It is a mutually beneficial situation. Another solution is already up and running at IBM in Belgium. IBM needed to cut lower labor costs and they concentrated on offering an early retirement package to the 55-60 year olds. What they did next was to set up another company called Skill Team and offered a job to any of the former IBM employees affected by the forced retirement. The rewards to the employee at Skill Team are working 58% of the time they worked before for 88% of the last salary received at IBM. Skill Team offers its services to IBM allowing IBM to maintain a fair percentage of its "think pool" while the former big blue employees can ease their way into retirement. A third example is corporations inviting the retired executives to sit on the boards of their companies and subsidiaries. John Castle, chairman of the leveraged-buyout firm Castle Harlen Inc, exercises this philosophy. He taps into the resource of the retired executives by asking them to serve on the boards of the companies his firm takes over. This arrangement is perfect for all involved. The retiree is looking at a short-term commitment because Castle Harlen usually sells off the companies it acquires in less than seven years and Castle Harlen has the services of a qualified director without the worries of what the director will do when they sell off or dissolve the company. These are a few examples of the creative approach some of today's companies are taking to cope with the economic obstacles caused by an aging workforce.The companies of today are aware of the constantly growing problem and are working towards a solution. I think that they are moving in the right direction. Offering flexibility in what was once a very rigid structured hierarchy is certainly a step in the right direction. People in today's world lead very different lives than they did 4o years ago. A rewarding profession is not exclusively defined by the income generated anymo...
