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Great article from last weekend’s Sunday Age. Here’s an excerpt:

Here’s another image: a newer, more sombre reality. You work in an office. Your 65th birthday comes and goes. Life as you know it ticks on, the humdrum of the office continues. You turn 67, then  70. You watch your salt-and-pepper hair turn grey, then take on a silver-white shimmer. You look across your ergonomically designed desk (with the adapted lighting to aid your weakened eyesight) at your colleague; he or she is older and more silvery than you. Forget the  golf course; you are not going there – at least, not yet.

Welcome to 2050, where, according to the Rudd government’s intergenerational report, nearly one in four of us is over 65. The future is grey.

Here’s the trick: How do we work longer but work differently? I’ve had a stab at providing an alternative picture. Organisations who invest now in workforce development for their late career employees could assure their staff of something like this:

Here’s another image: a newer, bright reality. You work in an office. Your 65th birthday comes and your Gen Z manager gives you a day off to celebrate with your grandchildren.  Work as you know it has taken on a whole new dimension, the hum of the office alternates with the trill of birds when you work at your home office two days a week. You turn 67, then  70. You watch your salt-and-pepper hair turn grey, then take on a silver-white shimmer. You add a purple streak to it in acknowledgment of the wisdom you share with your two mentees over lunch. They thoroughly approve.

You look across your ergonomically designed desk (with the adapted lighting to aid your weakened eyesight) at your colleague; he or she is older and more silvery than you. Forget the  golf course; they are packing up for ‘snow goose’ leave and will return in three month’s time from their beach holiday to be part of the contingent workforce for the ‘busy season’.

Welcome to 2050, where, according to the Rudd government’s intergenerational report, nearly one in four of us is over 65. The future is surprisingly bright.