Aging: the future is not so straight anymore

As increasing life expectancy forces societies to adapt to multistage lives, our life path will become more convoluted

It used to be the stuff of fairytales: “And they lived happily ever after.” But legend is fast becoming fact: the majority of children born in rich countries today can expect to live to over 100.

Life expectancy has been increasing for decades but we have yet to adapt to the realities of a 100-year life. “The fact that we’re living for longer is a big change that society, individuals and companies urgently need to think through,” says Andrew Scott, professor of economics at London Business School and the co-author – with Lynda Gratton – of The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity. “We’ve been given a lot more time and no one is thinking about how we redesign our lives to make the most of it,” Scott continues.

Until now, we have lived a three-stage life: education, then work, followed by retirement – in that order. In a 100-year life, the rules change and a person’s life yields to “a way of living that is more flexible and more responsive – a multi-stage life with a variety of careers, with breaks and transitions,” according to Scott and Gratton.

LOSING MEANING

The number of options in life explodes: different jobs, intervals such as traveling or child rearing, before returning to the workplace. In short: retirement doesn’t have to be tacked on at the end.

Living longer is a big change that society, individuals and companies haven’t thought through and need to do urgently Andrew Scott

In this new world, age will no longer be a predictor of occupation: currently a person aged 21 is likely a student. In a multistage life, this could be equally true for a 20-, 40- or 60-year-old, complicating matters for employers, who will have to consider flexible work packages and human resource policies. Pay rises will no longer come with age, but will need to be based on a fair and accurate assessment of performance. Infrequent absences will also become more common. “We will have to redesign work processes so the fact that someone is absent doesn’t stop a team’s processes. There will be no lifers anymore,” says Scott.

Retraining will also become more important as most knowledge and training hardly survives a 60-year career in the face of technological innovation. Instead, people will have to take career breaks to retrain and start again. In future, managers may be young and apprentices old, Scott and Gratton point out. Money, however, isn’t so flexible: it will become imperative for people to save as early as possible to support themselves through no work / no income phases.

Redesigning life will also mean unpicking a lot of legislation, Scott warns. Labor force statistics classify those under 16 as children, while retirees are over 65. Those classic cut-off points exemplify a three-stage life. But if individuals choose different routes through life, governments will have to become more flexible about allowances as we move into an era of experimentation.

MARRIAGE: IN FOR THE LONG HAUL?

As lives extend, people often shelve responsibility and postpone marriage until later. Meanwhile, divorce rates are rising among 60-, 70- and even 80-year-olds, Scott says. “Clearly, if you’re living until 70, divorce at 60 is a brave move but if you’re living until 90, then divorce at 60 might be a different set of decisions.”

Great-grandparents will likely become a regular feature of our 100-year lives, adds Scott. “We have three-generation households at the moment and talk about the sandwich generation. Now, with four generations, you’re going to get a club sandwich generation. There is going to be an awful lot of family redefinition needed.”

A 100-year life is a gift our ancestors could not have dreamed of. However, if we persist in a life structure designed for a 70-year life, it could turn into a curse, Scott warns. “It’s like a race which is now 15 km – instead of 10 km. If you try to run a 15-km race at the same pace as a 10 km, it’s a painful experience.”

Aging: the future is not so straight anymore

As increasing life expectancy forces societies to adapt to multistage lives, our life path will become more convoluted

Aging: the future is not so straight anymore

As increasing life expectancy forces societies to adapt to multistage lives, our life path will become more convoluted

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