The Best Work-from-Anywhere Jobs for Older Workers

ByAdrianne Bibby

Working flexibly provides many great perks. Across all age groups, job seekers want the relative freedom that comes with work flexibility. When it comes tojobs for older workers, one desired perk stands out, andthat’s the ability to work from anywhere．

Many seasoned employees work to travel, and remote jobs are key to achieving that lifestyle.

The 2017 FlexJobs Super Surveyprovides insight into workplace flexibility trends for workers of all stripes who seek flexible work options．我们的检验y breaks down workers among age groups, education level, gender, and desired workplace flexibility, among other categories. Of the 5,551 respondents to our survey, 2,163 were age 50 or older.

The Impact of Flexible Work on Professionals Over 50

–Why Seasoned Professionals Work

我们的检验yasked professionals over 50 to tell us about their careers and what motivates them to work．

When asked, “How would you describe why you work?” a whopping 64% of workers over 50 said, “I both need and want to work”; 22% said, “I need to work”; and 17% said, “I want to work.”

We then asked them to identify the reasons that apply for why they want and/or need to work, and nearly half—47%—responded that travel is a primary motivating factor forcontinuing to work after age 50．

Notably, a combined total of nearly 70% said they have worked remotely at some point in their work history full-time (28%), part-time (21%), or occasionally (20%).

The top reasons professionals over 50 work include:

Paying for basic necessities, including housing and food (70%)
Enjoy working (59%)
To save for retirement (59%)
Desire to travel (47%)
To pay off debt (46%)
Pay for “luxury” items for yourself or your loved ones (meaning not basic necessities) (36%)
Want to have a professional impact in the world (30%)
Passionate about success in my career (26%)
To contribute to charity (24%)

Reasons why professionals over 50 want flexible work options include:

Work-life balance (72%)
Commute stress (45%)
Time savings (44%)
Avoid office politics and distractions (40%)
Cost savings (37%)
Family (35%)
Travel (25%)
Exercise (22%)
Gas prices (20%)
Health or disability (17%)
Bad local job market (17%)
Environmental benefits (15%)
Caregiving responsibilities (15%)
Time for school (6%)
在家教育的孩子(1%)
Other (9%)

–The Benefits of Flexible Jobs for Older Workers

Perhaps reflecting their seniority in the workforce, 83% of professionals over 50said they’re not concerned that working flexibly will hurt their career prospects in the future．Most identify as baby boomers (74%), although 19% say they associate with members of generation X. Nearly 5% of over-50 workers in our survey are members of the so-calledsilent generation, people over 70 born before the early to mid-1940s.

Some 76% of over-50 respondents to our survey said they were “empty nesters” whose kids are over age 18 and no longer live at home. Overwhelmingly, 92% told us they thinkit’s possible to be both a great employee and a great parent．What’s more, they said, working remotely can lead tohigher productivity很多老员工分享与人在穿越——视图s all age groups.

Why professionals over 50 view working remotely as more productive:

Fewer distractions (82%)
Fewer interruptions from colleagues (78%)
Minimal office politics (71%)
Reduced stress from commuting (69%)
Quieter noise level (64%)
More comfortable clothes (50%)

–Work to Travel—A Top Benefit for Older Professionals

Remote work was the most popular form of flexibility sought by professionals over 50who participated in our survey. Many reported being at a stage in their careers where flexibility has become more meaningful and sought-after; 57% consider themselves experienced workers, with a combined 38% at the manager or senior manager level.

To come up with the list of flexible companies below, we cross-referenced aranking by Glassdoorof great companies for people over 50 with the FlexJobs database. We also included employers from a recent FlexJobs list ofcompanies hiring for jobs you can do from anywhere．

–Check out these 18 companies offering great flexible jobs for older workers—including work-from-anywhere positions:

–A sampling of jobs for older workers:

The following list, showing just a few of the greatwork-from-anywherejob titles for seasoned professionals, is culled from the thousands of flexible jobs in theFlexJobs database: