AGED WORKFORCE IN FINLAND – IS IT BURDEN OR VALUABLE ASSET ?

A SHORT PERSONAL BURST ON DISTORTED EMPLOYEE POLICY

“In good times they are sought after, only to be sacked when times are hard.” – unknown thinker

This is the story of me and many, many likes of me…

I am

• Male•Citizen of

Finland•Master of

Science (Engin.)• Senior advisor

and consultan

t (part time

jobber)• Healthy

and fit• Curious• Person

with a sense of humour• A bit ironic every

now and then

I have long working history as ICT supervisor and executive, in COO, CPO and

CIO roles.

I have always been working hard, nothing wrong with my attitude…

My track record and recommendations are fine…

My knowledge and skills are just about up to date…

…and I am willing to work with full steam many years to come…

…For being such a perfect employee…

…I have just one serious shortcoming in employers’ opinion;

I am 59 years old...

..and there’s lot of us who wish to work but just can’t , because employers think we are out of date…

Now that we have all the time in the world and our productivity is better than ever and we are not counting hours…

But we are told that our knowledge and experience means nothing…

.. Compared to our high salary or that we may be sick a lot due to old age…

… as if when you are 60 these days, you are ready for graveyard…

…or at least should start to plan retirement immediately…

But on the other hand: ”Raise the retirement age” say the employers

Very strange or at least contradictory…

Employers should avoid such short sightedness and realize the value of motivated older workers for good

business reasons… The recession doesn’t last for ever, recovery will be faster with knowing older employees…

I should also like to note, that I don’t endorse the discrimination of young workers at the cost of older workers. To my mind, a good job criteria are

capability and motivation rather than age.

This story is fictional and doesn’t depict any actual employer, trend or phenomenon – or DOES IT?

…and what about me? Well, I am definitely an asset rather than burden on the employer because …

… I know worth 30 years about leadership, management, mentoring…

… of related areas of competence …

There’s a lot that I don’t know, but it’s not a problem, because…

… I can and WILL learn new tricks…

Any comments? You’ll find me on Twitter: vesku8@twitter.com

I hereby apologize for any possible violation of image copyright rules. They are unintentional infringements. These images can mainly be

found on Wikimedia Commons.