Men Still at Work: Professionals Over Sixty and on the Job (33 page)

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Discussion Questions

Why are professionals remaining in their career jobs longer than in the past? What are the advantages to the older individual of continued participation in the labor force? What are the advantages to society?

“Job satisfaction” can have multiple meanings for older workers. Which do you prefer?

In what ways do the work life stories in
Men Still at Work
differ from the stories of older working women you know? In what ways are they similar?

Traditionally, a male was head of household and his career came first. With dramatic changes in gender roles in recent decades, men and women are expected to share responsibility for family care and for earning money. Discuss contemporary gender role perspectives with respect to work and how they differ from the past.

Achieving and maintaining work-life balance has become more challenging for men and women. Should company policies address this problem, and, if so, how?

Many older men can point to at least one person who influenced their career choice, perhaps a parent, grandparent, family friend, professor, or boss who provided encouragement or acted as a role model. Did you have a mentor at any point along your early or later career path and, if so, how important was the advice you were given?

Older men cite various reasons for continuing in the paid workforce past the conventional age of retirement. Often they believe “your job defines who you are,” and they are fearful of losing their professional identity. Sometimes they fear boredom and an atrophied intellect if they stop working. What factors influence your thinking about retirement?

To what extent does/did your decision about retirement depend on the state of the economy?

If a man’s work role shapes the organization of his life, what happens when he becomes unemployed? When he retires?

Why is
un
retiring becoming more commonplace?

Why is the number of older self-employed people increasing?

It is hard to pin down the definition of “older,” especially when applied to the “older worker.” If eighty is the new seventy, seventy is the new sixty, and so on, what does “older” mean? One study says that men consider themselves old at seventy-seven on average and women say they are not old until eighty. Why do you think that is?

Pejoratives directed at older men and women, such as “over the hill” and “no spring chicken,” persist. How prevalent is age stereotyping today—in society in general and in the workplace in particular? Have you experienced it?

The AAUW’s research on the gender pay gap finds that college-educated women experience inequity from the first paycheck through to retirement. Older women who stay in the workforce are more concerned about financial pressures than men are. Is this because men tend to choose higher-paying occupations or are there other reasons?

Men hold the majority of top jobs in the United States. Do you think the relative scarcity of women in top jobs is due to a lack of ambition, a lack of support, or something else?

Corporate law firms commonly mandate retirement for older attorneys who have reached a designated age. Do you think this kind of policy is reasonable?

Why do older men and women get so much satisfaction from mentoring early careerists?

What motivates older working men and women to perform unpaid volunteer work?

Technological literacy is essential to performing a significant number of job functions today, and technological change is proceeding apace. Are you comfortable with new technologies—at work? elsewhere? Why are some older men and women eager to acquire new skills and others are not?

Reading is the number one leisure activity among the older men and women discussed in
Men Still at Work
and
Women Still at Work
. Some belong to book groups in libraries, bookstores, and private homes. Why do you think book groups are proliferating?

Psychiatrist George Vaillant says that “successful aging is not an oxymoron.” Do you agree? If so, how can aging be “successful?”

About the Author

Elizabeth F. Fideler
, EdD, is a research fellow at the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College. She received a doctorate in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University. Dr. Fideler has written and presented extensively on aspects of K–12 teacher development and university teaching and learning. Prior to becoming a research fellow at the Sloan Center, she conducted research projects at Education Development Center, Inc. Her current research and writing interests focus on older women and men who choose to continue in the paid workforce beyond conventional retirement age.
Men Still at Work
follows the book
Women Still at Work
(2012). Dr. Fideler can be reached at
[email protected]
and on Facebook.