Continunity between work and retirement - Essay Example

Continuity between work and retirement Continuity between work and retirement For most people, work provides more than a paycheck as it also enable social engagement, provides a sense of contribution as well as offering a respite from the ever disturbing domestic troubles. As a result of this, most people feel scared when the life transition moments come, from employment life to retirement. But this is not usually the case, the fact that you retire from employment does not mean the end of your useful life.

Retirement should be a self-fulfilling prophecy, where one does not necessarily become passive but incredibly active by engaging in activities to stay sharp, to move and to stay productive. Just like there is work ethic, there is also busy ethic for the retirees that requires an active life (David Ekerdt, 1986)As can be deduced from Ekerdt (1986), a good retirement ideally entails being involved in productive activities just like during ones employment years. This gives meaning to the retirees by helping them to approach leisure in an organized manner as if they were still in their formal employment.

The retirees should have activity plan for the days lying ahead of them such as engaging in volunteer work, socializing and pursuing some other leisure activities. With such kind of organization, disruption and distress is highly reduced leading to a good retirement life. A good retirement should be morally managed and legitimated on a daily basis by ethic so as to ensure leisure that is earnest, occupied and filled with activities (Ekerdt,1986:239)Planning future activities for the retirees makes up a good retirement to them as this ensures continuity with activities in which they gain both a sense of involvement and the feeling of accomplishment just like the one provided by employment.

Such kind of activities includes activities such participation in chatting and arts, which usually wraps up their day. The retirees value doing something that makes sense to them and also to others, also referred to as mattering, where the sense of relevance and value that comes from one’s life makes a difference to others. Also doing it with others (membership), providing connection to others and bringing that sense of belonging which enables one to refer to “us” as opposed to “them”.

All these relates to a good retirement.The society currently does not really give the best as far as good retirement is concerned. In most cases, the retired and elderly are taken to the elderly centers where they stay as they wait for their final day on this ever busy world. This typically shows that within the society, less has been done to enable the retirees see no big change in terms of the transition from employment life to the retirement life.More often, retirees are left to cling on the gray hope on their retirement benefits and packages, which at times takes time to materialize, given the bureaucracies involved in respective bodies charged with the mandate to ensure the retirement benefits gets to the intended beneficiaries promptly, to avoid the distress that may be caused due to changes in the social status or class.

In some of the communities, the elderly, who were oblivious of the social security fund, are deemed as a burden to the current work force, as they entirely depend on them .On the other hand some old workers face some risks in terms of their pension as some of the pensions are designed to give extra weight to one’s final years of work. If the plan is frozen or terminated while one is in his midcareer, they typically lose the significant boost that could have earned the greater benefits in their 60s.

This gives the warning to the forthcoming retirees not to solely depend on the social institutions’ pension schemes, but to also save during their prime time for the gray periods.ReferencesEkerdt, David J (1986).The Busy Ethic: Moral Continuity between Work and Retirement.