Should I stay or should I go?

By JULIE MIDDLETON

It's a jovial Bob Critchley who drawls softly down the line from Australia. He sounds so delighted to be back at work after his Christmas holiday - in distinct comparison to me and most other wage-slaves I know - that it's tempting to ask what he's on (and if I can get some).

Indeed, there is a tangible reason for Critchley's general joy-germ persona - January 1 marked the transformation of his working life from frantically full-on to three days a week.

Critchley, 59-year-old human resources professional and author, has just taken his own advice. It's contained in Rewired, Rehired or Retired? a global guide for the experienced worker (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, $38.95).

Executive vice-president of global relationships and acquisitions for Drake Beam Morin (DBM) for the last six years, he's moved into a half-time role - which he reads as 30 hours a week - including strategic consulting, trouble-shooting and some acquisition work. Outside DBM he's on various company boards and has a book, about the changing demographics of the workplace, under way.

"I sat down with DBM last year and said that I wanted to get a balance," explains Critchley, who spent the first 25 years of his working life rising through the banking ranks. "I enjoyed what I did but I needed to practise what I preached. Work was all-encompassing - I'd put my life on hold."

He'd had a few "health hints" as well, and wanted to dedicate more time to family, leisure and community interests. "For me, writing the book was an illuminating experience. It made me face my own demons."

The upshot is that he'll work from home, 90km north of Sydney, most of the time; there will still be plenty of international travel but it won't be a punishing five or six months a year any more.

The book arose from Critchley's experience in "outplacement" - the current euphemism for helping those made redundant sort out their options. It's inevitably a time for reassessment of career and life goals, and the book offers ideas to help decide what you really want to do in both areas.

It also repeats a few undeniable home truths, such as that your career is something you have to control these days - few firms offer a job for life with regular promotions for serving time - so you must plan your path to retirement, whether that's at 40 with your millions or at 70 with National Superannuation.

Retirement no longer means a gold watch at 65, when full government pensions are available - though there have been mutterings about raising that threshold.

In New Zealand, it's no longer legal to turf people out of their jobs at 65. Another fact: intelligence is thought to remain constant until 70.

So how do you know when it's time to cut back - or cut loose?

The primary question is, are you having fun? "So often, with the pressures in business, the fun's gone," says Critchley. "So many of us are working 12 hours a day so we can work 12 hours tomorrow."

Then you have to consider money: how much is enough? We are living longer, so need more cash to support retirement.

But conversely, Critchley asks, how much money do you really need for a healthy lifestyle? Or do you continue to work just to "build an inheritance for your kids?"

Then consider your health. The effects of work-related stress can be debilitating.

A balance between work and life in general, says Critchley, should be about a portfolio of activities so that stopping work doesn't leave you without a community to belong to.

"You can't rely on your job as a focal point," he says. "You need to get a sense of fulfilment from other areas. You need other sporting, or leisure, charity and family activity so you've got a balance in your life when you do retire."

Critchley recommends a phased withdrawal from work, which could stretch over years, and might involve stepping sideways or down; switching to special projects or mentoring, job sharing, contracting, consulting or reduced hours.

It's win-win, especially in a world where there are fewer people starting work than those leaving and shortages of talent loom in all areas. A gentle withdrawal gives you time for other pursuits and a chance to get your head around what retirement means before leaving for good and the company doesn't lose you completely. A gradual exit also "forces people to hand over their share of intellectual knowledge - and forces them to think of another life beyond the company", says Critchley.

But he admits phased retirement is a radical concept for many companies, especially those led by baby-boomers from a conservative career background.

It will only be through brave example, says Critchley, that such thinking will become more mainstream.

"If someone puts their hand up and says ... I want to work fewer hours, it's read so often that this person is dropping out and they're going to drop their performance," he says.

"Normally, organisations create a fear factor that people are frightened to mention this thought because it might mean they're the next one laid off.

"Companies have to create an environment where people feel comfortable about talking about their career aspirations, whether it means continuing to go up the corporate ladder or a planned demotion or sideways step, or coming down the ladder, or going to job-share or part-time.

"They have to ascertain the wants of their older employees." And champion those who seek a greater work-life balance rather than offering grudging acceptance.

There are no concessions for the silver set - performance still has to be up to scratch. But as Critchley observes, "if you've got someone on your staff who is 60 and is hopeless, it's a good chance they were hopeless at 30".

Ego is another issue - something Critchley has observed that men struggle with more than women, and which can cloud judgment and skew decision-making.

Those who derive most of their self-esteem from work find it harder to step away from full-time employment, so great is their fear of feeling - and being seen - as somehow demoted or diminished.

But ask the over-50s what they would do if they had the choice, as DBM did of its clients last year, and only 31 per cent admit they would work full-time.

Awareness of status needs to be swapped for a change in perspective, thinking career lattice rather than career ladder.

There are many ways of being successful, and reaching career goals may require movement in all directions; building skills doesn't always presuppose a linear path in one field, ending with a CEO job in a blue-chip company, says Critchley.

So are you ever too young to consider retirement? "No", says Critchley emphatically.

"You need to control your own life, you need to lead it, not follow it, and you need to sit down in your 20s and 30s and say: what am I going to do with my life?"

Making the choice

When mulling over whether to keep working, ease up or retire, consider these questions, advises career expert Robert Critchley:

List the things you enjoy most in your life.

If you gave up work and reduced your income, would you have adequate funds to enjoy your desired standard of living until you are 85?

Do you have fun each day?

Do you have good business and personal relationships?

Do you make a difference in your job?

Do you have time to see friends and family as often as you would like?

Think what you would like to achieve over the next five years. Have you the time, money and energy to achieve those goals?

If you have kids or grandchildren, do you spend enough time with them? Remember, with children, you only have a loan of them until they grow up, so don't think you can defer spending time with them for five years.

If you have a partner and you changed how you spent each day, what would be the impact on that person?