BY O.C. Madu
According to Ekoja, Christ and Tor-Anyin (2005), human behaviour is determined by each given situation. The situational behaviour usually determines the individual’s social interaction due to the psychological mechanisms or the thinking about the event. The aggregate of the psychological effect on ones social life constitutes what is psychosocial effect of a given event.
Leaving a job where one has already accustomed himself to the people and work routine can alter one’s behaviour direction in life. The effect of psychosocial such as denial, anger, anxiety disorder, depression and substance abuse retirees should not be overestimated.
Ekoja et al (2005) defined retirement as the first life step that concisely defines a person as old and is the withdrawal from custom and any activity in business, industry or service. This definition identifies age as the major cause of retirement. Though, age is relevant because it is set in many occupations, it is not the sole factor.
Atchey (1997) defined it as a process involving the separation of an individual from a job role, a role performed for pay and acquisition of the role of the retired person. To Honsby (1999) retirement is withdrawal from office or an artificial position to give up ones business or occupation in order to enjoy more leisure or freedom especially, having made a competence of earned a pension.
To Akinde (1993), retirement is the termination of pattern of life and a transition to a new one. It always involves radical changes in interests, values, association, work and social aspect. It is the final withdrawal from active and regimented mode of occupation due to social and economic pressure.
In essence, retirement is withdrawal from employment or profession due to social economic, physical and political reasons to a new task that is less tasking but increases ones prestige and leisure.
Types of retirement-Ekoja et al (2005) classifies retirement into early, mandatory on time, later or partial. Akinde (1993) classified it into voluntary, mandatory and compulsory Ad a close look however one will know that early retirement rhymes with the voluntary, while mandatory or on time rhymes with the mandatory as the later or partial is similar to the compulsory.
Voluntary/early retirement – It means retirement caused by the individual or employer. The reasons for the early or voluntary retirement include pressure from family members friends or communities or self. The cause of the pressure is more appealing than the job or role to be retired from. Poor motivation can also, cause voluntary retirement. Any retirement based on the employers’ decision is voluntary and early.
Voluntary or early retirement means, the employer may still get back since she/he is still energetic and so can be very useful to himself or herself.
Compulsory retirement or late retirement- It simply means forced withdrawal of an employee from service of an organization by the employer. It gives no room for preparation, apart from, the employee’s long service.
Reasons for compulsory retirement include old age and dwindling performance, inadequacy to poor entry qualification, availability of qualified young energetic youths, reorganization or an enterprise economic recess or crisis, poor work records and employers deliberate decision. A worker’s doubted loyalty, rudeness in subordination, gross indiscipline can cause compulsory retirement.
Other factors include employer’s health, physical inability, retardation, lack of prerequisite qualification or criminal record can cause compulsory retirement of employers. Among the military in Nigeria, appointment of junior officers to sensitive positions result to compulsory retirement of all their seniors in a nutshell.
Compulsory retirement is usually unprepared for and so, is sudden and devastating. To Ekoja at al, some have died as a result of being retire. They observed that individuals who retire involuntarily are more unhealthy and depressed and poorly adjusted than those who retire voluntarily
Mandatory retirement – This is the retirement where conditions, particularly, age, for retirement set at entry are fulfilled. Ekoja et al opined that the USA has since 1986 ban mandatory retirement based on age except in jobs involving safety like police force, piloting and fire fighting. Though, it seems that mandatory can be planned for since the years are spell out.
Whichever retirement, voluntary or early, compulsory or the mandatory or time/partial, compulsory or the mandatory or time/partial. Nigerian workers seem not to be prepared for any this maybe because of poor saving culture.
Nigerians’ reactions to retirement according to Ekoja et al are that of shock, disbelief, anger, bargaining and depression as well as acceptance.
The problem-As the civil service is expanding, many are equally leaving it voluntarily compulsorily and mandatory. Those that retire compulsory could be a burden to their families as their aims of reaching the highest point in the career is stopped abruptly.
Those that retire mandatory are usually unaware that their retirement years have come because most see nothing behind to write home about. It is therefore, the intention of this write –up to advocate for pre-retirement counsellng to help retirees live successfully private lives.
Implication for pre-retirement counselling – Pre-retirement counseling as the name connotes is the counselling services made available to an employee to get him/her acquainted with the requirements or needs when he retires.
The pre-retirement counselling will prepare the employee, so that, he can adequately face retirement, be it compulsory, mandatory or voluntary. It also, aimed at helping one to plan for his retirement right. It is also, the provision of comprehensive guidance and information concerning the social, emotional, financial and other aspects of retirement (Ekoja et al, 2005).
Pre retirement counselling therefore, prepares employees to choose an alternative vocation to remove burden. The pre-retirement counselling is to help potential retirees to develop leisure activities, hobbies or vocation interest.
It is to equip the retirees with shock absorbers. Work life provides not only money but regulates life activities, sense of identity numbers, self concepts among other things.
Pre-retirement counselling strategies- For effective pre-retirement counseling, the strategies include pre-retirement talks, either in groups or individually. Pre-retirement is not confined to finance but also, concerns adequate use of leisure time, work, social interaction and mental alertness or mind activeness. As long as one is expected to be functional in the society, pre-retirement counselling is to adequately provide one with counselling services before, he retires.
Pre-retirement counselling therefore, aimed at addressing the fears and helping retirees to quickly adjust and face the realities.
