Gen X on Retirement: 'I’ll Pass'
A survey finds many Gen Xers aren’t planning to retire—or will work a lot longer. How AI, oddly enough, is raising their value.
It was a century ago that the concept of mass retirement started in the US. Now there is evidence that at least one major generation may be taking a pass on it—or at least sticking around the workplace a lot longer.
According to a new survey, nearly 40% of Gen Xers—those born between 1965 and 1980, who now make up a third of the workforce—either don’t expect to ever fully retire or plan to work at least into their 70s. It’s the lastest domino to fall in what was once a rite of passage in the workforce. “I don’t know a Gen Xer that knows when they are going to retire,” says Korn Ferry senior client partner Craig Rowley
Many baby boomers, of course, have put off retirement; like them, Gen Xers now plan to work longer because they have to. Disruptions, economic downturns, the pandemic, and caregiving and education expenses have permanently delayed retirement for 53% of Gen Xers in the survey, for instance, and a similar percentage say it’s getting more difficult to cover rising costs and inflation. Renee Whalen, Korn Ferry senior client partner and market leader for professional search, says the survey echoes what she’s been hearing from her clients in that demographic. “It used to be that people in their mid-50s were thinking about one more move and a ten-year runway,” she notes. “Now, it’s 20 years.”
It sounds counterintuitive. Amid the rise of AI and the changing nature of work, logic would seem to dictate that the career runway for people in their 50s would be getting shorter, if not coming to a dead end. But several trends that aren’t purely financial are conspiring to keep Gen Xers around longer. The squeeze on entry-level hiring and the disinterest in management roles among younger generations “create a need in firms for older Gen Xers with leadership skills,” says David Napeloni, a vice president of client services for healthcare and life sciences at Korn Ferry. It’s almost the opposite of what firms experienced with baby boomers, whose blocking of the Gen-X promotion pipeline bred resentment and created retention and development challenges for people leaders.
Rather than stopping work abruptly, Gen Xers are able to slowly move from full-time work into different forms of employment because of the increasing use of contractors and individual contributors, flexible working arrangements, and other changes. Whalen says some firms use this gradual winding down to their advantage by establishing mentoring and job-sharing programs, along with other ways to pass along institutional knowledge to younger generations.
How long Gen X’s career runway will be—or any generation’s, for that matter—depends on how well they can adapt to AI, say experts. Gen Xers who can continue to learn and grow with AI will be as valuable to firms as everyone else, while those who can’t may be forced to retire. As Tracy Bosch, a senior client partner and leader of the Work Measurement practice in North America for Korn Ferry puts it, “The reality is that Gen Xers may not be the decision-makers in terms of when they retire.”
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