Extending retirement age to sixty

By Dinesh Weerakkody

(Continued from yesterday)

The pandemic should have by now encouraged the provision of flexible work hours for older workers. Therefore company structures need to evolve so that younger workers can get promotions while retaining older skilled employees.We cannot afford to have young people without jobs.  Extra income is also crucial to deal with healthcare, transport, living quarters and other essentials that become ever more expensive as people age. The proposal to increase the age to 60 must enable employers to retain the most productive employees until 60. But must also allow others to leave the employment early and withdraw funds once they reach the ages of female 50 and male at 55. It does not make business sense to keep unproductive employees until 60. 

The new opportunities should be extended to young employees given the technology trends. Therefore it is good to have the flexibility with provisions to any female/male employee to retire once they reach 50/55 and also to get extended up to five years for productive employees to work till 60 and enjoy higher retirement benefits.

Increases in retirement age is a response to higher life expectancy. According to World Bank estimates, by 2030, one in every five Sri Lankans will be over the age of 60. In 2012, 13.2 million of the population were 15 to 59 years old. Of these, 7.6 million were economically active. But international research indicates that living longer does not necessarily mean more time spent in good health – and many findings also suggest that many people will find it challenging to work until the new retirement age. In several countries there are many flexible mutually agreed arrangements for both public and private sector employees to work well beyond their retirement age based on their health and wellbeing, a practice which allows many experienced and skilled individuals to contribute more to their companies and country. There are many good examples in Sri Lanka also we can adopt that provides flexibility both to the employee and employer over their talent management practices.