Changing Nature of Work and Employment:The Context of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) under Globalization in India

The current LPG model of development has introduced several constraints and challenges for both labour and management. In a much changed situation the age-old concepts of social justice and equitable development have become almost irrelevant to the captains of modern industry. Market globalism necessitates the rise of a work culture that speaks only in favour of efficiency, productivity and discipline. A thin and lean work force with high moral and skill have become a need of the day. The current notion of voluntary retirement (V.R), therefore, cannot be studied in isolation from the changes in industrial and work processes affecting our life today. As VR is sudden and mostly compulsory, it induces a role-less-role for the workers who now have to fight with uncertainty, dissatisfaction, fear and loss of identity. The current process of VR has, therefore, contributed to several social, economic, psychological and personal problems of the workers and their family members. , it is necessary to review the context of the emergence of voluntary retirement as a strategy of industrial restructuring. Changes in the nature of work and employment worldwide have left several imprints on labour processes and managerial practices. It is important to study these changes because they have shaped the ideologies and perceptions of industrial work today. An examination of these changes would also help us understand the evolution of the current notion of voluntary retirement. Secondly, a brief overview of the processes related to market reforms in India since early 1990's is needed to understand the relationship between voluntary retirement and economic liberalization in the Indian context.