The Project Based Workforce

By John Quan, 11 Feb 20:52

The looming talent shortage means companies are adopting increasingly flexible work arrangements. Make sure you make yourself flexible, too

A number of years ago, when my colleagues and I first began our research on how companies were preparing for the changing demographics of the workforce, we were amazed to find 85-year-old aerospace engineers successfully at work! From a company perspective, the reasons for this were straightforward—the industry was then already faced with a severe talent shortage. But why were these folks happily devoting their golden retirement to work?

Today, it's clear the answer to that question has two important components. First, lots of people are finding that they want to work "forever"—that the benefits of intellectual stimulation, social interaction, physical activity, and, of course, supplemental income, are ones they value more than endless rounds of leisure activity.

Today, more than three-quarters of adults approaching retirement say they plan to continue working in some capacity.

But the second reason is important, too—companies are beginning to offer a wider array of flexible arrangements that make it easier for individuals to create a life that includes both leisure and work. The aerospace engineers we met some six years ago were not working full time. They were working "cyclically"—full time on for 3 or 4 months, then fully off for an equal or longer period of time.

Over the next several decades, as more sectors face the looming talent shortage, there will be a rapid increase in the number of people who work in cyclical or project-based arrangements—many with no fixed affiliation to one corporation. It's even possible t

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Tags: management, project management, project mercenaries, talent shortage