Not
enough work is being done on the state of mind of a retiree though some
statistics in the developed world suggest that not more than 15% of the
retirees are aware or have planned for life after retirement. For the balance,
this new state of life hits them on the first day after retirement. Employers
must play a role in assisting their employees cross over to the “other side” of
their working life into a long, health and happy retirement.
I have covered the
matter of Management of time post retirement is a process of adjustment,
Financial and Asset Management and Skilling Post Retirement in part 1 of this
series titled What Support can Employers give to their Retirees?
Organisations
spend millions of dollars training their new entrants and retraining their
junior and middle management. These training dollars are spent to increase the
“bottom line” of the company to increase “returns” to the shareholders. Some of
this money can very easily be set aside for preparing and possibly re-skilling
employees who have given their life to the organisation.
While
the Government and public sector employees and those in a very few private
sector companies have a retirement plan in place most retirees do not have
access to retirement benefits. Financial and Health related issues are the two
most important challenges that retirees have to address. Preparation for
retirement should start in the last three years before the date of retirement.
The planning must be led by the Human Resources department with the support of
the senior leadership.
So
what can organisations do help and support retirees to prepare for life after
retirement?
Health
Health
is always a serious worry for most retirees even if they have enough money. Given
the very significant increase in healthcare costs, most retirees wonder whether
they have set aside sufficient funds for medical emergencies. This worry gets
exacerbated if they retirees not have access to health coverage provided by
employers as is done for Government and Public Sector employees.
Employers
can play a very major role to assuage these health related fears. Every
employee would have gone through a comprehensive pre-employment medical check
up to ensure that he will be able to contribute effectively during his
employment life with the company. Would it be too unfair to expect the employer
to pay for a comprehensive pre-retirement health check for the retiree and the
spouse so that they can prepare for their retired life?
Several
health insurance policies are now available at reasonable costs but most
individuals do not know when to take this coverage or what coverage they should
take for themselves and their spouses.
The
human resources departments of various employers should counsel retirees to
take health cover early enough. If this is done in time, the premium is
affordable and risk cover is taken at a time when the employee does not have
serious or chronic illnesses. Getting health insurance while working is
definitely simpler and more advisable than trying to get it post retirement.
Counselling
Employers,
therefore, need to sit back and think about the huge challenges their employees
are confronted with as they start to grapple with this “new normal” called
superannuation or retirement. Most employees reaching this new stage of nirvana
in their lives don’t know how to tackle this. They have no idea about what is
next. And most importantly, they do not know that there is no reason to be
worried or scared of the next three decades of their lives.
Retirees,
who can see their retirement ahead of them, are also worried about spending
their time at home, closed within the four walls of their home with their
spouses. They need to be counselled on how they should handle this new
relationship with their spouse of over three decades and the process of adjustment
they have to go through is probably no different from what they went through as
a newly married couple. Some retirees who still have children living at home
will need to understand how these next generation folks will react to one of
the two “bread winners” spending so much time at home.
Retirees
must need to be educated in a formal environment to assure them that there is a
life post retirement and it is well beyond simply turning to Almighty God and
praying all day, waiting for the inevitable.
Since
most retirees have worked long hours and stayed away from their family as they
built their careers, the impact of retirement is felt very strongly by the
spouse. The thought of seeing the husband at home, 24 hours a day, can be
intimidating from the perspective of personal freedom and interference in
day-to-day household affairs. On the other hand, the spouse also needs to
understand the huge changes her spouse will experience once he stops working.
The
public sector company I spoke about in Part 1 of this article, had been forward
looking and had invited all spouses to the discussion on Retirement. This was
to help them to understand the challenges their husbands would face post
retirement and also to assist them with in handling the “24 hour companionship”
that all of us sign up to when we get married but face it only when we stop
working!
Finally,
spouses need to understand the family finances, health insurance and other
company benefits (if any) and they need to be educated in this area. A simple
finance 101, supported by the employer would go a long way to support them,
Employers
can and should play a major role in helping their retirees to address their
challenges and help them to evolve and implement a robust financial wellness
program. Of course, it’s incumbent on retirees to do their fair share in
planning for their own retirement.
We
have a serious challenge in India regarding preparedness for retirement. The
transition from a working life to retired life is difficult and the employers
must assist their loyal retirees to prepare for this new phase of life. As
India gets older, despite being the youngest nation in the World, we will have
to start talking about and preparing for retirement and not leave it as a topic
for discussion “when the inevitable happens”.
*******************
The author is the founder Chairman of
Guardian Pharmacies and the author of 5 best-selling books, Reboot. Reinvent.
Rewire: Managing Retirement in the 21st Century; The Corner Office; An Eye for
an Eye; The Buck Stops Here - Learnings of a #Startup Entrepreneur and The Buck
Stops Here – My Journey from a Manager to an Entrepreneur.
Twitter: @gargashutosh
Instagram: ashutoshgarg56
Blog: ashutoshgargin.wordpress.com |
ashutoshgarg56.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment