Each generation delivers its own spin on the world, and while much has been written and presented on the differences between say, Generation X and millennials, middle age has a way of sanding down a lot of those edges.
As statistics show, the two groups — which, in 2026, splits the age group of people in their 40s right down the middle — have much more in common than they have in opposition to one another. Both categories of people place more value on quality of life than baby boomers did, reports Forbes, leading the magazine to recommend employers follow suit to retain the best talent.
“Organizations that cling to outdated practices of rewarding those willing to sacrifice their personal lives for promotion risk losing top talent to competitors with more progressive policies,” wrote Dave Barnett. “Forward-thinking companies are shifting to a whole-life talent model that aims to help employees thrive inside and outside of work. This includes better work-life integration and focusing on meaningful work.
“The nature of work is evolving. While careers are still important, people now view them as part of a broader life ecosystem. Employers must adapt to attract and retain talent seeking purpose and flexibility.”
Increasingly, individuals in this age group not only want meaning and purpose to be part of their workplace, and they are seeking out those traits in the jobs themselves. A full 97 percent of millennials say purpose is important to their job satisfaction, reported the Deloitte Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey, while Gen Xers lead all age groups in formal volunteering activities, much of it organized through work, Activate Good states.
However essential or tangential it may be, purpose and meaning are definitely motivators for people in their 40s, no matter which side of the demographic dividing line they fall. Arkansas Money & Politics interviewed two such individuals, whose work helps ensure agency services are delivered to a clientele that needs them the most, to discover what drives them in their daily mission.
Jeremy Jeffery, 46
Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Pine Bluff
Although Jeremy Jeffery’s career in healthcare stretches back 18 years, he said he did not really understand the depth of purpose his industry had until he was promoted into his current role of senior vice president and chief financial officer — two weeks before COVID-19 reached Arkansas via Pine Bluff. Working at the state’s pandemic ground zero cast everything in a brand new light, he said.
“I think we had done a good job over the last several years prior to COVID to kind of reestablish a new culture in the organization, one that was centered around accountability and teamwork and really putting the patient first,” he said. “The way you do that is to treat your team like family, essentially. We had already really begun that journey together, and so I think it set us up well [during COVID-19] to communicate across the organization very well and to really see each other as being on the same team and in it together. That was absolutely foundational.”
Jeffrey said in addition to the yeoman work done by patient-facing personnel, there were also a lot of improvements made by support staff and leadership to help ensure no element of operations slipped through the cracks.
“Even in a vacuum of information and a lot of things we didn’t know and a lot of uncertainty, we tried to really manage factors that played out over the next year or two, such as cost escalation and everything related to the clinical aspects of treating COVID,” he said.
“We kept our board informed as a result, and when they felt informed, I believe they were very supportive of everything we wanted to do as an organization to try to meet the challenge head on.”
Jeffrey said one of the advantages of being in his 40s versus his 20s is the expertise he has gained through problem solving, various work situations and the experiential learning the pandemic shifted into a high gear. While he is not in favor of going through such a period again, there is no denying that the experience of COVID-19 brought out something in the organization that gives him a lot of hope against future challenges, which, in healthcare, are many.
“I would say the main thing we learned during that time was just we’re far more resilient than I thought we were as an organization, as an industry and as a society, honestly,” he said. “There were times it just seemed like the night was never going to end, but it did. We all came out of it as best we could and hopefully learned a lot of things along the way. Most of all, I think we all learned resilience.”
Randi Metcalf, 42
CareLink, North Little Rock
One can scarcely imagine a better career fit for Randi Metcalf, chief operating officer at North Little Rock-based CareLink, since her backstory is replete with examples that hinted at her future life in service to the elderly.
“Growing up, I lived next door to my grandparents in Brinkley, and I spent a lot of time there,” she said. “My great-grandmother was also living between our houses, so we had three generations on one little stretch of land. I spent way more time with them than I did with kids my age.
“I just kind of grew up an old soul with my grandparents who were so supportive, fun, energetic, just socially connected people. That is truly why I have such an affinity for older people.”
Metcalf’s empathy for others deepened throughout her youth as her mother moved from Brinkley to central Arkansas and she bounced around among several schools.
“I got to see a whole different perspective. I got to be the new kid all the time, the kid that never really settled in,” she said. “I started to feel for other people who might be in that situation. I guess that’s when I developed my bleeding heart. When you go through your own struggles, for lack of a better term, you can be empathetic or you can ignore it and not learn anything from it.
“I learned as much as I could. I became very sensitive to other people and their positions in the world and their struggles, and at some point, my empathetic need to help others collided with the fact that I just truly love older people.”
Metcalf joined CareLink as a social worker in 2008 and took over her current role six years ago. She said after nearly 20 years, the level of need has remained substantial and, with current population shifts, is about to get even greater. It is a challenge she looks forward to tackling.
“We’re really facing a big change in Arkansas because by 2030, 1 in 4 Arkansans are going to be over the age of 60, and the 75-, 80-, 85-year-olds are going be almost half of Arkansas’ population. I’m excited about the opportunity for us to serve more people and for us to have a more comprehensive program offering.
“I feel very fortunate that we can apply ourselves to that entire spectrum from people our age who are taking care of our grandparents or parents, to people who are looking for options to have a caregiver come in or to get meals delivered to them. I love [CareLink’s] position that we are here to help people through whatever stage of the aging process they’re in.”
SEE THE FEATURE BELOW AND IN OUR SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE OF ARKANSAS MONEY & POLITICS
