[This article features a website named ‘Second Innings’ that provides the elderly an opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise with the world, and to obtain productive employment even after retirement. The website was designed by Shivani Mehta, M.Sc. scholar at the Department of Extension & Communication, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The M.S. University of Baroda under the guidance of Dr. Avani Maniar, lecturer at the same department. Through this article, the authors would like to create awareness about the project, and seek help from development agencies working for the elderly in sustaining this project on a long-term basis.]  

In a country like India wherein a fresh pool of talent is found in abundance and immediately captured by the industry employers, there is very little scope for the aged people to compete despite their extensive skills and proficiency. The article tries to draw attention to a very important segment of our society, and shows how ICT can be used to cater to the needs of the unwanted segment (elderly people) at an age when they feel that they should get the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise with the world, thus in a way reducing their dependency on others.  

In the globalized society of today terms like old, aging and retirement need to be redefined. It is said that nobody grows old merely by living a certain number of years. The ‘biological age’ of a person is not identical to his chronological age. Hence, one does not age at the age of sixty years. Similarly, the age of retirement is normally 58, 60, or 62 years, which is now considered as objectionable. The reason behind it is increased life expectancy and improved health of elderly people. Today, progress that has been made in the sphere of medical science has led to a steady decline in the mortality and morbidity rates, thereby increasing life expectancy of people. Numbers of the elderly are increasing day by day in our population, and they will be even more significant in the decades to come.  

The increased life expectancy and improved health of older people does allow elderly to work after the age of retirement. As soon as a person retires, he does not become old, inactive or non-contributory. His / her capacity to contribute to the society does not decrease and hence, an opportunity to continue working should be given to the elderly.  

According to a survey by global HR consultancy firm, Manpower Inc, only 14 percent (%) of employers in India, have a strategy for recruiting older workers. India is far behind countries like Japan (83%), Singapore (53%) and New Zealand (33%), where older worker retention strategies are more prevalent. This clearly shows Indian employers are not doing enough to tap into the talent pool of older workers and much needs to be done in this regard. Opening the doors to older workers can be very beneficial for organizations that are facing a talent crunch. They can help in transferring knowledge within the organization. The abundance of experience and wisdom the aged possess cannot be gained from books or friends or downloaded from a website. Also the elderly who have had a lot of experience in coping with life’s problems could help in increasing productivity by alleviating problems that a company faces in its day to day functioning.  

To remain active, elderly must find the possible work in which they can engage themselves, be it part time or social work or in school education counseling, at such a stage when one can become a participant in life instead of remaining a mere spectator. This will also help them to remain economically independent. The utilization of their time in constructive activities can return enthusiasm and interest in their lives. One of the elderly from Vadodara city shared his experience of retirement with us. He said “I am killing my time every day. I play with my grandchildren, help my wife in household chores, watch television and read newspapers. But I always feel that I must utilize my time my sharing my expertise with others. I must contribute to the society”  

Understanding the agony of the aging population, it was proposed to launch a website for them to upload their profile or bio-data, so that potential employers could get to know about their expertise and utilize their skills for constructive work. Through this website, the elderly can demonstrate their readiness or willingness to work to society. The website is named ‘Second Innings’ and its address is www.jobsforelderly.org. It is designed in such a manner that an individual can upload one’s profile easily by registering on the website. Those who wish to work after their retirement can also register themselves by providing their personal and professional details. The website displays their profiles and employers can view their details, which can develop a network between employers and employees. The profiles of the elderly citizens are divided into different categories like teaching, administration, engineering, clerical, accounts, and small jobs. The website was launched in the month of September 2007. Around 70 to 80 elderly people have uploaded their profiles until now, with many more in the process of doing so, which shows that there is a dire need amongst the elderly to work.  

Apart from bio-data / profiles of the elderly, a list of the names, addresses and other contact details of organizations showing readiness to absorb the elderly, has been put up on the website. Before launching the website a survey was conducted to identify such organizations. The organisations were informed about the purpose of the website and many non-government organizations, voluntary organizations and small business firms agreed to absorb elderly, whenever the need arose. The list can be accessed by elderly citizens through this website. In addition to it, one web page lists active elderly citizens who have kept themselves productively occupied even after retirement. This serves as a motivating factor for others.  

Newspapers and electronic media - television were utilized to publicize this website so that more elderly citizens could benefit from it. Leading newspapers of India have appreciated the initiative as being innovative, thoughtful (in capturing the need) and well-designed. This publicity also led to an increase in the awareness amongst aged people and helped the site earn a lot more inquires and compliments. Though the systematic evaluation of the project is in progress, its impact and effectiveness are already visible. From the employer’s point of view, inquiries to absorb elderly have mostly been from non-government organizations, voluntary organizations and educational trusts. Few of the elderly citizens have got jobs as teachers, translators, engineers and community workers.  

This application demonstrates how web technology can bring desirable changes in the lives of people. It can lead society towards growth and development. Technology should be utilized for bringing social change and this website sets a good example of this.