The Great Returnship

Ready for a new employment class or term for 2022? Here’s one – Returnship.

Inflation is soaring and life gets seemingly more unpredictable and expensive by the day. During the pandemic, more than 3 million people retired early. Now, some of them are reconsidering.

But they’re not all keen to jump right back into the way they earned in the past. Which is why we’re seeing so many “returnships” — Bloomberg’s cute word for experienced professionals re-entering the workforce to try something new.

This might mean doing volunteer work for a while to ingratiate themselves into a new type of work. It might mean project-based work that’s flexible and doesn’t require a long-term commitment.

One retirement-aged chef I heard of became a school bus driver recently, eager to get out of hot kitchens, but not yet financially ready to rely on social security. Those who’ve worked in offices their whole lives are getting out there and volunteering for short-term gigs.

The pandemic made a lot of people I interface with rethink their careers. It also inspired a lot of people to do things differently.