THE NEW CAREER CONTRACT - DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON AT MIDLIFE AND BEYOND

This is an examination of the current status and future potential of o lder workers in organizational settings. This analysis will necessaril y require a reexamination of traditional models of career stages, part icularly in relation to issues of aging in the career context. The pap er starts with an examination of the ''career contract,'' the set of m utual expectations between employer and employee and on the ways that contract has changed over the last decade. Our summary view of the new contract is that it reflects a move from an organizationally based ca reer to a protean or self-based career. This change has particularly s trong implications, positive and negative, for older workers, and thes e ate explored in depth. We argue that the contemporary high-speed wor k environment demands two key competencies (which we call ''meta-skill s,'' since they are skills for learning how to learn): identity develo pment and heightened adaptability. The development of these meta-skill s occurs through a process of midcareer ''routine-busting.'' In our vi ew, this suggests a new view of career stages, in which the focus is o n many cycles of learning stages (continuous learning), rather than a single lifelong career stage cycle. The paper concludes with the impli cation of these new career concepts for the development of older worke rs, questioning the currently popular model of retraining and calling instead for continuous learning as a means of providing lifelong devel opment for workers of all ages. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.