The turning point in a typical career happens at 42.5 years of ageRelationship between middle-aged and senior regular employees and growth

Release Date 12/14/2017

※This article is a machine translation.

キャリアの曲がり角は42.5歳ミドル・シニア正社員と成長の関係

The results of a fact-finding survey conducted by us that looked at the growth of 10,000 working individuals in 2017 revealed that the gap between growth orientation and actual experience was gradually increasing and that the number of workers who were not experiencing actual growth as expected was rather high in those aged between 45 and 59. This column will outline the characteristics of growth attitudes and workers’ views on their careers with regular employees 40 years of age and older constituting a cohort of middle-aged and senior workers.

Graph [1] (in %)
図１.png

First of all, the blue bar for “growth orientation” drops slightly in the early 40s, and then starts to rise gradually. This shows that it is not just the young who think that “growth is important” in their work. However, on the other hand, the orange bar for “growth perception” drops significantly from the 40s to the 50s. When comparing the top two values for the sense of growth, the 35-39 age group was 21.0%, and the 50-59 age group was 13.0%, which is less than two-thirds of the total.

As a result of this, the “gap between growth orientation and actual growth” is gradually increasing in the 45-59 age group. In other words, this suggests that the issue of “not being able to actually feel growth as you would like” is a significant problem for this age group. Therefore, in the following section, we will refer to the age group of 40 and over as the “middle-aged and senior workers” and take a look at the situation and psychology of full-time employees in this age group based on the survey data.

The “turning point” for middle-aged and senior workers is 42.5 years old

First of all, when discussing the issues facing middle-aged and senior workers, it is impossible to ignore the issue of “success in one's career”. While there is not much difference when they are young, as they get older, it becomes clear that some people will fall off the so-called “success track” while others will continue to move up the ranks. At the same time, the desire of employees to “move up the ladder” within their organization also changes significantly as they get older. Graph [2] shows the change in this awareness by age in this survey. Looking at this, the desire to get ahead in life reverses, and the proportion of those who “do not want to get ahead” becomes larger than those who “do want to get ahead” at around 42.5 years of age.

Graph [2] (%)

図２.png

As shown in Graph [3], the results show that the majority of people become aware of the end of their careers around the age of 45.5, in parallel with the decline in their ambition to advance in their careers. This change in ambition to advance in their careers and the growth in awareness of the end of their careers, which is at the entrance to middle-aged and senior workers, can be said to be a major turning point in their working lives.

Graph [3] (%)

図３.png

When do middle-aged and senior workers think their careers are over?

On the other hand, in recent years, as the population ages and the shortage of workers becomes more serious, people's working lives are continuing to grow longer. In 2013, the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Older Persons was revised, and recently, Lynda Gratton's book “LIFE SHIFT - A Strategy for the 100-Year Life” has become a bestseller, so it is expected that it will become more common in the future for people to continue working until they are 65 or even older.

As shown in Graph [4], even when looking at the desired retirement age of the people themselves, those in their 40s and above are all hoping to work until they are nearly 64 on average, and they are still planning to continue working for another 20 years or so. Even after middle-aged and senior workers start to think about the end of their careers in their mid-40s, the reality is that they will continue to work for quite a long time after that. Considering this background, the fact that middle-aged and senior workers start to feel that their growth is declining from around the age of 40 is a problem that has a significant impact on both the individual and the company in the medium to long term.

Graph [4] (%)
図４.png

Factors that inhibit growth include a decline in physical strength, being too busy, and a loss of motivation

So what is the reason for the lack of growth among middle-aged and senior workers? Let's look for some clues in the data on the reasons for not being able to grow that we heard about in this survey. If we summarize the three points that can be seen from the data shown in Graph [5], we can point to “1. physical weakness, 2. busyness at work, and 3. loss of motivation” as factors that inhibit the growth of middle-aged and senior workers.

First of all, there is the issue of physical strength. Although we are living in an era where people are living to be 100 years old, it seems that confidence in one's physical strength does indeed decline with age, compared to when one was younger. In particular, the percentage of people who feel that their physical strength is declining increases sharply from their late 50s onwards. I'll skip the graph, but the percentage of people who say they have a serious chronic illness or are obese also starts to rise from their late 40s. This kind of health and fitness anxiety seems to have a big impact on their attitudes towards growth. The second point is that they are too busy at work to have any spare time. This answer was most common among those in their late 40s, and this also coincides with the group that actually works the most overtime. It is likely that they are too busy to reflect on their work, and are losing the opportunity to reflect on their work and realize their own growth. The third point is the loss of job satisfaction. Looking at the data, it is clear that people in their late 40s and late 50s in particular are finding it harder to feel a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. As we have seen in the graphs so far, the mid-40s is a time when career views and ambitions to move up the career ladder fluctuate greatly. Also, many people in their late 50s experience “post-off” (retirement from management and other positions) at this time. It seems that the wavering minds of middle-aged and senior workers, which fluctuate in units of several years, make it difficult for them to see the “meaning” in the work in front of them.

Graph [5] （％）

図5.jpg

In conclusion

In this article, we have looked at the situation of middle-aged and senior workers in Japan, focusing on the issue of “growth” as revealed by the Survey of Growth. This issue of middle-aged and senior workers in Japan should be analyzed in more detail, taking into account the structural factors of Japanese-style employment. As a result of the skewed age structure of employees due to the declining birthrate and aging population, as well as economic fluctuations, many companies are currently struggling with the low motivation of middle-aged and senior workers and the ballooning personnel costs.

At Persol Research and Consulting, we are working on the “Project to Explore Breakthroughs from Middle-Aged Employees” with Professor Tsuneki Ishiyama of Hosei Graduate School, based on this awareness of the problem. We are also conducting our own in-depth research and analysis of issues such as the problem of “post-off” (mandatory retirement from a position of authority) and the issue of job satisfaction and meaning, which we have only touched on briefly here. The results of the first phase of the project were recently announced on the PJT special website [https://rc.persol-group.co.jp/mspjt_en/]. We plan to continue to delve into these issues through the publication of books and seminars. Further details will be announced on the Persol Research and Consulting website.

※Survey outline
Research organization: Persol Research and Consulting
Survey name: Working 10,000 People Growth Survey 2017
Survey targets: Employed men and women aged 15-69 nationwide
Number of targets: 10,000 (gender and age distribution follows the national census)
Survey period: March 2017

*Please clearly indicate the source when quoting.
Example of source citation: Persol Research and Consulting ”10,000 Working People's Growth Survey 2017”

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