A casual retirement day

I joined the college in 2006 just as the mining boom was gathering pace, in some respects it was a difficult choice to make as the wages in the private sector are much higher. The attraction is the conditions of employment on offer and better than private sector benefits.

Employment in Western Australia tends to be relatively shorter term than most developed nations, the long-term employee is a relic of a past era. So arriving in the Western Australian public sector was an eye opener for me, the team was long-term and nearing retirement.

Once these guys got in the system, they tended to stay long-term until their retirement date. This is influenced by employment practices of selecting mature and experienced workers.

Although a minimum of five years post-trade experience is required; that is post four-year apprenticeship term. I came on board with a twenty year employment record including the mandated four-year apprenticeship served.

So I was very impressed with a colleague on his last day of employment, he was a fairly quiet guy who just got on with the job. He had taken long-service leave previously. This is a fully paid three month break after seven years continuous employment in the state government, one of the many benefits on offer.

We expected him to retire immediately afterwards but his wife was still employed as a nurse and he just spent his days pottering around the house with a number of projects down his shed.

He was somewhat bored and actually happy to return to work until his wife retired and they could do stuff together - fair enough. So after announcing his retirement, Arthur worked diligently until his final day no slacking off and no long discussions.

I came into the office for afternoon tea as I had spent the whole day supervising apprentices down the engineering workshops and just needed to sit down for a moment.

I had just taken a seat at the table when I saw Arthur get up, push his chair in and walk out of the office without a word to anybody or looking over his shoulder, he had finished his work and he was off.

I was going to wander over and have a chat to him but never got the opportunity on his final day. I have not seen Arthur again and while some view Arthur's final day as regrettable - I see this as a perfect exit, he pulled it off.