Gray ceiling: Few people can afford to age

THE primary difference between young and old workers is that the senior guys would always want to review the fine print in their medical care and insurance policies. Not the young ones whose interest is the warranty policy of their Nokia E71.

But somewhere during an end game, an old worker who refused to die, be incapacitated or retire from employment would silently incur the ire of the younger workforce. With old workers delaying their retirement for reasons known only to their top management, frustrated young workers begin to blame the “gray ceiling” as the ultimate reason for their lack of career advancement. Or is it?

The other side of the coin tells us that the young workers can’t have it yet because they still lack the skills needed to perform the job. To which they will argue by saying that they are not given the opportunity to shine, if not blame the gray workers for refusing to mentor them.

This leads to a succession problem similar in intensity to a Mount Pinatubo eruption. That’s why every now and then I’d like to suggest some surefire solutions by which this issue can be resolved.

Before I tell you about the answers, I’d like to alert you that these will require you as readers to continue reading this column in the years to come so that you can piece the details and get the best maximum result in the long term. It’s better that way than earn hundreds of thousands of pesos without doing any honest work.

One obvious solution is to put up a no-nonsense retirement plan that defines the age for optional and compulsory retirement. Without it, the workers may not be motivated to stay long in the company, unless of course, it is management intention to do accordion hiring and rely much on contractual employment.

But even without a company retirement plan, private organizations are governed by Article 282 of the Labor Code as amended by Republic Act 7641, which allows optional retirement at age 60, while compulsory is at age 65.

If this is clear to all concerned, then there’s no reason why top management should not be able to come up with contingency measures to ensure leadership stability in the organization.

This also necessitates a succession plan where successors are identified, developed, and nurtured for any eventuality. This requires a regular plan review to ensure that it is current and the prospective successors are properly mentored by their seniors through a systematic performance appraisal system.

The trouble is that there are some people and organizations out there that appear to be taking their own sweet time about becoming confident in strategic management. This is not an area where many organizations are strong.

Our recent flash telephone survey showed that about 62 percent of 300 Filipino managers cannot understand what strategic management is all about. The same poll revealed that 21 percent cannot spell the word “strategic,” while 18 percent cannot even tell for sure if they are part of management or what.

And 13 percent believe that retirement is a kind of fish found in Lake Buhi. So we can see that we have a tough educational challenge here, in the sense that about 39 percent of these managers have the IQ of an earthworm.

I mean, let’s face it. Some of our managers in the private sector score lower on standardized tests than any other vertebrate low-life form in the government service. If that’s the case, then the solution is for them to go back to kindergarten where they can do the least damage.

Rey Elbo is business consultant on human resources and total quality management. –REYLITO A.H. ELBO, Manila Times