An early opt-out from the rat race

When early retirement was first introduced there was some resistance to the idea of quitting work before the age of 65. It took time for people to become comfortable with the concept, but as the advantages of finishing work while still young and fit enough to enjoy an active retirement became clear, more and more people started to do it.

Over the past 15 years or so it's become increasingly the norm and depending on individual financial circumstances, people are opting for retirement at 60 or 55 or even before if they can afford it. Some early retirees have launched second careers while others have gone into full-time education or have simply enjoyed having more time for their families and hobbies. They are now watching the frantic pace of workplace change from the sidelines and are heaving a sigh of relief at being out of the rat race.

But the next generation of potential early retirees may not be so lucky. According to the change management guru, Dr Andrew Kakabadse, who is professor of international management development at the Cranfield Business School in Britain, early retirement may no longer be an option for many people because of their kids.

"Breadwinners are being increasingly caught in a pincer-like movement which is putting them under enormous pressure," he says. "At one end, growing ageism in the workplace is trying to push them out to make way for younger people. At the other end their kids are now staying longer in the education system and often longer in the family home with a need for ongoing financial support for a lot longer.

"So just at the time when a breadwinner might normally be contemplating cutting back or taking early retirement, he or she is facing the prospect of having to provide for their adult children for an additional number of years. Very few students now leave college after their primary degree. The expectation is that they will at least go as far as some sort of post-graduate qualification. Even after that they may need further training in order to enter the jobs market," he says.

The sort of changes that have taken place in the workplace over the past decade have not been easy on employees, Kakabadse says, and he believes that today's young people need to be equipped with skills to withstand the inevitable buffeting the working world will bring.

"Young people today need to be incredibly robust to cope with all that's going on around them," he says. "They are entering a working world where good qualifications are the minimum to secure a place in the workforce. In addition they have to be prepared to train and retrain over and over again if necessary to keep up," he says.

"I see it particularly among our MBA students who are usually in their early 30s with quite successful track records in business behind them. They have realised that they have to develop new skills in order to cope with constant corporate change and to keep their place on the career ladder. They will often use the MBA as a time of transition during which they can reposition themselves vis-a-vis the business environment," says Kakabadse, who spends a lot of time developing change management programmes for companies and government bodies around the world.

"I think we have reached a point where young people need to look on career development as a process of building up a portfolio of skills," he continues. "So instead of being only a human resources specialist, you are a HR expert with a proficiency in IT. This will take time. Instead of our kids being finished college at 22 or 23, they could be 30 by the time they have built up the necessary skills. I see the building process as a mixture of formal training courses and work experience. I think people may end up doing a number a different jobs over the lifetime of their careers and that significant career change may become more common," says Kakabadse, who started his professional life as a psychiatrist before switching to business.

"Most parents have a strong commitment to supporting their kids and will be there for them for as long as it takes. That sounds fine in theory but it has profound implications for how long parents will have to work to support this lengthening of the education and training process," he says.

Kakabadse has a long list of publications to his credit, but one of his earlier texts, Working in Organizations, which he co-wrote with Ron Ludlow and Susan Vinnicombe, is worth a read for its interesting sections on motivation to work, power, and increasing personal influence. It's a Penguin paperback.