Commercial organisations are rude, materialistic and selfish in Pakistan, for they force their seasoned employees into the realm of unpredictability and hardness without realising the fact that their last few years in service happen to be the most difficult and sensitive time.
During this phase, they pass the most difficult time of their lives not knowing what they might end up doing once the axe falls on their heads. They carry a heavy burden of responsibilities, but the cruel corporate world is not willing to adjust them merely because they happen to be aged 50 years.
The current challenges are made tougher by the bleakness of future prospects. Lives are ruined as uncertainty itself makes people fall prey to physical and psychological ailments. On the domestic front, their lives become miserable, and all these factors accelerate the inevitable journey towards final abode.
Private commercial organisations prefer to have the young on board so that they may suck fresh blood. The so-called ‘golden handshakes’, or voluntary separation schemes, are nothing but death warrants delivered with a wrapping of the transitory glow of money.
The employees of commercial organisations should never accept such offers and must continue their jobs till the age of superannuation. It is painful to move away from the path they have known all their professional lives, and when the path ahead is uncertain. And ‘uncertainty’, mind you, is the best case scenario in this context.
Is there any regulatory authority that may stop private commercial organisations from exploiting their employees through such unethical practices?
If there is none, there should be one.
IMRAN MEHMOOD QURESHI
LAHORE
