“The Value of Senior Talent: Planning for Professional Longevity in Italy’s Changing Job Market”

3′ of reading

«In 1960 Italians over 65 were 9% of the population, today they are 23%. In 1960, going beyond the age of 70 was a rarity. A privilege of the wealthy. A fortune. A heroism. Today old age is a mass phenomenon. So writes Lidia Ravera in her latest work entitled “Age Pride-To free us from prejudices on age”. And in terms of prejudices, one is certainly the one who describes retirement as the end of active life. What reverses it is biology – the quality of aging – but also and perhaps above all the economic conditions: «The pension allowances which are reduced, on average, from 80% of the final salary, according to the salary system, to 65% with the transition to the contributory one», explains Intoo, the Gi Group Holding company leader in Italy in career development and transition services, in a note it has just published, also outlining a sort of work and social security vademecum «useful for a careful and early planning of one’s professional longevity according to age, one’s work history and one’s individual or family needs and desires, and thus become longennials». And that longevity can also be a market is also confirmed by the fact that big investors like Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI and creator of ChatGpt, who invested 180 million dollars in a biotech start-up dedicated to research for longevity.

The objective can be shared but let’s start with the most banal of questions: is there a market today in Italy for those who have left the world of work? That is, does it make sense to plan for something that exists? «Absolutely», explains Cetti Galante, CEO of Intoo. «Today not only has life lengthened but also the prospect of having an active life for a long time is always longer. This is when planning becomes an important element, you need to think in time about income, health, home, insurance. And to do this, the ideal starting point is the company». So plan your exit together with the company you are about to leave before doing so? «Exactly, this too should be an aspect of corporate welfare», explains Galante. And here another reversal takes place: a welfare model is outlined that no longer thinks only of the central band of the corporate population, the thirty or forty year olds, but also of the over and those who are leaving, considering the latter no longer a segment to get rid of but an asset. «We need to overturn – he adds – the mentality, today seniors are the corporate population to be retired early, but this is not the case, in an increasingly complex post-pandemic world, their expertise and experience are necessary to support and decipher this complexity. Senior figures can be a resource for companies that have to manage ever-growing transformations». Here then is that even the pension changes its identity, it becomes “an ‘active’ pension – says Galante – it is in this direction that we should go, not towards early retirement with the obligation not to work as has been done up to now”. After welfare, the third reversal concerns active policies, “which should also consider interventions in favor of this age group, outside of a merely welfare logic”. Without blocking young people but drawing an appropriate map for both, «because today the most significant problem on the labor market is finding professional figures: we let those who have developed a skill come out and then we lack professionals, old or young that they are», concludes Galante. But concretely, how to activate?

According to Intoo’s handbook, there are two paths that both open around the age of 50: deciding to stay in the company and therefore planning an adequate welfare plan with the company for the active management of retirement, which means retirement yes, but continuing to make a contribution, which can be placed in the formula of collaboration. Or leaving the company by taking advantage of all the professional formulas available, from freelancer to VAT-registered consultant, shareholder in a company or starting your own micro-enterprise.

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