Change works.

Both WAHVE and Life Reimagined for Work prove it.

We’ve both made tremendous progress in redefining work-life and retirement – in just a couple of years:

• WAHVE has created new options for “pretirement” for workers and companies in the insurance industry vertical since our founding in 2010.
• Life Reimagined for Work has opened new channels for learning, development and growth for everyone over age 50 in the U.S. since it launched in 2012.

WAHVE and Life Reimagined for Work are both focusing on creating a new reality for Americans who are working, retiring and aging differently than prior generations.

Our organizations are benefiting from — and contributing to — the changing paradigms and lexicon about work and retirement. No longer do people automatically expect to retire at age 65. The term “senior citizen” is less and less used. New terms like “pretiree” (a term that WAHVE uses for our vintage workers) have made their way into the language.

Life Reimagined for Work has grown into an active resource to help experienced workers find jobs, manage their careers, start new businesses and explore options for the future.

When I first heard about the Life Reimagined for Work initiative two years ago, WAHVE jumped in with both feet. Its concept meshed well with WAHVE’s modus operandi: To expand the work options and create a new category of work-life opportunities in the insurance industry.

Just as with WAHVE, a lot of positive things have happened for Life Reimagined for Work in less than two years. WAHVE has grown to more than 150 vintage workers who enjoy work in a “pretirement” mode as remote staff for insurance firms.

When WAHVE started with the initiative, we were one of 120 participating employers nationally and one of only seven in the insurance industry involved in the new Work Reimagined program. Now there are twice as many!

Meanwhile, Life Reimagined for Work has engaged with more than 200 private and public firms and government agencies to generate a significant job listing board. The initiative’s website features hundreds of job listings from firms that have taken the Work Reimagined pledge to “level the playing field for experienced workers” by committing to being open to the value of mature workers and to nondiscriminatory human resources policies.

Life Reimagined for Work (originally dubbed “Work Reimagined” when it started) is part of AARP’s Life Reimagined [link to: https://lifereimagined.aarp.org ] multidimensional effort from its Life Reimagined Institute.

This description from the Life Reimagined Institute aligns exactly with the convictions of those of us at WAHVE:

“The New Life Phase is recognized as a time of personal growth and learning – a time for discovering and realizing new life possibilities. This stands in contrast to the old model that generally saw our mid and later years as a period of retreat and decline.”

David Bowie famously sang: “Ch-ch-Changes / Don’t tell them to grow up and out of it.” Well, in fact, American vintage workers are still growing and changing. I’m glad WAHVE is along for the ride.

I hope you’ll take the time to look around both the updated WAHVE website and the Life Reimagined for Work website and share them you’re your colleagues, friends and family.

– Sharon Emek, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO
Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE)