India is one of the fastest growing economy with large number of Free Essay Example

India is one of the fastest growing economy with large number of population aged more than 60 years and has tripled in last 50 years and going to increase in the upcoming years. The elderly people are considered to be the end product of the demographic transition or achievement and they have less scope in the society to contribute. Therefore to maintain healthy and active ageing population is important in modern society. Pre-retirement activities or preparations allow workers retiring to obtain skills and information for activities, healthy and quality ageing and old age.

Preretirement activities at individual level contribute to the increase in healthy years of life. Those who know about the problem faced by elderly people are aware that older workers are not properly taken care off in India. They are supporting the proposal of a gradual system introduction prior to retirement activities. They believe that it is positive to impart preretirement trainings to cope in better way with the problems after retirement.

They emphasized that special attention should be paid to the accessibility and availability of those activities for all and to meet the criteria of equality and equity. In addition to this, caregiver believes that a connection to other, more general activities is also necessary, promising synergy effects:

· To strengthen the knowledge of young people about old age and ageing to encourage intergenerational cooperation and bridge the gap between the generations

· To adequately regulate the area of mini jobs and thus the work of young and elderly people, so that those who are able will be able to continue some or other form of work

· To involve the elderly in voluntary work, give responsibilities, take advice etc.

There are three theories evolve with regard to retirement, those are : activity theory, which requires active ageing; continuity theory, which draws attention to the human need to maintain continuity of the life flow and disengagement theory, which includes also gradual retirement. In a modern society, retirement is a social successor of work. Disengagement from employment is accompanied by changes in social relations that is with friends and the family which occur after the period of paid professional activity.

According to the definition, Pre-retirement activities are those through which people acquire the skills and knowledge to design and plan for the later stage of life that is after retirement. The purpose of pre-retirement activities is to teach the senior people about how to lead successful life and to enable them active ageing, there by representing potential of the society and contribute to it also after retirement. There is no specified legislation about the Pre-retirement activities and are therefore not carried out systematically for the whole population of people who are on the cusp of retirement both from organised and unorganised section of the society. But there are various non-governmental organisations, organized at the local level such as trainings, intended for the transition to retirement.

A corporate having the pool of people of different age ranging from 21-60 years. One third of them are going to retire from the work this year or the consequent years. As these people have dedicated their life for the organization for more than 30 years, the human resource department has decided to arrange a pre-retirement training program for these elderly people to cope with issues after retirement and to live healthy life.

It is IT sectors company so the all the workers here are graduate or postgraduate including males and females. The employees participated in pre-retirement program have completed 30 years of their life in the organization working for 9 hours a day. The most common physical and psychological needs are to enjoy themselves, such as to see movies, travel, to devote time to spouse, children or grandchildren, to get involved with personal hobbies and interests, such as reading or writing or study.

Pre-retirement activities are not a complete answer to the demographic challenges and cannot fully improve active ageing and push elderly people to live healthy, happy life but it is a ways of learning skills that facilitates complex policies and programs and make them effective and accessible for people who are faced with ageing. Pre-retirement seminar is one of the most common forms of pre-retirement activities.

The purpose of the pre-retirement seminars help to handle the transition at the time of retirement that takes place without much regret and stress and provides a better life in retirement. With pre-retirement activities it is possible to prepare every elderly with:

· Making elderly people more conscious of their own strengths and competencies and continuously develop and use them as long as possible.

· Be better prepared to find his/her goals and ways, both in the last part of their professional career on the job and in the years beyond. That is what more they want to achieve, to do, what are the things on their bucket list.

· Be able to see beyond traditional images and stereotypes on ageing and retirement and not to let their new life be predicted by outdated prejudices.

· Be able to create his/her own tailor-made way to a meaningful and fulfilling life in the third age

Pre-retirement seminars prepare people for a change after retirement, and this preparation for such a change influences on how well they will live in the future. These seminars are not a complete answer to the demographic challenges of an ageing society. But these counselling and training related to the identity and interpersonal relationships, a healthy and active lifestyle, money and property management, planning of leisure time and the future, etc. are an inspiration to older people to realize their potential for physical, social and mental well-being during the whole life and to actively contribute to the society in which they live.

Better quality of life in active ageing

Active Ageing is, in the definition of the W.H.O., ‘the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age’. Active ageing allows people to realize their potential for physical, social, and mental well-being throughout the course of life and to participate in society. Active ageing aims at to extend healthy life expectancy and quality of life for all people as they age.

The content of a pre-retirement training

The overall purpose of a course for people around 60 years old – considering the transition from the early career into the senior career – is to assist and guide the participants to find their very own answers on the following questions:

· Who am I – now?

· What do I want?

· How do I get there?

· How do I sustain it – and give back?

Depending on individual differences among seniors and differences in national conditions – some seniors decide to stay longer in the job, others quit the job and use their bonus hours in personal and family activities, while many join volunteer organisations and so on. But all – or almost all seniors – are eagerly searching to find meaning, purpose and passion in the senior career

· Kick out your old stereotypes on retirement. It’s difficult for many seniors to find their own senior career, before they have kicked out traditional images of retirement. A good start is to identify and discuss such old-fashioned images – breaking down mental barriers before planning your own way.

· Identify your core competencies. The best milestone on the way to your senior career is to identify examples of ‘what you did when you were best’ from your whole life. As a senior you now know who you have become, and what you want and that you can do it. Then go for it – and find out how to get there.

· Purpose and passion with or without a pay-check that is your hobbies and interest. Find a passion and you will never retire from that sounds more easy than it is. During the final exercises it’s important to emphasize, that at this moment of history it is mostly a DIY (doing-it-yourself) job for the new generations of seniors to find their new ways to meaning and Pre-Retirement Counselling purpose – whether in paid or unpaid activities – where you can find a purpose and meaning more significant than yourself.