About
The Reactivate project concept was developed in response to a shortage of workers in the social services sector. The concept includes an assumption that opportunities for recruiting full-time workers will not increase, and that the sector needs to look for alternative, non-traditional pools of potential workers, such as semi-retired baby boomers and parents of school-aged children. The current economic downturn has seen a flood of ‘traditional’ workers return to the pool. However, the downturn will end, and if this sector is to develop a sustainable workforce into the future, alternative pools of workers need to be nurtured.
The initial phase of this project will focus on baby boomers. Recent research indicates that baby boomers don’t view retirement as an opportunity to ‘kick back’ – rather, in many cases they see it as an opportunity to ‘give back’. Marilynn Mobley, senior vice president of public relations firm Edelman, says baby boomers look for ‘encore careers’ where the focus is not wholly on dollars (see article). MetLife Foundation and San Francisco Civic Ventures conducted a survey that indicated that while money does remain a factor for many, the overriding imperative is to find a job or new career that provides ‘new meaning’ (Freedman, 2008).
The health and social services sector is accustomed to providing flexibility in order to keep workers, particularly in regions where we compete with high paying jobs in resource and related sectors. Our sector is ideally placed to tap into the baby-boomer component of the population, to provide willing workers with flexibility and the satisfaction of contributing to community well-being, at the same time building the sustainability of our sector’s workforce.