my dream job in the sports department of the ABC in Melbourne some five years later.

In 2003 Tim left the ABC after 30 years of broadcasting including Australian Rules Football, international cricket, five Olympic Games and five Commonwealth Games. He left because, after years of single parenting, he had found someone with whom he wanted to spend his time, and his gruelling travel commitments were impossible to reconcile with his commitment to his new partner.

It was a personal decision to step down and not easily done. I had a very comfortable position at the ABC – I was then the main man in the footy season and a member of the international cricket broadcasting team. This involved a component of power; you owned the territory and felt relevant in a prominent and respected role. There was a moment during my transitional phase when I felt a sense of relevance deprivation syndrome.

In a way the move from full-time work with the ABC has helped prepare me for an eventual retirement transition. I haven’t pondered too deeply about retirement, but I guess some sort of wind down is inevitable. The world sees us differently as we grow older. Things do change, whether we like it or not. I am conscious of the need to convey that I still have energy and enthusiasm. I hope my retirement is a fair way off, but I have entered a transitional phase. When I was on the staff of the ABC my work was one dimensional, as it was in radio, covering different sports in different seasons. Now I am a freelance broadcaster on TV, and radio, and a newspaper writer. With the precarious nature of football televising rights, it is possible one or more of these jobs could go. I always need to bear that in mind.

So if one role goes, perhaps the other two will still be there. I also do some public speaking and am about to start writing a book, so I’m employed for the foreseeable future. Maintaining a sense of fulfillment and relevance still matters. I’m not sure if people get better with age but in my sort of work you get better at some things. You gain experience, knowledge about a topic, self knowledge, and a broader context. You know more about the history of a sport – there’s a lot that’s stored away.

Personally I like hearing older voices, people who’ve been around a long time. The flipside is youthful ambition – young people have unsatisfied unrequited hunger for achievement – and you can feel that ambition. It’s not entirely competitive. But there are only so many jobs to go around in the commentary box and the jobs are the prize for the best.

Elements of the game of football have changed significantly and I refer to them regularly. (I suspect) my younger colleagues would just like me to get over it! Identifying myself as an older observer of the game can also make me vulnerable – put a target on my back again. My move from radio to TV meant I was going to the most conspicuous area of media performance. TV commentators can be judged pretty harshly. You’re talking over pictures so you’re in danger of being a distraction. It was a step from a cosy position where I had been more than fairly treated by audience and media reviewers into a far tougher world. It’s my seventh season on TV and I think I’m getting better.

As with all public performance, commentating isn’t without its difficulties. People who do it well make it look easy. It’s often said that public speaking is one of the most frightening experiences you can face, so it’s not done without a certain amount of wear and tear. I feel as though I’ve had extraordinary good fortune to have opportunity to do the work I do. But one day I’ll say that’s it and will feel a sense of huge relief.

The numbers look good.

Whether we cast our gaze back hundreds or thousands of years, retirement has always been obsolete. It is really a term for one of the shortest periods in history, the last 60 years.

There is a reason we didn’t retire over the centuries. We simply didn’t live long enough. In 1800 the average life expectancy for an Australian man was 38 years. In 1900 this had increased to 53 years, so generally speaking, people were still too young (i.e. productive) to retire. Today it’s 78.7 for males and 83.5 for females. But people now say they feel too young to retire. With active bodies and minds and a lot of fun yet to be had, they don’t necessarily only want to work full time, but are happy to consider a mix of full and part-time. Recent ‘Ozram’ research from the University of Tasmania confirms 62 per cent of Baby Boomers are seeking a phased and meaningful transition to retirement with regular part-time work with 75% wishing to do so in their present occupation. A significant 82 per cent desired to pass on their knowledge through mentoring.[endnote 2]

That’s the personal view.

Phil Ruthven and the need to ‘get it’

‘From a market perspective the challenge has always been to get enough workers to keep everybody alive. The optimum number is 4/10 citizens working full time or a combination of full and part time workers. This ratio has not changed for centuries across most countries. 100 years ago, at Federation, we were struggling to get 4 workers per 10. So 4 per cent of the workforce, aged under 14, was needed to keep society “alive”. There was no retirement; workers were needed and people died too young. Long term the situation for older workers is good. Our economy will need workers. It’s rarely acknowledged in the media, the reporters are all too young. Because they have no sense of history or perspective they just don’t get it.’

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