Your Career, Act II: Thriving in the New Economy

The types of tasks and variety of industries in which ThirdAgers are adapting various work styles are all over the map. But there is a strong common thread: that little mouse on your desk and the computer attached to it. For it is the computer, or whatever information device that will bring the Internet into our lives, that is making all of this possible. The flow of real-time information, the trove of research on every topic, and the access to colleagues, clients, collaborators, virtual business partners, employers, and experts of all kinds are what will allow you not only to go on working as long as you want, but to find a work style that is just right for you.

Some companies, such as Merrill Lynch, give all telecommuters formal training in working from home efficiently and carefully monitors their progress. Other companies take a more casual approach--employees simply call in and say, "I'll be working from home today." Some employees make telecommuting a permanent arrangement. One high-level executive was assigned to her firm's New Jersey headquarters. But when her husband was transferred to Oregon, she relocated herself and her job 3,000 miles from her home base. Today she organizes industry conferences from her study, which overlooks the orchards of mail order favorite Harry & David. She makes two or three week-long visits a year to her headquarters.

While telecommuting is an attractive new job option, many ThirdAgers do not want to work full time, whether in an office park or in their dens. Employers report that prospective hires are putting time ahead of all other job considerations, including compensation. A fiftysomething communications executive, for example, had just the mix of skills that the flagship newspaper of a thriving chain of community weeklies needed. He was interested in the job, but only if he could have a month off in the summer so that he and his wife, a teacher, could travel. He also wanted a long winter holiday break, and the option of continuing to take time off to teach journalism courses. He got exactly what he wanted. It is a fair bet that even a few years ago, not only would such a request have been turned down, but few people would have made it.

While employees are finding renewed job satisfaction in custom work arrangements, many ThirdAgers are impatient with even this level of flexibility. Some choose to accept only temporary assignments. Once an option largely reserved for clerical workers and later the work style of choice for many computer programmers, temporary work is gaining in popularity with ThirdAgers whose skills range from copywriting to law to medicine. Employers prize lean staffing, seeking to add workers only when specific projects call for their skills. ThirdAgers, who want blocks of time for travel, further education, volunteering, or time for family, are jumping in to fill these assignments. FlexTime Solutions is one company that is acting as a matchmaker, and it reports enthusiasm for the arrangement.

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