By: Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister for Prime Minister's Office
12:00 PM AT PAN PACIFIC HOTEL
Mr Gan Kim Yong, Acting Minister for Manpower,
Mr Gerard Ee, Chairman of Council for Third Age,
Mr Edward Johns, Associate Director of International Affairs, AARP,
Mr Alexander Melchers, Vice-President, Singapore National Employers Federation,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon,
Introduction - Global Trends
Over the next decade, the workforce in the US is expected to experience a dramatic demographic shift driven largely by the ageing of the baby boomers. The proportion of the total US workforce that is aged 50 and above is expected to rise from 27% in 2005 to 32% by 2014. This is indeed representative of most countries faced with the challenge of population ageing. Singapore is no different. As the population ages, so will the workforce. We expect the proportion of our local workforce that is aged 50 and above to rise from 24% in 2006 to 29% by 2015.
Benefits to both Employers and Older Workers
In this scenario, employers who do not make an effort to attract and retain older workers are likely to find themselves short of qualified and experienced workers. In the current economic climate, this issue may not be on the top of employers' minds. However, it would be prudent for them to keep an eye on the longer term perspective. Similarly, older workers need to understand what employers' needs are in the future. Those who do not continuously adapt, upgrade or re-skill themselves might face difficulty finding suitable jobs. There is thus much room for employers and employees to work together to find win-win solutions.
The Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers outlined in its report last year that it targets to raise the employment rate for residents aged 55 to 64. The employment rate for this group is 53.7% in 2006. The medium-term target is 65%. This medium term target is easy enough to achieve for males. Special effort will have to be made to raise the employment rate of females, who have traditionally dropped out of the labour market at an earlier age.
Re-employment of Older Workers
The Tripartite Committee has wisely decided not to try to raise the employment rate of older workers through simply raising the retirement age by legislation. In a globalised economy, when investments can move fairly quickly from one country to another, such legislation will be ineffective. The Tripartite Committee has instead, recommended re-employment. It must make economic sense for companies to employ older workers. An older worker need not be employed in the same job, or on the same pay. The tripartite partners released a Tripartite Advisory on the Re-employment of Older Workers in March this year. It provides employers with practical suggestions on formulating and implementing re-employment policies. One of our aims is to have re-employment established as the norm by 2012. Re-employment legislation will by then be enacted, and brought into force. We should make the best use of the next few years to work out how re-employment can be sensibly done.
To tap the skills and experience of their older workers, employers may need to make adjustments to the work environment and the work content. At the same time employers should meet the needs and even preferences of older workers. Employers should thus start the pre-retirement planning and re-employment consultation process early. Re-employed workers can be offered the same job, or the same job but with some modifications, or they can be redeployed to a different job. There could be flexible arrangements such as part-time work and job sharing schemes. And there may be appropriate adjustments in wages and benefits. This allows companies to meet succession planning and other manpower needs, whilst benefiting from the contributions of re-employed workers.
Since Jan 2008, our tripartite partners have held industry briefings and outreach sessions with union leaders, HR practitioners and business leaders. They have found the Advisory useful and practical and there is a growing awareness on the importance of re-employment. The feedback received will be taken into consideration when we formalise the Tripartite Guidelines in 2009.
SingHealth
Many employers have responded positively. SingHealth is one good example. Under their Silver Connection initiative, SingHealth explores career options with their mature workers at least two years before their retirement. Through job redesign, streamlining of work processes and investments in automation and mechanisation, the work ability and productivity of mature staff can be raised. SingHealth was an early adopter of the ADVANTAGE! Scheme administered by the Workforce Development Agency. The ADVANTAGE! Scheme provides financial support to companies for recruiting, retaining and re-employing mature workers. We encourage more companies to make use of this scheme.
Alexandra Hospital
Also from the healthcare sector, Alexandra Hospital (AH) is another good example in retention of older workers. AH has adopted age-friendly workplace practices, and actively re-employs its older workers. One fine example is Mr Low William Kim who is 70 years old. ''Uncle William'', as he is affectionately known in AH, used to work as a hospital health attendant, but has since been working as an event coordinator within AH. He is IT-savvy and can handle event logistics such as sound systems and lighting. Another example is Mrs Rosalind Tan[1], who is 67 years old. Since retiring from her occupational therapy profession at 62, Rosalind has been a Senior Executive in the Operations Department, managing the hospital landscape and environmentally-friendly projects.
Older Workers to have an Open Mindset
Given our longer average life expectancy, Singaporeans would need to work longer to ensure an adequate amount of retirement savings. Singaporeans are also learning from the current financial and economic problems - that savings can be wiped out by investments that go awry. It is therefore prudent to work for as long as we can. Not only does work provide us with additional income, but also keep us mentally and socially active. Positive examples like Uncle William and Rosalind remind our older workers to have an open mind and to be motivated to work, even after retirement age. Older workers would also need to be open to adjustments in job scope and wages. To remain an asset to the company, older workers need to maintain and enhance their competence in both knowledge and skills. This is facilitated through WDA's Workforce Skills Qualifications, and skills training programmes from the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and the NTUC Learning Hub.
Gradual Process of Retirement
Social attitudes must also change. Some children stop their elderly parents from working. This is unwise. We should work for as long as we can and for as long as we want to. We all need a reason to wake up each day. Through employment, seniors also find an avenue to engage in meaningful activities and continue to contribute to society. In fact, many seniors lament that when they retire, they suddenly find themselves having too much free time on their hands. Instead of viewing the retirement age as the end all and be all, retirement can be a gradual process, e.g. by changing to working part time or shorter hours.
AARP Winners
This is the first year that Singapore employers participated in the AARP International Innovative Employer Awards. We are proud that on our first attempt, two of our companies, SingHealth and Alexandra Hospital, emerge as the only award winners from the Asia region. I congratulate them for their efforts in engaging mature workers within the healthcare sector. As the work environment and demands vary from sector to sector, the NTUC has also been facilitating the sharing of best practices in re-employment initiatives across sectors, so that companies can fine-tune their own policies and practices to meet their peculiar needs. I hope that more employers across the sectors, both unionized and non-unionized companies, will take a leaf from these examples and introduce initiatives that will benefit both the company and the mature workers. In the years ahead, I hope we will see this year's other finalists, as well as companies from other sectors, receive the recognition for being innovative employers of our mature workers.
Thank you.
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[1] Mrs Rosalind Tan was mentioned in the news story on Channel News Asia website on 6th Oct 08.
MCYS SPEECH NO: 58/2008
DATE OF ISSUE: 17/10/2008