I was an old dog and this was a new trick (sort of)!
I retired in 2018 after almost 45 years in the finance industry. I wasn’t going to be bored. I was going to ride my bicycle, swim down the beach and do all the jobs around the house that I had been putting off until I retired. I also wanted to do some volunteer work. And, it was going to be at Perth City Farm (PCF). I knew a little bit about Permaculture having done a permaculture design course more than ten years earlier and PCF was going to help me learn more about having chickens, making compost and growing some veggies at home. But shock, horror, I found out that PCF had too many volunteers and weren’t recruiting. Hmmm, this was definitely disappointing.
And the ‘jobs’ around the house were starting to run out. But I wasn’t bored. Well, maybe a little bit.
Around this time, I caught up with an old colleague who asked if I would like to do a small consultancy with a digital product company he was working with called Hatchd.
With a complement of uber-cool, much younger and technically brilliant workers I was a bit worried I might not fit in. But as I worked alongside them responding to tenders and in client sessions I think they realised that age and experience can be a positive. After all, we work in the knowledge economy and I had some knowledge especially when it came to building client relationships. Old school attention to detail, spelling and grammar were also currency for me. It turns out I am better at proof-reading than google or spell check. And, depending on the client, sometimes having grey hair can help to put people at ease.
Following the three-month consultancy, I agreed to stay on, working permanent part-time (two days a week).
I have learned many new tricks from the Hatchd team. I now realise that just because there is no noise doesn’t mean that there are not conversations happening – they are just happening via a Slack channel which is the office version of kids ‘talking’ via SMSs on their mobiles. But it is also a great tool for collaboration and to get information flowing quickly to the people who need it.
Most of my working life has been spent in large businesses/bureaucracies, where major decisions inevitably required sign off by multiple levels of management and sometimes then needed board approval. It is so refreshing to now work for a truly nimble and agile small company where the founders are still heavily involved in the business. Business decisions can, and often are, made quickly. This doesn’t imply a lack of analysis and thought, it is just the flatness of the structure, the trusted team and ready access and involvement of the owners that allows this level of responsiveness in decision making.
I have seen the transition from big offices to small offices to no offices and finally to no desk (hot desking) at all. In most cases those decisions were based on saving money, as has the response by many companies to the recent Covid19 pandemic. However, while I know our staff enjoy the flexibility of working from home, I still like to keep work and home life separate, so I prefer to come into the office.
I have a desk again! And I now appreciate the flexibility offered by a truly well-designed work environment. One that allows you to work alone or in small groups, and where you can run workshops or client meetings in-house and where the space has a great ‘feel’ to it.
Diversity comes in many forms and age diversity in the workplace can and maybe should reflect the general working community. If the workforce is too homogenous you risk everyone agreeing because of your background and experience. It is good to have a diversity of opinion and people who will ask the “have you considered…” questions. While this may not change the outcome, the fact that people have stopped to consider these questions invariably leads to better decisions.
As the oldest member of the team, I love being involved with a younger cohort who engage in lively debate and help me to understand issues from their perspective. I also get to see how they support each other both professionally and as friends. For my part I hope that I am demonstrating that not all older men are necessarily pale, male and stale.
Another great benefit of working here is access to community Slack channels for what books people are reading, what restaurants are new/good, and responses that can often be memes or gify’s allows me a certain level of street cred within my own family. My kids no longer have to ask “how did you know that”, they just smile!
And, the icing on the cake is that Perth City Farm started accepting volunteers again, so I now spend Wednesdays at the farm. I am loving learning even more new tricks that I can share with my friends and colleagues, and put to use in my own veggie patch.