According to writer Mauro Guillén, the traditional, sequential life model (childhood, education, career, retirement) is becoming obsolete due to increased longevity and declining fertility rates, creating a ‘post-generational society’, where age-based definitions of generations are no longer appropriate. The future belongs to people who are now 60 years old or older, as in most developed countries they can now expect to live to 80-85 years on average, and to be in good health until around 70-75 years. This shift means that the workforce, consumption, and social and political influence are leaning towards older age groups.

Retirement will evolve to include more learning opportunities, independent work, and flexible employment for older people, thanks to new technologies and a ‘perennial mentality’ that avoids rigid age stereotypes. Therefore, companies and academic institutions will have to adapt to this post-generational society, changing their educational, marketing and workforce management models to meet the needs and behaviors of this new panorama.

However, for this trend to materialize and for older people to have opportunities to continue contributing, it is necessary to promote inclusion and diversity policies and foster the value of the experience and knowledge that older workers contribute.

There are certain organizational cultures that encourage the disengagement of workers simply because they have reached the legal retirement age, without considering whether they are in a position to continue in their job. This constitutes a social loss, since it means excluding people who are still self-sufficient from the labor market.

According to the United Nations, ageism in older people is associated with poorer physical and mental health, greater social isolation and loneliness, greater financial insecurity, lower quality of life and higher rates of premature death, so educational activities that enhance empathy and intergenerational activities to reduce prejudice can help.

There are some innovative ideas for intergenerational support. Companies can implement support and mentoring programs between senior and junior workers to encourage intergenerational transmission of knowledge, and arrangements can be created for seniors to supervise young workers who do their internship while they finish their studies.

We have the great challenge of replicating and generalizing these experiences and generating more debate about them in the development of public policies, so that the technological disruption we are experiencing can effectively catalyze more opportunities for the ‘perennial’ members of a multigenerational society.

Source: DF