In the past people often worked in their businesses until they died or were no longer able to continue, whereas today most industries have set a definite retirement age for their employees. I think replacing elderly staff with young recruits is a wise practice.
First and foremost, a large majority of workers lose their strength as they become older. This is mainly because the human body has limits, and working for a long time, say, 30 or 35 years, can affect it negatively. For example, young industrial workers tend to work for five to six hours before they take breaks while older ones usually need to rest every one or two hours. This means that productivity levels would certainly decline.
Furthermore, new employment opportunities for young people are very limited. Most companies do not offer more than a few new jobs every year and try not to increase their staff members dramatically to keep expenses low. Consequently, they should definitely lay off some of the older personnel to make room for younger ones, especially those around 20 to 30 years old who are about to form families and support them.
Finally, the experience and skills of old workers are usually out of date. They might have a lot of experience with old technology and machines, but their employers constantly need to upgrade their equipment and methods. Therefore, it is less likely that old worker’s abilities are necessary in the long run, and younger workers who know how to operate modern machines such as computers and lasers can replace them.
In conclusion, I think companies need to force their elderly workforce to retire and employ younger workers to replace them to improve productivity, have up-to-date workers and provide jobs for young people.