Fahd bin Jileid Al-Jazirah newspaper It is customary in the job advertisements in our country to read: A young Saudi required. Young here means a new university graduate who is under 26 years of age. My question here is: Have you ever seen an ad saying an experienced Saudi man or woman required? Old men and women usually have accumulated experience. They are, however, neglected not in our country alone but in the entire Arab region. My second question is: Are the people in the West ignorant of our unique method of management? They fail to copy our system of modern administration. Unlike us they are retaining old people after retirement to benefit from their accumulated experience. Many old people in the West still continue to work for their own establishment after retirement or are rotated to another company. A British friend of mine who is running a company in a GCC country, said about 10 percent of their job offers were for old and experienced people from the country itself. He also said his parent company in Britain is combining young abilities with old minds to benefit from their expertise. No doubt that employers in the West will not tamper with their job offers. They are not willing to risk their gains. So when they employ old people they do not fear incurring any financial losses but are rather looking to make more profits. The Western companies employ the retirees at fat salaries because they will not have fringe benefits or after-service emoluments. In our country the matter is exactly the opposite. Our companies and establishments do not retain their old employees. The first thing most of the managers do is to get rid of the pioneers or the old employees who have spent long years in the company. The managers look to build their companies on the shoulders of new generation without any consideration for the old people with immense experience. Our managers are looking for personal glory against general interest. This is not good. Instead of putting them on retirement, old employees could be retained as consultants or guides. I am all for the employment of young Saudi men and women in our private companies and establishments but what about benefiting from the people with accumulated experiences?
