Close to 90 per cent of the organisations plan to engage their retiring workforce, revealed a TimesJobs.com study. Nearly 45 per cent of these organisations plan to offer them mentorship roles, 30 per cent are planning to employee them as consultants and 15 per cent are offering part-time/contractual jobs to this segment.
Retired but not tired
Randy Pausch in his book “The Last Lecture” said “Experience is the most important thing that anyone has to offer”, quotes Samit Jain, director, Pluss Polymers. He adds, “The retiring work force brings to the table a lot of wisdom which simply comes from experience. They can be great trainers and can mentor the younger generation to leap frog into higher roles, much earlier and with ease.”
“According to TimesJobs.com RecruiteX report, 35 per cent of the workforce is due to retire in the next 5–10 years in the Petrochemicals industry. There are others sectors also who will be witnessing this scenario. With talent shortage being one of the biggest concerns looming over India Inc, it is indeed a bright idea to engage the retiring workforce, since they are skilled and experienced.” explains Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com
Not a threat to fresh talent
With the government sector increasing the retirement age and India Inc, too, focusing on engaging its ageing and retiring workforce, would there be lesser jobs for young talent? Experts say no. Engaging the retiring workforce doesn’t imply that there will be no fresh hiring. Companies look at people from both ends of the spectrum as they bring different capabilities to the table, believe experts.
According to Jain, “To not hire freshers, because there is re-engagement possible from the retiring generation, would mean that a company is giving up its responsibility to train the new generation and create more managers and leaders. An organisation will be tempted to reduce hiring; but that is not the recommended path to follow. The younger generation brings with them fresh and new ideas and is better able to connect with the vast young population.”
A smart move
Every industry is struggling to plug the skills gap, retirees who possess the requisite skill sets alongwith the desired experience levels are a preferred resource. Jain adds, “Experienced individuals will be used by smart organisations to create a training wave. They will set up skill development centres within their organisations to create their own talent pipeline. The country today has a burgeoning population of unemployable youth. Smart organisations will convert them into an asset by training them in-house.”
About TimesJobs
TimesJobs is India’s leading job portal that addresses diverse career needs of Top Professionals through rich content, webinars, personalized career services, etc. hosted on its various Properties such as JobBuzz, TECHGIG, and StepAhead.
TimesJobs.com is positioning itself as a Knowledge Resource and go-to-site for insights, information, analysis and opinions on the recruitment market. As part of our endeavor we have launched RecruiteX and TJ insite – two Knowledge sub-brands – RecruiteX is the Index (and analysis) for demand and supply of manpower and TJinsite is the Research based knowledge.
TimesJobs.com serves a corporate customer base of more than 25,000 clients from across the globe. It has been serving clients like HCL, IBM, Yamaha, Godrej, HSBC, Mahindra, Bajaj Allianz, TCS, Thomson Reuters to name a few.
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