Re: Post-retirement work boundary

[Timework Web <timework@xxxxxxxxx>]

In response to Peter Dorman's question, my suggestion for a solution would
be to start the retirement process much earlier. Paradoxical? The point
would be to introduce a phased reduction of working time, such that one
would never entirely withdraw from work, it would simply become less and
less central to one's life. In 1998, I outlined a proposal for "Rewarding
Years of Service with More Free Time", which was commended as one of the
best ideas of 1998 by the Institute for Social Inventions in London. The
URL for that idea is:

http://www.globalideasbank.org/wbi/WBI-43.HTML

When checking the web page, I was pleased to note that 25 people have
evaluated the idea with an average score of nine out of a possible ten.

Tom Walker
Sandwichman and Deconsultant
(for whom retirement has never been an option -- who ever heard of a
retired sandwichman/deconsultant? I have, however moved to a mountain top
on an island 'in the Pacific')

Peter Dorman wrote:

>>This is, to my mind, a classic example of the conflict between the
>>competitive logic of capitalism and the needs of real human beings.
>>Assuming that a significant percentage of older people are less productive
>>(which will be the case in physical work or work requiring skills that
>>update frequently), and that paying them proportionately less is not an
>>acceptable option, how then do you provide fulfilling work opportunities for
>>all the people in this survey?
>>
>>Peter (for whom post-retirement is no longer an abstract concept)
>>
>>Richardson_D wrote:
>>
>>> BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2000
>>>
>>> Americans are now expected to spend decades of their lives -- not years
>>> -- in retirement, and that may not be a good thing, according to a
>>> researcher at the International Longevity Center-USA, a nonprofit group
>>> in New York.  "Twenty or 25 years of retirement may sound pretty good to
>>> people who have worked hard all their lives, but whether it's good for
>>> their health or the health of the nation is another matter," says Dr.
>>> Robert N. Butler, president of the group and a co-author of a book
>>> "Longevity and Quality of Life:  Opportunities and Challenges".
>>> "Inactivity is one of the greatest threats to the physical and mental
>>> health of older people," Dr. Butler says.  It turns out that Americans
>>> agree.  Findings from a recent national survey suggest that workers want
>>> to continue to work after full-time employment -- but on their own
>>> terms.  In the survey, by the John J. Heidrich Center for Workforce
>>> Development at Rutgers and the Center for Survey Research and Analysis
>>> at the University of Connecticut, 1,005 workers, chosen at random, were
>>> interviewed between Aug. 4 and 31.  Three-fourths said they would like
>>> to retire early from their permanent, full-time jobs.  But only 10
>>> percent of those surveyed said they would stop working after leaving
>>> those positions.  Nearly 70 percent said they would continue to work
>>> even if they had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their
>>> lives. ...  (New York Times, Oct. 8, page 9, "Money & Business"
>>> section).
>>
>>
>
>
>