The pandemic has spurred on many changes, especially in the way we work. Since the pandemic, we have seen the rise of teleworking, a 4-day work week, the 60-year career era, and phased retirement. 

Phased retirement is a process where professionals gradually reduce their workload and responsibilities over time, while transitioning into retirement. This approach is particularly useful for people who may not be financially prepared for full retirement or who still want to remain productive and active. Additionally, a 60-year career does mean that we will likely be working longer into our lives, but there are inherent benefits to this as well.

The traditional concept of retirement is no longer the same as it used to be. People would work for roughly forty years, retire at a fixed age, and spend the rest of their days in leisure. However, today's professionals are approaching their career trajectories differently, as well as their transition to retirement. 

We are looking for a more flexible and gradual approach that allows us to maintain our skills, stay engaged in the workforce, and develop a work-life balance tailored to our needs and desires.

While these career changes can be attributed to the pandemic, it is also partly due to an increase in life longevity globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) observed that “life expectancy has increased by more than 6 years between 2000 and 2019 - from 66.8 years in 200 to 73.4 years in 2019.” 

As people live longer, we are capable of being productive for a longer period of time. Productivity is not only tied to work output at an office, but also refers to us exploring our skills and talents further, ultimately being productive in various ways across our 60-year careers.

Career flexibility over an extended period of time may seem daunting at first. However, having a flexible career means that we are able to continuously reinvent ourselves. To provide some context, in 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor indicated that “the average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life.” 

These career changes do not reflect the inadequacy of a professional, but the freedom to explore other creative and professional paths.

Author and Yale lecturer, Joanne Lipman, wrote a book titled ‘The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work’, where she discusses her conversations with professionals who have switched careers multiple times, leading her to develop a “reinvention roadmap”. It consists of four stages: Search, Struggle, Stop, and Solution.

In a brief overview, the search stage refers to a period of gathering information. Joanne discusses that what we often find in our search are unexpected opportunities arising from hobbies or interests. The second stage, struggle, is a period of redefining ourselves and further developing our identity, which leads us to the third stage, stop. 

A “stop” could be anything from quitting a job to redundancies. A stop changes our routines, and inadvertently enables us to consolidate our knowledge and experiences to move on to the final stage, the solution, which usually indicates us completing a transition into a new career and a greater sense of self. 

The most important takeaway from Joanne Lipman is that, as she highlights, the “struggle” part of her four stages of reinvention is the most critical. Without the struggle, the solution would be insufficient, and the changes we make in our careers would not be as impactful.

Pivots in career trajectories will likely become more common as the age for retirement is increasing in correlation with life expectancy. Recently, in France, the government has reformed pension planning, increasing the legal age for retirement from 62 to 64. This change will fully come to fruition by 2027, and aims to support the nation’s pension system. This announcement sparked riots and outrage among the French population. 

The change in retirement policy does not solely apply to France, as it is expected to take hold in further Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, in which Cyprus is included. The current age for retirement in Cyprus, as found in an OECD report, is 65 years old for both men and women, which is common among OECD countries. 

At the current moment, future retirement ages in Cyprus are expected to remain the same. An extensive study conducted by Petroula M. Mavrikiou on policies that extend working life in Cyprus indicates that there are currently no policies to do that just yet. The study highlights that the pensionable age in Cyprus was increased to 65 in 2013 to add more leniency and security to the nation’s Social Security fund. 

Additionally, a punitive policy was approved in the same year that penalizes those who retire early with a 0.5% reduction to their pension for each month that they retire prior to reaching the age of 65. Simultaneously, there are incentives in place to prolong careers until the age of 68, however, these incentives do not apply across industries and are negotiable with employers.

Professionals in Denmark, however, are expected to see a vast increase in future retirement ages from 65 years old to a near 10 year increase, bringing the legal retirement age to 74. These findings on the legal retirement ages in OECD countries indicate that some countries are shifting into phased retirement, where people work for more years, yet experience greater flexibility in their careers, nurtured skills, and productivity. The trend also highlights the need for organizations to adjust to career flexibility. 

A solution to this is phased retirement, enabling professionals to remain in the workforce for longer periods, passing their knowledge and experience to younger workers. Phased retirement can positively impact both the employee and the organization. Indeed discusses that this form of retirement may positively affect an organization by allowing it to retain experienced workers and their knowledge while transitioning them to retirement. 

This gradual process can help transfer knowledge and skills to younger generations in the workforce and maintain institutional knowledge within the organization. It also enables companies to save on labor costs while retaining experienced employees who can contribute to the organization's success.

The concept of a linear career path is no longer relevant, as people are looking to reinvent themselves and try new things throughout their professional journey. This idea is supported by the changing nature of work in the modern economy, which often requires workers to be adaptable and flexible in their skills and experience. 

The UK’s Office for National Statistics recorded that from 2000 to 2018, the number of “job changers” has been steadily increasing. They also found that while job stayers earn a higher wage than those who change jobs, “job changers” that shift between organizations experience higher pay growth than those who climb the corporate ladder.

The question remains if Cyprus will follow suit with OECD countries such as Denmark, increasing the retirement age, and if job changers will have opportunities to remain relevant and productive with their wider skill range and adaptability. Recent tests in the way professionals work in Cyprus, such as PwC’s 4-day work week trial, prove that Cyprus may be ready to embrace change into a new way of framing career trajectories.