In one report, researchers found that a company’s low performers — and not the company’s best workers — actually reported being more motivated and engaged in 42 percent of the 207 companies surveyed. So clearly, job performance doesn’t predict employee engagement. And it’s employee engagement (in other words, a worker’s commitment, involvement and satisfaction) that largely drives businesses to succeed.

Many factors go into engagement measures, including wages, career advancement opportunities and how employees feel about their company.

The findings suggest that many organizations are allowing their lowest performers to just get by because they’re not holding them accountable for their work, says Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, the consulting firm that conducted the survey. And that may make middle and high performers in those firms feel less motivated to come to work every day.

[Read: Interview Questions You Should Never Ask]

In a separate study, workers around the world say they are slightly happier in their jobs now than they were over the last several years,  even though only 1 in 4 think they’re paid what they’re worth.

Researchers at Aon Hewitt, a human resources consultancy, studied more than 2,500 companies representing 3.8 million workers worldwide to measure employee engagement.

Overall, engagement levels rose to 60 percent in 2012, up from 58 percent in 2011 and 56 percent in 2010, according to the annual study released Tuesday.

Yet some of the key findings in the study indicate workers are less than satisfied in certain areas.

For instance, only:

• 47 percent of workers say they have advancement opportunities at work.
• 44 percent of employees think they are paid fairly for their contributions.
• 49 percent of workers think their company is effective at communication.
• 48 percent of employees say they’ve been recognized for their extra efforts.

Photo: Boston Public Library/flickr

Also of Interest

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• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

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Younger boomers (in their late 40s and 50s), and Gen-Xers (in their late 30s and early 40s) are on track to retire with skimpier savings. Consequently, they’re likely to face a pared-down lifestyle in retirement.

Put another way, they’ll be the first two generations that don’t do better financially than the group that came before.

[Read: Can you count on working until you're 70?]

From 2007 to 2010, older boomers born between 1946 and 1955 lost 28 percent of their median net worth — about $68,000 on average. It could not have come at a worse time for those on the verge of retiring.

Younger boomers born between 1956 and 1965 lost 25 percent of their net worth — about $37,000, the study found. Gen-Xers (born between 1966 and 1975)  lost 45 percent of their wealth – about $33,000 on average – during that same time.

The study, Retirement Security Across Generations: Are Americans Prepared for Their Golden Years?, was done by the Pew Charitable Trusts to examine how the recession affected the wealth and retirement security of  boomers compared with other age groups.  

Though the timing of the recession affected older adults more than others — they have fewer working years in which to build back savings — it seems they weathered the storm fairly well. According to the study, older boomers retired, or are on track to retire, with about 70 to 80 percent of their pre-retirement income.

Here’s where it gets worse: Younger boomers are on track to replace only 60 percent of their pre-retirement income. Gen-Xers are on track to replace just half their income in retirement.

Financial experts generally recommend that you save enough to replace at least 70 percent of your pre-retirement income.

Among the study’s other findings:

• Older boomers approached retirement in better financial shape than previous generations, thanks to the dot-com boom and the housing bubble.
• Boomers and Gen-Xers have been accumulating much higher debt-to-asset ratios than the previous generations had at the same ages.
• By the end of the recession, the majority of people in each of these demographics were homeowners.

Photo: Ben K Locek/ flickr

The big surprise, though, according to Gallup’s newly released annual economic and personal finance survey, is that the upward creep in retirement may not have that much to do with short-term economic woes. Instead, it may be an indication of a larger, more fundamental shift in how Americans live, work and age.

Gallup’s survey, conducted in mid-April, shows that the average age at which U.S. workers retire has increased four years over the past two decades: from 57 in 1993 to 61 today. But three-quarters of that upward shift occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s, according to Gallup’s data.

Gallup also found that workers’ predictions of their own retirement age have shifted even more dramatically. In 1995, nearly half of non-retired Americans — 49 percent — believed that they would retire before age 65, while 32 percent expected to retire at 65 and just 14 percent anticipated having to wait past 65. Today, 37 percent of workers say they will retire at age 65, while another 26 percent think they will work beyond that age. Only 26 percent think they will retire before they reach 65.

The closer they are to age 65, the more likely workers are to project a later retirement age. More than half of nonretirees ages 58 to 64 expect to retire after age 65, compared with 36 percent of nonretirees ages 50 to 57, 38 percent of those between 30 and 49, and just 26 percent of those younger than 30.

Those numbers are basically in line with research by the Urban Institute, which shows that the percentage of men between 62 and 74 who work has risen by 11 percentage points over the past couple of decades, from 27.3 percent in 1993 to 38.0 in 2009. The proportion of women in the same age group who are still working increased from 19.9 percent to 28.1 percent, a comparable rise.

One reason that people are envisioning a delayed retirement, of course, is money. Some 61 percent of non-retired workers say they are concerned abut having enough savings to retire comfortably, according to Gallup. But there’s also substantial evidence that many older workers are staying on the job because they get satisfaction from it. Boston College’s  Sloan Center on Aging and Work, for example, cites data from the mid-2000s showing that nine of 10 older workers enjoy their jobs.

If you’re thinking about retiring, but not quite ready, how about taking a part-time job, or starting a business?

Also of Interest

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• Work-Related Age Bias Hits Home for Boomers
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more

Every mother I know loves the special recognition, me included. I appreciate that my husband and daughters let me sleep in a little longer, bring coffee and newspapers to my bed when I finally decide to open my eyes, walk the dog, prepare a luxurious breakfast, and clean up afterwards, usually accompanied by some lovely flowers, handmade cards, and special “Whatever You Want to Do, Mom” plans. What’s not to like?

It’s a sweet ritual, and one that is repeated in households throughout the country on Mother’s Day, as it has every year since 1908. While most women feel grateful for the flowers, cards, and mini-vacations from household chores — albeit short-lived — that this occasion offers, countless more are wondering why they aren’t getting the one gift that they — and their families — want and need more than any other: a job. And preferably a job that pays the same salary as it pays a man for doing the same exact work.

It’s a paradox, and a national travesty. This week, as many of us celebrated Mother’s Day, a lovely tradition when we (rightfully so) honor women around the country, shouldn’t we also focus on the statistics surrounding women and work?

The More You Know

Last year, a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that of the 1.3 million jobs created in 2011, some 90 percent went to men. Women gained just 149,000 jobs.  What’s more, while you might expect men to recover more jobs since more men were put out of work, there are some signs that things have gotten worse for women, with no signs of improvement. Looking at the data since the end of the recession in July 2009, men gained 600,000 jobs while women lost 300,000 jobs.

Worse still, 97 percent of full-time working women were in jobs that typically paid men more, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.  Of the 534 professions listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women on average earned more than men in only seven of them. And in the seven occupations that women earned more, the wage difference is quite small. 

To compound the problem even more, women continue to be penalized for being mothers, or potential mothers. As unemployed women look for work, experts say that cultural biases may hinder their search. While antidiscrimination laws prohibit the practice, some employers may believe that male workers will put in longer hours or be more dedicated to their jobs simply because they are not the ones who are, or will be, mothers.

According to a recent ABC News report, an out-of-work man may benefit from an employer’s sympathetic assumption that he’s the family breadwinner, even though American families have come to depend on women’s income far more than ever before. Myra Strober, a professor of education and economics at Stanford University said,

There’s a lot of evidence that historically when jobs are scarce, employers favor men because they feel that it’s up to men to earn a family wage and support their families.

And the older a woman gets, the more dire the situation becomes. A recent report from AARP’s Public Policy Institute, An Uphill Climb: Women Face Greater Obstacles to Retirement Security, clearly states that women earn less, and there are serious consequences, including lower Social Security benefits, lower retirement income, and greater poverty at older ages. Take a quick look at these statistics from the report:

• In 2012, full-time working women aged 55 and older typically earned 76 percent of men’s earnings.
• Women’s average annual Social Security retirement benefit was 78 percent of men’s in 2012.
• In 2010, the typical woman’s retirement income was 59 percent that of the typical man’s.
• In 2011, the poverty rate for women (age 65 and older) was 73 percent greater.

What can we do?

Become a grassroots activist. Start by sharing this, and similar articles, with other women, with government leaders and corporate heads, to make sure they understand how dire, and utterly unjust, this situation is. Women should not be penalized for taking sabbaticals to care for children, an ill spouse or parent. Women should not be penalized simply because they are women and have children, or might have children in the future. Women should not be penalized because they take their parenting responsibilities seriously and are grappling with the challenge of finding a balance between work and family. And certainly, women should not be penalized because they are getting older. Get mad, and make others get mad right along with you.

Less than 17% of global news focuses on women’s issues. If we work together we can make “women and work” the #1 news story of the year. That would be the perfect Mother’s Day gift for all women . . . next year.

 And remember this: We can’t control getting older . . . but . . . we can control how we do it.

 I want to hear from you! Leave your questions and ideas for living your best life after 50 in the comments section below. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter and, of course, my blogs on AARP.org and www.bestofeverythingafter50.com. And please let me know what you’d like to see in future episodes of “The Best of Everything After 50″!  In case you missed it, CLICK HERE to watch the trailer to give you a sneak peek of what’s in store. Thanks for reading and watching!

Photo credits: whatwillmatter.com,  bestofeverythingafter50.com

Also of Interest

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Even though I’ve owned my own business for more than 20 years, my promotional skills were a bit stale. Like many others in my generation I relied on traditional advertising and public relations for marketing. As far as social media, I had a website, and shared stories on Facebook with friends, but that was about it.

Not enough in today’s market. Everyone talks about a social media strategy. As I joined the ranks of the 16.4percent of the 55+ market (not coincidentally, the largest group of self-employed individuals in this country) I knew I had to kick it up a notch.

So I created a LinkedIn profile, signed up for Twitter, and started subscribing to every relevant blog and other publication in my field.

I scoured the Internet for articles offering productivity, social media and networking advice. Soon my email Inbox had more than 200 messages at any given moment. (That’s not counting all my shopping and discount site alerts, like Gilt and One Kings Lane.)

It was overwhelming. First, I learned about the basic productivity apps, that I have shared in prior blogs. There is Evernote, the online filing cabinet system; and Pocket, the app that copies and saves web pages. I started storing all my word document files in Dropbox so I could access them on any computer or mobile device.

Like most entrepreneurs, the more I researched, the more digital chatter I received. I still use Evernote, Pocket and Dropbox, but I’ve found some other apps and websites that are helping me streamline my day.

Here are four of my new favorites to help keep me organized in my encore career.

TheSwizzle.com: This site helps me manage my email inbox. It lets users easily unsubscribe from emails that they no longer want by placing all commercial email addresses in one for list, to quickly check off. No more hitting the unsubscribe button on each individual email. For commercial emails you want to continue, like certain catalogs, newsletters or shopping sites, it places them all in one email. Once a day, users receive a Swizzle email, with all of the other emails inside of it. This site has done wonders for organizing my email inbox, giving me a quick view of my business emails.

LinkedIn Apps

Cardmunch: This a free iPhone app that converts business cards into Contacts. Snap a photo of a business card and it loads up in your phone and sends a request to the contact asking to connect on LinkedIn. No more typing the card information into your contact list.

The new LinkedIn Contacts app sorts contacts by region for easy reference

LinkedIn Contacts:  This a brand new free iPhone app that transfers all of your LinkedIn contacts into a phone book. It has the potential to become a businessperson’s primary contact list phone book and personal assistant.

Users can sync their iPhone address book, Gmail, Google Contacts & Calendar, Yahoo mail and contacts, Outlook Mail, Contacts & Calendar, CardMunch, Evernote and even TripIt all in Contacts.
It’s great for business trips, as users can sort their contacts by region and easily identify who they want to connect with when they travel.

Organizing Your Social Media

Hootsuite: It’s marketed as a social media management system for organization’s to launch campaigns, but I use it to organize people I follow on Twitter and to schedule my Tweets, LinkedIn and Facebook updates.

I recommend going through the tutorial and learning how it works so you can set up topic streams, and add the people you want to follow in lists. Now I spend 30 minutes each morning, noon and evening keeping tabs on my Twitter influencers and my tweets. I can also schedule all of my posts on my other social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn.

It’s a “must have” for anyone who uses social media — which is everyone in business in 2013.

Are you considering a next step in your life or career? Check out Life Reimagined to get started. 

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Employers are required by law to provide an outline of what workers can expect to get in estimated monthly retirement income from their traditional pension plans. But that’s not the case for 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

[Find out if you're saving enough for retirement with AARP's calculator].

Maybe your 401(k) balance is at $200,000, for instance, and you’re less than a decade from retirement. If your plan doesn’t break down for you how much you’ll likely accumulate at your current savings rate in a given number of years, or how much that balance is estimated to provide on a monthly basis over the course of your retirement, based on current market conditions, then how do you know if you’re saving enough to meet your goals — even with other sources of income?

The government wants to take the guess work out of that scenario.

The Department of Labor is developing rules that would require workers to get estimated income illustrations from their defined contribution pension plans so they can understand more thoroughly how long their retirement savings might last.

The department is asking for input from retirement planning specialists, employers, workers and others as it looks for ways to educate people and help them save more effectively for retirement. [Click here for instructions on how to provide input].

It’s not a moment too soon to ask for such feedback. With each passing decade, workers increasingly are asked to shoulder the responsibility for their retirement as the share of employers offering traditional pension plans shrinks.

According to the DOL, the number of defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s has more than tripled over the last 35 years. At the same time, the number of traditional pension plans, which guarantee monthly income, declined by half.

Clearly, we could benefit from retirement planning guidance.

So what’s the best way for employers to illustrate how much workers can count on at retirement from their 401(k) plan since there are so many variables between now and then? The Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary says one idea being considered involves a statement showing estimated payments based on your current plan balance.

Another idea, she says, might consider these variables:

• You’d make contributions until you retire at age 65, increasing the savings amount by 3 percent a year.
• You’d get an annual return of 7 percent, an assumption based on historical market returns in 401(k) plans.
• You’d get a return of 3 percent annually to account for projected future inflation (what your dollars will be worth, say, 15 years from now).

The DOL offers a calculator to help you with projections. Go to www.dol.gov/ebsa/ and search for “Lifetime Income Calculator.”

Photo: Ivan Kmit/Alamy

Age bias is a concern for around two-thirds of workers over 45, as reported recently in The New York Times Bucks Blog and by MarketWatch.com. In the MarketWatch Working Retirement column, Andrea Coombes  poses an interesting question: are some boomers themselves are guilty of age bias? If you want to get a sense of how some experienced workers feel about age bias, go to those links and and read the comments (and please weigh in with comments here as well).

The stories cite figures from Staying Ahead of the Curve 2013: AARP’s Multicultural Work and Career Study. The study, conducted previously in 2002 and in 2007, paints a revealing picture of workers ages 45-74: their reasons for working, perceived job security, differential treatment received because of age, their ideal work scenario, the challenges they face, their plans for retirement, and more. Also worth a look: an Infographic on the the “new normal” for experienced workers, and a personal perspective on age bias against the long-term unemployed via this Inside E Street clip.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is some good news: more awareness around the issues of age discrimination, and greater awareness on the part of some employers about the value of hiring and retaining older workers.

The new co-sponsor for the Best Employers for Workers Over 50 Award has some pull in executive suites when it comes to charting employment policies. AARP and SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, will announce the top 50 award winners at SHRM’s annual conference in June (and we’re guessing that the recruiters at these companies will see an influx of applicants.

Also of note is Work Reimagined, which features job listings from employers who have signed a pledge to level the playing field for experienced workers, as well as a LinkedIn group.

Click to view detailed Infographic on the “new normal” for experienced workers.

Of course, efforts like these may be small comfort to laid-off workers over age 55 who remain unemployed longer – about 51 weeks on average – compared to 37 weeks for younger workers. (See resources to help job-hunters below.)

So, what will it take to end age bias? What will help ease the worry and address the realities of age discrimination in the workplace? Many people think it will take a more robust economic recovery.

“A stronger labor market where there is a greater demand for workers of all ages and experience levels will make a difference,” says Jean Setzfand, AARP’s vice president of financial security. Meanwhile, she has this advice for experienced workers navigating the job market.

For the sake of job seekers of all ages, let’s hope that unemployment will continue to fall and that payrolls will continue to rise – and that more employers will aspire to be on the Best Employers for Workers Over 50 list.

###

Looking for a job or contemplating “what’s next?” Visit www.aarp.org/work for job-hunting resources and encore career advice; participate in a free job-hunting webinar May 28 (playback option available); get information to help you start or grow a small business; check out WorkReimagined.org.

Employers: See the Workforce Assessment Tool co-sponsored by AARP and SHRM, and learn about our Best Employers for Workers Over 50 program and the Work Reimagined pledge program.

Follow @AARPMoney / Work on Twitter for more on career and workplace issues.

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Among all workers 55 and older, the  jobless rate remained at 5.5 percent last month, same as in March.

For men in that age group, the rate held steady at 5.7 percent for the second consecutive month. For women, the unemployment rate fell from 5.2 percent in March to 4.8 percent in April. That’s a considerable improvement, though levels tend to be more volatile for women because their figures are not seasonally adjusted.

Nationally, the jobless rate ticked down one-tenth of 1 percent to 7.5 percent, the lowest level in four years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some 11.7 million people are out of work, down by 673,000 from January.

To understand how far we’ve come, consider that the jobless rate in April, 2012, stood at 8.1 percent;  in April, 2011, it hovered at 9 percent; and in April, 2010, it hit 9.9 percent.

[Read: How Should Older Workers Navigate the Job Market?]

April’s better-than-expected jobs report eased economists’ fears of a spring slowdown leading into a summer slump. That’s been the pattern over the last several years—a stronger recovery early in the year that peters out as spring and summer approach. Still, the economy needs to add at least 200,000 jobs a month for the jobless rate to fall.

At this rate of growth, says economist Adam Hersh with the Center for American Progress, “we will not reach full employment until June 2021.”

One troublesome spot in the report: More Americans were working part-time in April because they couldn’t find full-time work, or because their hours were cut, the BLS noted. Their numbers rose by 278,000 to 7.9 million.

One devastating spot in the report: One in two unemployed older workers was out of work for six months or more in April. That figure underscores the brutal challenge many older job seekers face in finding work. Overall, the number of long-term unemployed fell by 258,000 to 4.4 million last month.

Once again, the duration of unemployment last month grew for older workers to 50.2 weeks from 49.2 weeks in March. For those under 55, the duration in April grew to 36.9 weeks from 35.7 weeks the month before.

Given the amount of time it’s taking workers 55-plus to find a job, it’s not surprising that some have given up altogether. The number of older discouraged workers (people who stopped looking for work because they grew so discouraged by their prospects) rose by nearly 50,000 in April.

To highlight the plight of older job seekers, PBS NewsHour will air a broadcast Friday night as part of its series on older workers and the economy. Correspondent Paul Solman looks at the grim prospects facing the long-term unemployed.

Underemployment, which combines the unemployed with those who are working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work, stood at 17.5 percent in April. That was down from 18.2 percent in April 2012, according to the Gallup polling organization, which tracks that data.

In the latest report on downsizing, employers announced plans to trim payrolls by 38,121 in April, the lowest level of job cuts since December, according to the outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.  For the first four months of 2013, the pace of downsizing—at 183,162—was virtually the same as a year ago.

The retail industry suffered the biggest job cuts announced in April, the report said.

“The biggest concern is that consumers, who had been holding up the economy for so many months, are starting to scale back their spending as wages continue to stagnate,” John A. Challenger, chief executive officer, said in a statement.  “American’s wages are not quite keeping pace with increased expenses.  As a result, we are not going to see a big increase in consumer spending.”

Aerospace and defense firms announced 2,927 job cuts last month, most of which were blamed on federal spending cuts or concerns over sequestration.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to a seasonally adjusted 324,000, the lowest since  2008, the government reported earlier this week. The four-week average, a more accurate gauge, fell by  16,000 to 342,250.

Photo: KYNGPAO/flickr

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A career journalist who left NBC in 2004 after now-estranged Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, Shriver says on her website, “I’m passionate about the need to shine a light on women’s evolving roles… the pressures they face and how our society might adapt to support them.”

She says she’ll focus “content and news programming that touches on women’s multi-faceted lives,” which is no surprise to those who have followed her career in both journalism and public life. Soon after she became California’s first lady in 2003 she created The Minerva Awards to honor “remarkable California women” who had changed their communities. At NBC, she says she’ll also profile “people I like to call ‘Architects of Change,’ groundbreaking women and men who are pushing the boundaries of society, technology, media, science, business, faith and politics.”

Shriver’s agreement with the network allows her to work on other projects – books, movies, public appearances and the like – and she says she’ll continue her website, which focuses on inspirational people and social and community issues.

The only daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and R. Sargent Shriver (the second of five children), Maria Shriver has written numerous books, among them spiritual guides, children’s books on death and a comprehensive report on  Alzheimer’s. She also produced a series on Alzheimer’s for HBO. Her father was diagnosed with the disease in 2003 and died in 2011.  Her mother died in 2009.

Shriver and Schwarzenegger separated in 2011 after his admission of an affair with the couple’s housekeeper.

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