Are You DEVOted to Your Older Workforce?

September 25, 2012

As a pre-teen back in 1978, I remember the first time I watched Saturday Night Live and the musical guest that night was Devo singing Whip It.  Imagine my amazement when my stepson got us free tickets to a concert this weekend to see none other than Devo, who is on tour with Blondie this fall.  The band members may now be eligible for Social Security, but they still got the crowd to their feet with their electric sound.  And who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?  The silver-haired band members even wrote a new song this year, Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro, dedicated to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s dog incident, which occurred in 1983 when Romney traveled twelve hours with the dog in a crate on his car’s roof rack.  The Devo band members are like many of the oldest of the Baby Boomer generation who refuse to see themselves as old or ready to retire.  You may have a large population of these aging rockers yourself, so how can you help them face the reality of approaching retirement? 

I think what really stuck out was how much fun the band members and the audience were having.  Many of the Devo and Blondie fans were in their fifties and sixties but were still rocking a mohawk or their hippie ponytail. For these Boomers, finding happiness and fulfillment seemed just as important as having a million dollar retirement nest egg.

When I speak to workers regarding preparing for retirement, I focus on three key ingredients to a secure retirement – health, wealth, AND happiness.  Most traditional retirement planning education is all about how much money you need, but your older workers need to hear how important it is to stay active and engaged in life after retirement, and how maintaining their health is as equally important as maintaining their 401(k) portfolio. Whether it’s sharing tips to staying fit in retirement or introducing your workforce to some possible retirement hobbies, make sure to devote some time to health and happiness as part of the retirement equation. So as Debbie Harry sang Heart of Glass and rocked the stage at age 67, it reminded me we are all young at heart and you really are only as old as you feel.