Articles

Alternative Work Arrangements

Time has become a highly prized commodity. Boomers, in particular, look for more flexibility as they extend their working lives. Managing with alternative work arrangements can help employers demystify the alternative work arrangements that are typically available as well as others that employees could request.

Business Environment Pulse Check

For a detailed sense of how the impending transition of 78 million Baby Boomers into retirement will impact your organization, take a few moments to complete this check.

Do you Know Where Your Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millenials Are?

Today, companies are not able to depend on the external market to fill all of their talent gaps. Consequently, internal employees have taken on an even greater value. A leader’s understanding of how their workforce is composed and how, therefore, it can be leveraged is becoming a competitive advantage. Learn the fundamentals of conducting a Talent Review that can give an employer an eye-opening picture of the composition of their workforce.

Encore Survey - The 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey

Encore Survey - The 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey is the first national study to reveal that the encore career is more than an appealing idea. Read more about the encore career and view the entire survey here.

Executive Summary of the 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore

Executive Summary – Read the executive summary of the 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey and discover why so many boomers are choosing a new stage of work for the greater good – the “encore career.”

From Radicals to Retirees

This article, published in the June edition of Winning Workplaces, will help you discover proactive ways to address the impact of the loss of boomer employees and ways to meet the needs of workers over 50.

From the Age of Aquarius to the Age of Responsibility

As they advance toward the threshold of old age, the nation’s 75 million baby boomers are in an extended “sandwich” phase of their family life cycle, with many either raising minor children or providing financial and other forms of support to adult children or to aging parents.

Guiding Employees to Live Authentically Through Work

Learn what qualities are common to self-actualizing people and how you can adapt your leadership style to create a work environment that enhances talent and passion in your employees.

 

How My Plan After 50 can Help Management get a Good Night's Sleep

Over the career of an employee, companies have already invested a great deal in their Baby Boomers; consider how you can continue to get a return on your investment.

If the Shoe Fits

Hermania Ibarra, author of Working Identity, suggests that people really find their careers by acting their way into them rather than thinking their way into work. Our My Plan After 50 Consultant takes that concept a step further by offering ways that individuals can “try-on” other jobs and even other careers before making a full-time commitment to the change. She also offers employers ways they can create that same experience within their companies.

Making Wise Talent Decisions

If you were unsure if or how you should continue to invest in recruiting and retaining your wisdom workers, this article makes a compelling business case for further investment as well as outlining potential impacts to the individual Boomers, their employers, communities and the global economy if we suddenly lost this key segment of the workforce.

Media Mirror

Do the media and advertisers shape or reflect our culture? Read this article and let us know what you think!

Put Me In Coach; I'm Ready to Play

We often believe that our friends or family can be our best advisors or that we’ll figure out our destiny simply by living life.  Consider, though, that good athlete who becomes a star on the field with the inspired direction of a professional coach.  Put Me in Coach; I’m Ready to Play offers a perspective on the value of having a life coach who can enhance our transformation from who we are today to who we have the potential to become.

Security: What Americans want from a job

We know that state and local governments are facing a massive exodus of knowledge workers, one-third of whom will be eligible to retire in the next five to ten years.

Silver Economy Summit 2008 Agenda

Silver Economy Summit 2008 Agenda

Silver Economy Summit 2008 Executive Report

Silver Economy Summit 2008 Executive Report

Which came first

This article focuses on the factual evidence that dispels the perception that mature workers are a deterrent in the workplace.

Work Arrangement Inventory

For those employers who have been working with alternative work arrangements but would like to reflect on their use and design, this tool will provide a summary of the types of arrangements, their benefits and the issues employers should consider when they implement alternatives to a traditional work arrangement.

Workforce Transition Pulse Check

Take this quick check to measure your level of awareness of the potential impacts of the impending Baby Boomer transition into retirement on your organization.

WWS Services Combined Product Sheet

In this article you'll find an overview of the Consulting Services available through My Plan After 50.

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Consulting Services

Consulting Services Product Sheet

Wisdom Worker Solutions consultants take a value-based approach to consulting, partnering with clients to identify the required business outcomes as part of the project’s scope. This approach assures that both the client and the consultant are focused on solutions that will create the necessary changes in the workplace. 

Corporate Services

My Plan After 50 recognizes that you will have a number of challenges to manage. While some Baby Boomers will be retiring, others won’t be leaving the workplace, choosing instead to contribute under unique and more flexible arrangements.

Impact Analysis Product Sheet

Determines the potential impacts to and resiliency of your organization during the impending transition of your Baby Boomer workforce into retirement.

Leadership Development Product Sheet

Skill building with all levels of management to help them effectively lead your multi-generational workforce.

Planning Workshops for Individuals

A facilitated workshop to help employees understand the next phase of personal and work life and anticipate relevant problems so they can continue to contribute meaningfully to the workplace while planning for retirement.

Policy and Program Development Product Sheet

Reviews and recommends enhancements to current programs and policies to allow your organization to become more Boomer friendly.

Recruiting and Retention Product Sheet

Enhances current recruiting practices to attract and retain wisdom workers.

Succession Planning Product Sheet

Creates a formal and duplicable process to review critical talent and leadership of your organization and assure adequate replacement plans.

Workforce Transition Seminar

Assists organizations to create a comprehensive plan to prepare for the impending workforce changed created as Boomers reach the traditional age of retirement.

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Org Development Tools

Business Environment Pulse Check

For a detailed sense of how the impending transition of 78 million Baby Boomers into retirement will impact your organization, take a few moments to complete this check.

Cost Calculator for Attrition of Key Workforce Segments

This calculator can help determine the cost of the departure of key segments of employees from an organization’s workforce.

Cultural Audit

The Cultural Audit provides a clear understanding of the programs and practices that are helping to effectively manage the workforce today and those that could change to leverage talent to greater productivity.

Human Capital Supply and Demand Model

This disciplined model can help companies move from strategy to reality.

Managing Boomer Attrition Effectively

The Attrition Analysis gives employers a current and future sense of which employees are likely to move out of the workforce, and when. This will allow employers to have greater control over the potential impacts of the departures and to plan more successfully for the transitions.

Workforce Composition Analysis

This tool will help employers get a better understanding of who makes up their workforce today.

Workforce Transition Pulse Check

Take this quick check to measure your level of awareness of the potential impacts of the impending Baby Boomer transition into retirement on your organization.

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Links

70: The New 50

William Byham’s book discusses why a large percentage of wisdom workers want to put off retirement and what companies can do to leverage the situation.

Ageism: Managing On the Bias

Age discrimination is more than a bad practice--it’s simply bad business. Many companies appear unaware or unconvinced that ageism exists, despite evidence to the contrary. Unfortunately, ageism has proven to be one of the most pervasive and insidious forms of prejudice in the workplace as well as one of the most difficult to discern and prove.

Boomers Can Keep U.S. Manufacturing Alive

There is a lot of discussion among business leaders and elected officials about the impact baby boomers will have upon their retirement. Much of this conversation has revolved around their economic impact as it pertains to health care and entitlement needs.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary makes the business case for continuing to invest in workers age 50+. It emphasizes the importance of planning for tomorrow's talent needs in today's competitive market.

Full Report

The Full Report continues to make the business case for continuing to invest in workers age 50+. It emphasizes the importance of planning for tomorrow's talent needs in today's competitive market.

Going to the Company Elders for Help

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On a recent Saturday afternoon, John Toppel, a retired Hewlett-Packard sales manager, did not spend his leisure time golfing or mowing the lawn. He spent it at a local electronics store extolling the virtues of H.P. laptop computers to customers.

Healthcare Workforce Analysis – Part I

The impending retirement of Baby Boomer healthcare professionals along with the potential shortage of new talent entering the profession are creating the need for the healthcare industry to actively manage the recruiting and retention of their workforce. (PART I)

Healthcare Workforce Analysis – Part II

The impending retirement of Baby Boomer healthcare professionals along with the potential shortage of new talent entering the profession are creating the need for the healthcare industry to actively manage the recruiting and retention of their workforce. (PART II)

National Assessment of Adult Literacy by NCES

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy is a nationally representative assessment of English literacy among American adults age 16 and older.

Section 132 as a non-taxable fringe benefit

Since Work is one of the Eight Elements Essential for a Vibrant Life After 50, why not expedite raising the level of satisfaction in the workplace by providing a state-of-the-art life planning and coaching benefit from My Plan After 50? Our fees qualify under Section 132 as a non-taxable fringe benefit. Satisfied employees create customer satisfaction, are highly productive, and exhibit low absenteeism and health issues. Let's start now!

Traditional education assistance programs.

Reporter Christina Couch offers a twist on traditional education assistance programs. Companies may want to consider partnering with local educational institutions to retool and retain Boomer employees or create a unique recruiting opportunity.

Workforce 2020

Workforce 2020 - A sequel to Hudson Institute’s Workforce 2000 providing fascinating new data measuring population growth and shifts in employment, including changes in specific industries and occupations.

 

Workforce Critical Skills Gaps

This link is a summary of a 2006 survey conducted by The Conference Board identifying the critical skills required in the workplace in the future and the lack of preparedness of the next generation of workers.

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Testimonials

Barbara Fedoroff, former CEO, Programs for Parents, Newark, NJ

“We were delighted with the workshops presented by My Plan After 50! What impressed me most was the outstanding balance the facilitators achieved between hard data and very effective soft technology. This balance kept everyone open and practical on both an intellectual and an emotional level..."

Beck White - HR at Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates (I-JAG)

"Our Leadership Team participated in the Wisdom Workers’ workshops and most specifically in its intergenerational training so that we could work more effectively together and have a better understanding of where each of us was coming from..."

Jim Simmons - (Flash Media)
Jim, a senior executive in the construction industry, tells how he experienced the My Plan After 50 workshop he attended.
Jim Simmons - (windows media)

Jim, a senior executive in the construction industry, tells how he experienced the My Plan After 50 workshop he attended.

Leslie Urban - (Flash Media)
Leslie from an insurance company in Omaha elaborates on the benefits of planning for retirement.
Leslie Urban - (Windows Media)
Leslie from an insurance company in Omaha elaborates on the benefits of planning for retirement.
Steve Wooderson - (Flash Media)
Steve, an executive in state government, talks about coaching with My Plan After 50 and how he benefited.
Steve Wooderson - (Windows Media)
Steve, an executive in state government, talks about coaching with My Plan After 50 and how he benefited.
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Webinars

Interview with Dennis Dornink on the Family Element

Interview with Dennis Dornink on the Family Element.

Interview with Dennis Dornink on the Resilience Element

Interview with Dennis Dornink on the Resilience Element.

Interview with Jim Autry

James Autry, distinguished poet and author, will discuss his latest book, The Spirit of Retirement, live on air on KFMG radio, Des Moines, on Monday, September 23, 11:15 a.m.

Interview with Keitha Boardman on the Social Element

Interview with Keitha Boardman on the Social Element.

Interview with Kris Jensen on the Health Element

Interview with Kris Jensen on the Health Element.

Interview with Kris Jensen on the Purpose Element

Interview with Kris Jensen on the Purpose Element.

Interview with Kris Jensen on the Work Element

Interview with Kris Jensen on the Work Element.

Interview with Rick Rauzi on the Relaxation Element

Interview with Rick Rauzi on the Relaxation Element.

Leading a Multi-generational Workforce

Join us for an eye-opening and interactive overview of the four generations, how they’re reshaping our workplace realities and the best practices in leading the gen-mix.

Resiliency

Resiliency has come to be understood as one of the elements essential for a vibrant life after 50. It makes the challenges of life not only tolerable, but growthful.

Silver Economy Summit - Governor Culver

Iowa Governor speaks at Iowa's Silver Economy Summit 2008.

Silver Economy Summit - Mary Furlong

Mary Furlong author of "Turning Silver Into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace" speaks at Iowa's Silver Economy Summit 2008.

Silver Economy Summit 2008 - Panel Discussion

Iowa's Silver Economy Summit 2008's panlists discuss pending issues around an aging Iowa workforce.

Silver Economy Summit 2008 - Picture Gallery

Browse pictures taken from Wisdom Worker Solutions Silver Economy Summit 2008.

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Workbooks

My Plan After 50 Workbook Preview

The My Plan After 50 workbook is a superb tool for your employees to develop a personal, comprehensive plan for their lives after 50. The colorful 84-page workbook explores the Eight Elements Essential for a Vibrant Life after 50. The full workbook can be viewed and printed as one document or divided into individual chapters. The My Plan After 50 workbook is at the My Guide, My Guide PLUS and My Coach membership levels. My Plan After 50 coaches are available for consultation at the My Guide PLUS level, and for coaching at the My Coach level.

My Plan After 50 Workbook Preview - Health Element

This section helps the member plan and develop her/his own individual process for optimizing holistic health. Areas examined include physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

My Plan After 50 Workbook Preview - My Personal Plan

After completing the previous chapters, any individual can use this section to set goals and specific strategies focused on how to attain a preferred life in all the eight elements essential for a vibrant life after 50.

My Plan After 50 Workbook Preview - Resilience Element

An introductory article covers the main points of Resiliency, and application surveys help individuals assess and build this important skill.

My Plan After 50 Workbook Preview - Work Element

After an explanatory article on the many roles of work in our lives, this section supports self-exploration of what work has meant and will mean to us on an individual basis.

My Plan After 50 Workbook Table of Contents

This is an explanation of the structure and overview of the content for the My Plan After 50 workbook. This valuable tool can lay the groundwork for self-guided life or retirement planning, or for life or retirement coaching.

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