Voluntary Superannuation


I know of some who have taken voluntary superannuation even at any early stage in their life. The one I know of is my distant brother in law who worked in Railways and took voluntary retirement at the age of 55 years. That must have been late 1990s. He is now more than 65 years; relatively healthy. He told me that he took voluntary retirement as he was not happy with the working environment and was also not that well. Similarly, I have also seen one of my colleagues taking voluntary superannuation in our organization. He is quite healthy. The reasons of retirement are personal. Yet, one hears of allegations of maltreatment meted out to him during service. There are many more cases that I know of. Officially, reasons of voluntary retirement are often personal; not well healthwise; unofficially, these are the products of work environment which affected their health. Some of these people are quite sensitive. One of them mentioned harassment from seniors, and most likely from the reporting officer. Some mention that of colleagues who are at odds. Sometimes, it is terms and place of employment. The organization is located in the juridiction of some other organization who are at odds with one another. The bosses feel that such arrangement is meant to promote networking, collaboration, cooperation, etc. etc. Yet, because the arrangement has been for so many years, that it must continue for the sake of continuity. No regard to the opinion of the affected people. No botheration of changes that have occurred over the years. The nature of duties continues to the same despite the advancement in age, rank and seniority. It may also be incumbancy that sets in adverse work conditions. It is not juniors who take voluntary retirement. It is also seniors, people occupying administrative positions. One of them mentioned the simple reason that he is not going to get much benefit post-retirement even if he serves until last date. Another mentions of head-ache from headship. Obviously, these people are the ones who do not cling to the position to benefit from it personally. The number of these people are of course small. The organization can and will defend itself by saying that they constitute negligible percentage of their human resources. Yet, there is lingering perception that something is missing each time, some one opts for voluntary superannuation. Who would care to know that ? or the employers would continue to pride in what we are and what we plan for ?

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