Ramsey Hertzog is a good example of someone for whom personal circumstances and compulsory retirement were not compatible. I can understand that if you are in your fifties you may not want to don riot gear any more, but I still wanted to earn a salary and keep my mind occupied. Money was especially important Hertzog was going through a divorce at the time he retired. I also like to go travelling. He worked as a porter in a Cambridge college for four years before landing this job, which pays 4 an hour.
Older workers tend to be more settled and loyal.
While retraining is often thought of as more valuable for younger staff because they have more working years ahead, people in their twenties and thirties are more likely to take those new skills elsewhere. So training older people may be more cost-effective. Customers, it seems, also value experience over youthfulness. The Nationwide Building Society says its customers prefer to buy mortgages from someone who already has one. Absolute rubbish, says Mercer.