Despite its certainty like childbirth, retirement appears to always arrive too early, hitting most employees unawares like the arrival of a pre-term baby.

Retirement parties often sound and feel like commiseration sessions for the retiree who supposedly needs reassurance that despite the clock having ticked 60, they are still useful and can ‘retyre’ and do other amazing things for the remainder of their lives.

The prospect of retirement has been known to cause serious mental health issues to some employees upon receipt of the dreaded letter from the employer bearing the unwelcome tidings.

In response to this phenomenon, sophisticated employers have developed well structured programmes to prepare their employees for retirement. The curriculum, usually delivered by experts, covers a wide range of topics such as  psychosocial preparedness, estate planning and succession, investment advice and what to expect out there in the wider world after retirement including how to avoid being conned and, in the case of men, the temptation of marrying an additional wife using the retirement package which at the time appears inexhaustible. For ladies, the common temptation is to travel and overstay abroad under the pretext of visiting the grandchildren while the real purpose is to engage in binge shopping and spend quality time in massage parlours in the name of “kujirudishia asante” or “kuambia mwili pole” for a lifetime of toil and travail.

Retirement candidates are also advised on the risks of starting businesses that they have never done before or investing in brick and mortar in the village shopping centre without any idea of the cost involved or the expected returns. Many end up converting the entire retirement package into incomplete concrete structures which become eternal monuments of their folly and regret and only serve to hasten their steps to the grave.

With declining birth rates and increasing life expectancy in most parts of the world, a new demographic is emerging where the work place is dominated by an ageing population. People are also attaining retirement age while still in perfect health of body and mind and at the peak of their professional prowess.  

While the retirement age in the Kenyan public service is 60, there is no prescribed retirement age in the private sector. This is left to each employer to determine, should they wish to do so, either by policy or contractual terms of employment. In practice, however, employers have tended to adopt the public sector benchmark of 60 years.

For certain cadres of employees such as professionals, researchers and academics who spend a considerably longer period pursuing education and acquiring complex skills, retiring them at the age of 60 robs the economy of a much-needed resource. No wonder judges and university professors retire at 70 which, based on international best practice, is still considered too young for retirement given the depth of knowledge and expertise they possess. Until recently, judges used to retire at the age of 74.

Kenyan employers are increasingly finding it undesirable to let go of productive, highly experienced managers with clean discipline records and persons who add substantial value to the organisation, purely on account of age.  

The most common method of addressing this issue is to allow such employees to retire as per the policy then rehire them immediately on fixed term contracts for such duration as the parties may agree.  This approach serves the useful purpose of ensuring consistency in policy application and avoiding claims of discrimination. The post-retirement contract is considered a separate engagement on different terms rather than a continuation of the previous employment contract.

Having a predetermined retirement age is good practice for various reasons. There will always be deadwood whom the employer wishes to get rid of but due to legal constraints, is unable to. In such cases, the policy provides a perfect solution.

A retirement policy also fosters certainty and enables prudent employees to prepare early enough for the inevitability of retirement through savings and investment.

Employers may also adopt a hybrid model where the highly skilled cadres retire at a more advanced age than their junior counterparts performing commoditised tasks who are easier to replace owing to the abundance of their skills in the market.

The argument that raising the retirement age denies young people employment opportunities is fallacious and not evidence-based. Jobs that require grey hair cannot be performed by persons who have not earned the stripes in the battlefield.

While AI is gobbling up entry level jobs with the appetite of a famished wolf, it poses no significant risk to the jobs held by eligible retirees. Besides, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the number of Kenyans aged 60 and above is no more than six per cent of the total population.

As Kenya’s last cohort of the baby boomer generation enters the retirement age-bracket, employers should rethink whether it is economically beneficial to lose productive managers purely on account of age.

This article was published in the Business Daily on 19 May 2026 and can be accessed here.