Businessman views retirement age limit

President Mahinda Rajapakse recently announced that the retirement age for public servants may be raised from 55 to 63 years. According to Pensions Director, K A Thilakaratne, the government has taken into consideration the fact that life expectancy rate has also increased over the years and some of the countries had now increased their retirement age to 65.

Not so long ago, this same publication carried these hopeful thoughts of Fayaz Saleem, a veteran in the head hunting business and CEO of Executive Search and Aims.

“Sri Lanka is facing an ageing population: a population that is still very much work-worthy and a few more good years to cash in on. Whilst the West has set retirement at 65 years, Sri Lanka’s regulation retirement age is set at the ‘considerably young age of 55 years’, thus, creating an inopportune problem for those who have no choice but to retire and yet have a portfolio of experience that is worthy of a successful company.”

Saleem has always championed this decision saying that 55 is too young an age to retire because ‘people at that age have far too much to offer’.

“This generation shows a strong demand for working beyond retirement for financial reasons as much as them wanting to use their skills and experience,” he says. He also added that it is ‘not that the younger employees need to be sidelined rather they are much in demand and organisations need to periodically blood their organisations with fresh blood to introduce new thinking, innovation, and flexibility’.

With 29 years in the business of head hunting, Saleem says that he receives many enquiries from recognised senior managers with academic and professional qualifications who are on the verge of retiring. “I have prepared a data base of this talented generation classifying them into different areas of expertise and I am confident that they will play an important part in any organization.”

According to him, it is now the prerogative of the private sector to interview and absorb them to the job market.

He asserts that hiring highly skilled retirees in all fields with special skills on contract basis by using innovative mentoring and related programmes will help retain tacit knowledge possessed by this generation.

The older professional with the aptitude and training for mentoring could see it as a way to remain in the industry for another few more years.