The work-from-home revolution has had all kinds of deep impacts on our lives and perhaps especially on our jobs and the business world. Most of these impacts are positive of course, especially with regards to work-life balance.
However, it seems as though work-from-home and hybrid work schemes might have a downside as well — and it’s not any of the mostly made-up justifications companies are giving for issuing return-to-office mandates.
Many boomers say they don’t feel the need to retire because they’re ‘thriving’ working from home.
Despite even the youngest of the giant baby boomer generation approaching retirement age, boomers simply aren’t retiring in the huge numbers that have been predicted for decades. Economic forces are surely part of it, of course — the statistics on boomers’ financial readiness for retirement are pretty bleak.
But it also seems to have become something of a trend among boomers to dig their claws into their jobs as long as possible, making it harder for younger people to ascend the ladder. So what’s behind this? Is it just good old boomer obstinance or something else?
A survey out of the U.K. might provide some insight. U.K. energy company Smart Energy GB surveyed 2,000 British workers and found that nearly 70% of those over age 60 were working in work-from-home roles they had no intention of leaving.
These trends may also be fueling boomers to ‘unretire’ — to go back to work after having initially retired.
What seems to be happening is that the ease of life work-from-home provides has removed lots of the usual reasons to retire, from annoying commutes to long working hours. Many boomers surveyed said working from home has also enabled them to take on the usual trappings of retirement, like hobbies and more time with their grandkids, while still continuing to work.
So it seems many have decided there’s no reason to mess with a good thing — 90% said they’re happy in their careers, and 94% went so far as to say their work-from-home scheme has given them “a new lease on life” in their old age.
It also seems to be fueling many of those who have retired to come out of retirement and head back to their careers — some 14% of retirement-age boomers and elder Gen X’ers are said to have already done so.
Here in the U.S., this has all added up to nearly 20% of over-65 workers still being in the workforce, nearly double the number in the 1990s and quadruple the number in the 1980s. And many think it is vastly complicating the employment market for younger workers.
One recruiter thinks this trend is a huge part of why it is so hard for younger workers to find a job, especially those in Gen Z.
Veteran recruiter Deepali Vyas, known on TikTok as @elite.recruitercalled this boomer work-from-home situation “the ultimate life hack,” and she believes it’s having one major ripple effect.
“Younger generations have to compete with these seasoned boomers that obviously have the experience and have zero plans of retiring anytime soon,” she said. Now of course, a 20- or 30-something isn’t necessarily competing with a boomer directly, many of whom are at much higher levels in their careers.
But the situation trickles down — when the upper echelons they occupy don’t open up, the next lower strata can’t move up, and so on. The theory is that a sort of gridlock is created, especially because as Vyas pointed out, there are very real incentives to employers to keep boomers around.
“There are employers that want to keep around this institutional knowledge of these experienced folks,” she said. So, if employers can lure them to stick around by offering them a remote option, they will.
Vyas thinks this will all change in the near future — even the most obstinate, materialistic Boomer is going to want to quit working at some point. Until then, if you’re struggling to advance in your career, add this to the already lengthy list of reasons why “it’s not yo; it’s the job market.”
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
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