Mr. Pat Mellon:

As the Deputy said, he does not like the word "retirement". How do people accept the words "old age pensioners"? For our organisation it is a senior citizen. There is also a logic to having an age-friendly workplace. When someone steps off the ladder, someone else usually steps on. We hear of onboarding new methods and people.

One of the simplest ways would be if employers could be encouraged, where if a person wants to step back to four or three days working, to link those three or four days to that person passing on their experience to the new people coming on. We hear so much about the loss of corporate memory. In places, the loss of corporate memory is mandatory whereas that corporate memory does not disappear. It is available and these are the kinds of workplaces we would like to see where if somebody decides that they have reached a certain age, that they would then not mind having an extra day or two for themselves.

Maybe their partner is elderly or such, but they want to keep their hand in the workplace. The ideal thing is for them to be there and to bring on the new people to have a seamless handover. If a senior citizen or someone of a certain age is passing on his or her experience, it is a great boost of confidence to both parties and a great recognition of both parties.