Young people have their own strong points, but so do ageing workers over 50. Many ageing workers encounter difficulties in meeting the demands of the information society. Nerves are frazzled, for example, by the computer. Nor are age discrimination and displacement of ageing workers from the labour market a joy to younger people. Instead, a heavier burden is placed on their shoulders.
People elsewhere remain active in working life longer than in Finland.
Moreover, the expertise of senior workers is esteemed better in other countries. Finnish working life excludes people unusually early, though according to statistics, Finns are not in any worse shape than others - Danes, for instance. A national weekly magazine, Suomen Kuvalehti, recently featured an article on the challenges to working life presented by ageing workers, and Ilmarinen received many revealing phone calls from senior managers. For some reason, Finnish companies think that once a director has retired, his or her expertise is no longer useful. The younger people take it as a question of honour to manage without the retired director.