Does age really matters?

What can I say . I was denied the job when I was 47 years old and this experience makes me write that you should allow a flower to naturally blossom, spread the fragrance and then wither away ." If our Hon'ble Prime Minister can perform at this age (any substitute for him ?) why not normal human beings . Yet one should diligently make space for the youngsters too and there is lot to do for the society.

Just because someone has attained the age of 58 or 60, he/she should not be sent out once for all. We should try to utilise his/her knowledge/experience/expertiseto the fullest possible. ofcourse youngsters may say that due to this their chances are blocked. To this my suggestion is that the person attained superannuation may be asked to visit one or two times a week for half a day to review and throw some light on the happenings over the the week based on his past experience. You just pay him around 25% of what he was geeting at the time of retirement.Moreover the youngsters should note that being a youngster he may think or write any thing about retired today. But they should remember that retirement,old age and death are inevitable.

Yes, i fully agree with this view point that one should continue to work until or unless one himself doesn't feel that it is time to RETIRE. First he is more experienced and more learned about the Organisational system second it doesn't mean that after passing a particular age he/she is all of sudden become obsolete. And if this should be the case then how the politian are allowed to run country even when their age is well over the Retirement age of an employee. If Politian enjoy this privelegde even at the age of 70's or 80's then there should not be any harm if an individual continue to work after 60 if he/she can contribute for the growth of an Organisation. 

i second DEEPAK CHOPRA on this :::

" HAVE An AGELESS BODY AND TIMELESS MIND "

Since Mr. Swamy and Mr. Dikshit mentioned their experience, I also like to mention mine.

I started my career in 1955 in Central Govt. organisation; worked with outstanding performance records all over the country for 39 years, took voluntary retirement and worked as G.M in a Mobile Telecom Service Provider for 4 years, then with a MNC Telecom Vendor for aother 4 years and started own Telecom & IT  firms in india and UAE.

I have been part of the growth of telecom in India from Magneto telephony to Manual telephony to most advanced telecom sytems, networks and VAS. There is nothing that I have not done in  Telecom Business, Managment and Technology.

Coming to the our point of debate, though I am still capable of managing telecom project of any size, I have decided to leave the space to youngsters and to spent my  remaining life leisurely between myself and my family.

Throughout my career, I always tried to pass on the vast knowledge gained from my lengthy experience to the youngters worked with me, that had helped many to grow in their career.

On the other hand I had also few experience here and there; mostly the ones who  do not take pains to learn and do their homework well, feel uncomfortable of  experienced persons around them in the system and behave indifferently with the mentors. Then it happens sometimes in our own houses also; is it not? - the plus and minus effects of the generation gap. That is all part of life. My opinion is that the younger generation are mor knowledgeable, mor forward looking and more aggressive though may not that pragmatic as the earlier generation counter parts.

To sum up, the elders should not try to cling on and become stubling blocks for youngsters.

Same as in this case also i will give 50%.hope you all understand what i am trying to say.For Instance see in my organization who are reach this age we will put them as Consultants that means they are not entitled with all benefits like PF,Medical, LTA etc

No! A person should be allowed to continue irrespective of the age, provided he/she is willing to do it for 50% of the pay and 50% of time. It should be ensured that 40% of their time is spent on transferring their skills and knowledge to others.

The longevity has increased tremendously and people tend to be active ver easily up to 70 years. They will be performing at their best having finished their family responsibilites etc. They will be able to commit more time. They will have lesser ambition to climb the corporate ladder. They are in ideal state to become mentors. We are currently throwing away such valuable resource because of retriement.

This approach, I believe, will make the best use of the valuable resources yet will not affect the future generations. It will ease the seniors in to their twilight years instead of jettisoning them in to not-yet-twilight years causing distress to them. It will also take care of their financial needs to great extent.

I agree to all here..

Age should not be a variable in determing the working of an Individual..

If the person has the capacity he must be allowed to continue as he has all the experience and knowledge about the things, they will prove to be assets of the organization.

Age shld not have been a barrier to any thing in the first place. As for this topic goes, retiring is a state of mind. i ve seen people who ve past their retired age, retired from thier current companies, joined another whr age is not important & still continue to work, learn as strongly as ever. I guess its called passion.

You became old when  you  think you are and start thinking that  you can not  be  the  best  now.

so till you  think  you  can  you rule.

Regards,

Sanjib

Other than capacity i would tell that if a person has enough PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE then definitely he should be allowed to continue. But that person should have a clear view of the PRESENT GENERATION PEOPLE so that the new employes who r entering wont face any problem with him/her. PLEASE DONT PUT LIMITS FOR ART OF LEARNING AND GAINING MORE n MORE knowledge until the final breath . Because the art of learning more and new things is always better. But its always the persons personal decision and also the owner . 

well our ancient gurus like raja janak and king akbar never retired.they worked till the last.

our ancient social system had a role vanaprast ashram.you should retire from the activity you are doing and find something more interesting.

you should retire some burden on your shoulder and pass it on to young shoulders and guide them.

you should remain in the active life,what would you do going to jungle,when you reach jungle you are reminded of your active life.

when you are working and having a nice time enjoying your work you feel like hello i need a brake.i have been working very hard.rest if you must but dont you quit.

when you age you have lots of experience with you..so you should move from being a doer to being a mentor.pass on the experience to someone,this experience would be of so much of use to someone.

when we grow old so much of our learning has grown old too and there is so much new to lern and acquire so become a student again.

retire the way you did things ,accept new ways..retire the only thing you did.learn and do something new.

I would say, if not full time, the person can at lease put in some hours in a day where both the purposes can be solved

- the talent is retained

- the person does not feel burdened but still has the opportunity to utilize his talents and excel.

The age doesn't matter, person who is working well, is honest and experienced upto he could deliever his best. Age never matters, a young person could be lazy in his personal & professional life and an old person could be enough fast & enthusiastic. Age doesn't matter, you should have willingness and enthusiasm.

Well Dhananjay, there are all sorts in this world. There are people who follow the rule book to a T, never bothering their grey cells to any task what-so-ever, But, even in Govt departments, when it is found that an individual is yet indispensable, even on attaining the retirement age, is given an extension. For any organisation, to let go of an individual who despite retirement age, is valuable, does not make sense. Unless, there are other motives to make it an appropriate criterion. The popularity due to value and seniority is oveshadowing someone important, or the remuneration package past a particular age is turning somebody green, and then, maybe it could be due to a percieved threat to someone else's career or popularity. Retirement age is gauged by statistical analysis of average human productivity related to age. But the question here is whether a person, still capable, should be allowed to continue. If 70% reach senile state at the age of 55, what about the rest 30%. If willing, should they allowed to continue? You know, there are people past 80 and still mentally very agile. What could be reasonable is, while the retirement age being fixed, only capable & willing indviduals be given an appropriate extension. A win win situation, for both, the company as well as the person concerned. Any other solutions??

Ofcourse age matters, it produces experience and that's valueable. If a company policy dictates that a person should retire despite the fact of value contribution of an experienced individual, and the only feeble reason supporting the policy being the illogically derived factor of age, then the person who concieved the policy should be immediately sacked. The most important factor, for any organisation, is value provided & accrued, new blood or old blood. If a company can't recognise value, and make exceptions, it's a loser, and does not deserve value driven work force. Personally, I'd advise the "young blood" to inquire of such policies before joining, lest they be thrown out after investing valuable time in a company, limited by it's policy. "Should be allowed to continue" insinuates begging for mercy, and that too of a company devoid of intellect. (A bit harsh, eh?) There are exceptions though, I will never fly with an airline, where hostesses look like mom-in-law.

This is a good questions and i deem that its purely depends upon self esteem. I deem that the chances are forever for everyone and it doesnt depends upon age. Age doesnt matter and if we are not able to do we should quit and accept that we dont have capacity or energy to do it.

I appreciate  valuable comments from all very experienced person in the forum

and .

In my opinion  age matters but  only age is not the criteria to stop any body to work is not fair,, if the person has  interest and caliber  for particular work then their is no harm to let him / her work..

the combination of experience  and knowledge even after retirement stage can do transformation and good work indeed.

thanks for making me part of this debate

There is a generation of people out there who have been forced out of cmopanies due to cost factors to take in employees with newer   technology focus and jargon, but large responsibilities and formal education in management sciences.

However, with the seniors removed, knowledge of business cycles, relationship handling, people and team issues, negotiation techniques, costings, old accounts, relationship in other countries with very senior account managers / VPs / networks are also lost forever (obviously being on the HIT LIST, he is not giong to part his knowledge now). Also lost are how they managed recession cycles, bad   periods, currency fluctuations as NO MBA COLLEGE has knowledge to   prepare you for the  REAL WORLD.

Also lost are cultural and business etiquette learnings.

A young sales guy, whatever be his designation would probably be making appointment with secretaries to meet a top notch VP, on the other hand the senior guy may just walk into the target office after a call, share a coffee and exchange a multiple million deal and spend the rest of the day playing golf, meeting a couple of other seniors in a evening club, enjoy a few drinks and get some more deals.

I don't need to elaborate what can happen to a Hospital should they suddenly decide to knock out 10-15 senior experts out of the profession. 5-Star Hotels have big spends from senior citizens, who like seeing familiar faces, as these people know their preferences and "feel", which no central CRM software can store. Don't need to elaborate what can   happen if an annual visitor who   regularly takes a   particular expensive suite shifts to another Hotel the next year, as he could not see any familiar face, and the service was not personal.

US corporations had knocked out many seniors and outsourced IT to Indian companies, and then were forced to take on some back as consultants. These guys, in sheer revenge negotiated external consultant kind of arrangements with their old employer at three times their last salary rates :-).

So do cover these examples and check out your own organizations to see, it is not about Costs, it is also your company is suddenly losing 20 years of experience which is also a kind of intellectual property.

The affected parties here tare the Company and the person (and to a lesser extent the other candidates for that work). The company gets a person who is experienced, capable to put in work as others below his/her age and in most cases with lesser remuneration. The person gets more financial security and a chance to work without much worries as at this age usually one does not have any career aspirations. As for the other candidates who could have been considered for the same job, (a) there is a fair competetion which will keep them on their toes (b) they have a more experinced person to learn from.

To the 45 years of age any person man or woman is at the beginning of the call mature age. Only then, it starts to have the “necessary distance” for a more mature choice and thus the decisions that take, start to be wiser.

All the impetus of youth and the experiences of life, wants professional wants staff, starts to have “weight” importance in the decisions that if have that to take, from the middle-age.

It stops beyond the acquired knowledge, through the académicas qualifications, to the 45 years starts it to be able to conjugate west knowledge with the empiricist. This is a “capital” that we cannot ignore

The experience to confrot/to solve situations unexpected can, then, when allied to one be able of great creativity to get resulted unexpected and surprising creative

Well when broad mind and narrow waist exchange places, one should bid adieu!

Youth has always been energetic--But that does not make one experienced person useless.

Experienced people have always been path shower, Game changer---and youths have always followed the path--no doubt about that.

I have noticed these days youths have turned intollerant to experienced--Every where, starting from Cricket--to Business to Politics to Jobs--the youths have ganged up against experienced--this is wrong signal.

This is totaly objectionable and meaningless to say that "Young people should get chance, so experienced should make way"---This is rediculous--Why shall they?

Isn't this a competitive world? Are not the youngs competitive? Why shall the experienced people make way for youngs? Why youngs can't make a start on their own and has to depend on Experienced people to vacate the sit?

Don't keep any confusion: Teach yourself a tollerant lesson: STOP telling yourself you cant make ur way because of aged people: That's a bad excuse!!!

And if possible learn from aged people: That will pay off and don't ever underestimate aged people--remember they are experienced and experience counts ultimately.

I am too a part of youth--But still I believe when it comes to nation building, Business, Science and technology and many more--Experience counts

And when it is fighting for nation: Youth counts [Unfortunately youths are those who laugh at patriotism these days]

Cheers!!!

Well Vivek, which bet did I lose? This is only a debate and it is far from being over.

To support argument of madam devi,I have to narrate my own example,after my retirement rather at the time of my retirement,many of my subordinates,colleague,and superior  used to suggest

1.U don't look at the age of retirement,per your personality and health.

2. Why don't u get extenson by minimum of six months.

I AM STILL FIT TO WORK AS I AM WORKING FOR ANOTHER GOVT. ORGANISATION.

Yes and No!  Depends on factors like health, vigour, sustained memory and sharpness of brain and willingness to learn and adjust to younger generation's views and ideas and get along well with changing world.   

Yes; Becuase the experience gained through the long years will not suddently go

waste. As a MD/OWNER of a big company once said "Only fools retire" - 

Continuing to be active helps the seniors to retain normal capabilities for some more years instead of mentally falling into a sudden down curve that adversely affects the mind and health that quickens the aging process.

No; Becuase. the aging is a natural process that acts on different persons differently and at different age levels and hence cannot take a generalized view. For many the process aging cause fading of memory   which is a blessing as memories of many unhappy events in life will not taunt them much.  

Good that Ms. Kaladeen being a HR person has supported this idea; but I am doubtfull about many HR guys agreeing  to this view.

To justify Devi's argument I can just give my example,retired from a govt. service attaining the age of 60 yrs, and working inthe class one post fore rhan half of the sevice period,working as engineer and management head ,forced to leave after attaining the retirement age,many people still know that I am still working and many mobile calls are recieved by me,many meeting me say that u doesn't looks retired and u can work even 5-7 years more.

Another deptt. of state govt. has offered me work as state quality monitor and I am working as used to work.

There are always pros and cons, i would say elder people continue only if they have capability, willingness to learn, adapt quickly, motivating younger generation and fresh ideas. We cant completely discard them because their experience, maturity and exposure will add so much value to your organization. At the same the time they have to give opportunity to the younger generation as well, they could act as mentor, advisers . The secret of success to any organizations is right mix of young and old people

Thanks,

Karthick

Yes he/she should be allowed as the experience of the person will help the orgnisation grow. New generation will switch their loyalty with increase in compansation package, where as the pensionable person will remain as he has already achieved the financial and personnel levels.

As I said, survival of the fittest - If the young blood is able to produce business value, then they will automatically find a place for themselves.

Best example is Sachin Tendulkar the famous cricketer from India, is still included in the team not because of his blue eyes, but because of his continued performance, though there is enough young blood that is available but not able to eclipse him.

Same thing was with Sunil Gavaskar also, when he was playing and playing and playing!

Yes, I completely agree with what Devi and Raghu said.

In my view, age really doesn't matter till the time a person feels that he/she is equally competitive and motivated enough to emit results thereby contributing to the society and to him/herself as well. In my view, there must not be any such option called retirement in working world. Everybody has a right and privilege to work as per his/her requirements and earn a decent living and honor one's commitments.

If we have a look at the working pattern abroad, we'll see that there is nothing as a forced retirement as it depends entirely upon a person's will to continue further or just to take a rest from the corporate world. Still those people never sit idle. They don't take their age as a consideration for not doing what they are supposed to do.

I think this is the reason why those people are ahead of us in terms of understanding, behavioral, and moral aspects and effective utilization of resources.

I agree, and there are precedents for this. Delhi Metro Chief Dr. E. Sreedharan was recalled to work after having attained superannuation. Improvements in health which have raised the average life expectancy age make this possible. After the awards of the 6th pay commission, this might even come as a breather for the Union and State governments who are cash strapped. However, this will adversely affect job opportunities for the young people. Therefore caution is advised.

Yes, its always the survival of the fittest. So if a person is fit enough and producing results he or she has all the rights to continue making contribution to the society or make a living for self.

Why there is no retirement age for those who are on their own? They retire as and when they feel. Some of them continue to be active till late 80s also?