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Older and Wiser
March 2004
Complete article is available for purchase at
www.hbr.com or contact Robyn Hamilton at
(415) 705-8015.

Older and Wiser
by Thomas A. Stewart, Editor

Demography is the very air that business breathes. The rate of population growth underlies every economic statistic, for example; until the Industrial Revolution, it was practically the only determinant of economic growth. Even today, population growth (actually, the lack of it) is a major reason that the economies of Western Europe and Japan struggle to expand. Demographic change is almost always visible for years before it hits. There was no excuse for the high school I attended to have been caught so unaware by the baby boom that it had to set up temporary classrooms in reconfigured mobile homes while a new, second campus was being built. The school district should also have known to design that campus so it could easily be converted to a community center when the baby bust arrived. The necessary information had been baked into the demographic pie long before.

And so it is now, as the oldest boomers near 60 years of age. Investors and marketers are starting to recognize the opportunities the boomers� old age presents�greater demand for cosmetic and knee surgery, for health care and insurance products, for new or redesigned products that are friendly to arthritic fingers, for geezer-friendly holiday resorts, and so on. But the acuity with which foresighted companies have scanned the market has not been matched by a similar introspection. An aging population means an aging workforce, in all developed economies. Unless companies anticipate the change, they will face enormous problems�ones that are entirely foreseeable and preventable. The transformation of workplace demographics may force wrenching changes in government labor regulations and pension policies, but more than that. Workplace environments; management styles; hiring, training, and promotion practices; outsourcing and the use of part-time and contingent workers�nearly every aspect of the people side of running a business will be affected by the aging workforce.

That�s the message of �It�s Time to Retire Retirement� in this issue of HBR. More...