#Careers. Can we afford to let someone retire??

Time to reflect if retirement is a myth!!

CREDIT: Getty Images

• When the retirement age of 60/65 was mooted back in the 1950s or so, the average life expectancy was 61! Today average life expectancy is just under 80 years.
• In fact, the percent of the workforce representing workers over 60 has doubled since 1992. We are heading for a economic disaster by ignoring the implications of increased life and work-life expectancy.

"Advances in longevity are making supporting retirement for another 20 to 30 years impossible for 90% of all workers."

A recent Guardian article about research on aging and retirement cast an interesting light on the topic.  Healthy retirees who worked a year longer (over the age of 65) had an 11% lower all-cause mortality risk. Even the unhealthy group reduced their likelihood of dying by 9% if they delayed retirement." An analysis on the study was also published in the Harvard Business Review.

And think of it - there is certainly some evidence that working longer, especially at something you love to do, contributes to a sense of well-being and purpose that may increase longevity and certainly the quality of your life.

Time to change the way we look ?

- Retirement was seen as a release from bondage--the liberating act from a lifetime of work. They were built for time when most work was manual, labor intensive, when brains were less valuable than brawn. In a world where knowledge is the universal currency for creating value, can we convert the experience of a lifetime - differently?

- With tenures in employment reducing, increasing technology to help automate the mundane and the routine, perhaps there is a case in leveraging remote working, part -time work, telecommuting? Add to the wealth of experience someone in the 60+ age brings, it could even help orchestrate a network of freelancers, and outsourced workers -perhaps  today one can achieve in 20 hours a week -than 40 earlier?

-Focus on the quality of the work, rather the quantity? Encourage more sabbaticals? More collaborative efforts in the gig economy? While the millenials can be depended on creativity and short term projects, do we see the retired folks complementing?

- Would we see 'retired ' employees as part of the Diversity & Inclusiveness policies of organisations soon? 

Well, seems like exciting times. And yes -the caveat? One needs to be constantly learning, unlearning, and re-learning.

Or am I missing something? Will love your inputs..

Book Review : "Competing on Talent in Today’s Business World" written by Mr Pradeep Sahay

It is uncanny that, even after 25 years in the hiring solutions business, I hardly find any top notch recruitment practitioner who doesn’t confess that she/he forayed into Recruitment/Talent Acquisition by chance, luck or fate. I cannot remember anyone ever saying that when they grew up they wanted to be a recruiter/TA specialist!

And it has always psyched me. 

Time and again we hear: “People aren’t the best assets. The RIGHT people are.” But very little seems to have been done to institutionalize recruiting/ talent acquisition (TA) as a profession. 

Probing more deeply, I find that often, the TA role is perhaps an entry level role, at times even delegated to a contract employee – to a career in the HR domain, where people aspire to do more glamorous roles in Training, Organisation Development, Performance Management, and so on. 

Not many have found their way to the corner office. And so there are hardly any ‘role models’ that have inspired generations to consciously pursue a career in Recruitment/Talent Acquisition.

Consequently, the book Competing on Talent in Today’s Business World is – to me – manna from heaven! 

Pradeep Sahay’s book is the foundation for potential professionals to make a mark in Talent Acquisition. 

-Both the science and art of hiring have been dealt with very meticulously. 

-Enormous research has gone into collating hundreds of papers and articles from across the world to authenticate the findings, 

-Hundreds of tables and visual aids help the reader to assimilate the theory effectively. 

-And there is also an amazing range of templates that help us to get to the “Why” and figure out the “What” and “How”.

And just as one is assimilating these thoughts, the detailed case study (applying the principles to an organisation named Sigma group) leaves one fortified with concepts that have developed over time. It helps us understand how TA has transformed companies into “Great Places to Work” – from mere transactions that are part of the everyday life of hiring.

I would not hesitate to call this book the “Grey’s Anatomy” equivalent to help readers become the finest Talent Acquisition professionals! 

It is surely a textbook that ought to find its way into the best educational institutes – and hungry organisations – and ought to be a handbook that every TA professional can regularly refresh her/himself with.

#mustread :3 Reasons Global Firms Should Keep Investing in India

HBR recently published this article.

And Abhijit Bhaduri  produced this visual.  There is no way one can express it better.

Happy reading

Please do feel free to reach me -we help companies find talent they cannot find themselves. 

Options for professionals of Indian origin and international experience !!

AI- Bane or Boon for Recruiters?

Image courtesy HR Talent IQ

There are so many theories predicting dooms days ahead in the next 10-12 years

-McKinsey argues that demand for work will increase as automation grows. Technology will drive productivity growth, which will in turn lead to rising incomes and consumption, especially in developing countries. Meanwhile, there will be more jobs in health care to meet the demands of aging societies and more investment in infrastructure and energy. For these benefits to be realised, everyone needs to gain new skills, with governments and private companies taking on the unprecedented task of retraining millions of people in the middle of their careers.

- Accenture predicts that by 2030, the only full time jobs that exist would be the C-Suite roles. The rest would either be automated, or outsourced -and if not be done by freelancers.

With the reducing tenure of employment, it is anybody's guess that the present pricing models -linked to annual salaries would eventually change?

With the mortality rates of businesses increasing, would they be really invested in the careers of their employees?

Are we seeing larger companies building their own internal/in-house recruitment teams -and reducing the dependence on third party firms?

Do we see recruitment models being changed?

Recruiting is no longer about Networks and Convenience.

Is the future of recruiting in Candidate Management + Marketing! With thousands of firms selling to the same HR Audience, it definitely going to be getting tougher. The smart recruiters are going to leverage the digital tools to Market to Clients better and pull them in by creating specific and exclusive talent pools that they alone have access to?

Perhaps we would be better off -managing 'rejected' candidates, and building a niche talent pool- and managing their careers?

Just like private bankers help High Networth individuals manage their financial assets, do we, as recruiters have our roles cut out to become trusted advisors. Surely, for professionals, careers are much as a financial asset-that needs to be managed ?

What are your views on this? Would love to hear.

The future of work - We need to switch occupations & upgrade skills!

These days, it is easy to get confused about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)-and robots can have on the jobs of the future.

One of the key findings by McKinsey surveys is that while there may be enough work to maintain full employment to 2030 under most scenarios, the transitions will be very challenging.

Automation and AI will lift productivity and economic growth,but millions of people worldwide may need to switch occupations/upgrade skills!

For a country like India, here is some interesting data -there will be increase in jobs..but they would be spread out..differently!

1) Creative (Artists, designers, entertainers, media workers)-58% increase

2) Technology professionals(Computer engineers/specialists) -129%

3) Teachers ( & education support workers)- 208%

4) Managers and executives-75%

5) Builders (Architects,surveyors, construction workers, installation and repair workers (buildings and infrastructure),crane and tower operators) -117%

6) Care providers (Doctors, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, 

therapists,health aides and health support, childcare workers, health technicians,community social worker)-242%

7) Professionals (Account managers, engineers, business and financial  specialists, lawyers and judges, legal industry support staff, math specialists , scientists, and academics)-46%

8) Office support (IT workers, information and record clerks, office-support workers, procurement, payroll, etc), administrative assistants) -21%

9) Predictable physical work ( ie equipment installation and repair workers, 

protective services, gaming- industry workers, dishwashers, cleaning- equipment operators, food-preparation workers, general mechanics)15%

10) Customer interaction ( Food-service workers, sales workers (retail& online),

 therapeutic workers (personal trainers), entertainment attendants, personal-appearance workers, hotel and travel workers) - 46%

11) Unpredictable physical work ( Specialized mechanics and repair, emergency 

first responders, material movers and loaders, machinery installation and repair workers,

agricultural field workers, transportation maintenance,building and grounds cleaners) -9%

So what could be the take away for us?

-Instead of being replaced by machines, humans must learn to collaborate with machines to enhance their own productivity and ingenuity. We must learn to ‘run with the machine'.

-The more predictable and repetitive the activities that make up the task, the more likely it is to be replicated by machines … and automated! Hard-to-automate jobs include tasks like influencing people, teaching people, programming, real-time discussions, advising people, negotiating and cooperating with co-workers

“The illiterate of the future will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler (1928 – 2016), author of Future Shock

“Instead of teaching students to answer questions, we should teach them to ask them. Beyond creating better employees, we must aim to create better leaders and innovators.“ - Raya Bidshahri, Singularity University