The 16% Solution: Good News or Bad News?
Over 16% of mature workers (a.k.a over 50) say they will never retire according to Pew Research’s latest study on the The Threshold Generation. Is this good news? Is this bad news?
Overall, 37% of full-time employed adults of all ages say they have thought in the past year about postponing their eventual retirement. This proportion swells to 52% among fulltime workers 50 to 64. Members of this so-called “Threshold Generation” are twice as likely as younger workers to say they never plan to retire (16% vs. 8%).
I am sure that for many workers whose problems are purely financial this is bad news. For other workers this may be a lifestyle choice. They are motivated to work. They are engaged. They are good for individual businesses. They are good for the economy. Here are some findings from a study conducted for The Concurs Group, a global consultancy to senior executives, by Harris Interactive.
“Companies have to wake up to the fact that their young workers – their managers and skilled professionals of tomorrow – are the most dissatisfied and least engaged workers today,” said Tamara Erickson, executive officer of the Concours Group. “At the same time, workers approaching retirement are the most energetic, focused and loyal. The question companies need to answer as we approach a skilled labor shortage is, ‘How do we better engage the younger workers while retaining the older workers, or at least postponing their retirement?’ ”
Coming attractions in PeopleSoft Enterprise
Could a new PeopleSoft release be coming soon to theatre near you? Well, maybe not a theatre. Terminator Salvation or Star Trek they are not but these new releases may be very important to your future. In recent weeks Oracle has made available new release value propositions (RVP) for:
- PeopleSoft Enterprise HCM 9.1
- PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1
- PeopleTools 8.50.
Could the actual GA releases be far behind? My pure conjecture is no.
The PeopleTools Technology Blog provides links to the PeopleTools 8.50 and Portal 9.1 RVP. Here is a similar link to the HCM 9.1 RVP.
I can tell you without equivocation that the developers at ORACLE have been busy, busy, busy. I have perused these documents and I think there is a lot to love from new web 2.0 features such as wikis, blogging, and tagging to distinct functional improvements such as online pre-screening of applicants. And a lot more in between. Not everyone will be pleased with everything but Oracle cannot be faulted for its effort. As I look a deeper I will as a matter of course share what I discover. Stay tuned for more…coming attractions.
Mature talent can be a thing of beauty
I confess! This is my first posting in several weeks. On May 1st I departed on a two week trip to Greece and Turkey. My blogging intentions were good. I even took my laptop. Nevertheless, the combination of a seven time zone gap, a series of great experiences, and a touch of Ouzo drained all my blogging will power. It is time to start writing again.
Now, I am back in the States and have only my memory and a few pictures (several hundred in fact) to remind me of my travels. One of the pictures I just reviewed is the one above of my Turkish carpet salesman. I would make an attribution if only I could remember his name. Nevertheless, I do remember with great respect the competent manner in which this mature and talented veteran went about the art of selling Turkish carpets.
First, I need to tell you that I walked through the Turkish Bazaar and was accosted by a host of sales people. They were brash. They were rude. They were immature. They were unsuccessful.
One knows a professional veteran when one sees one. I have worked at times in my career with this rare breed. This Turkish carpet salesman reminded me of those people. In my mind his techniques rose almost to the level of performance art. He knew his stuff, every minor aspect involved in creating hand-made carpets, and even more importantly he “knew” people. Knowing about people is an acquired skill. His competence was not bought in a sales seminar but gained thorough thousands of interactions over tens of years. It is the difference between knowing and thinking. He knew.
Did I buy a carpet? Yes, I did. Perhaps you have a project, a difficult but important undertaking that needs someone who can sell to the top, smooth out the development process, and meld the efforts of your stakeholders into a successful result. If so, maybe you should be looking for someone like my Turkish carpet salesman.
I know you are dying to ask: Did I pay too much? I think that is the wrong question. The question is: Did I enjoy the experience and did I end up with something valuable, a thing of beauty? I believe I did.