We refer to Ms Emily Yap Yong An’s letter, “Living life with a goal is key to better health and well-being” (July 22).
Ms Yap called for greater re-employment of senior workers to address Singapore’s manpower shortage and help them continue to contribute to society.
Singapore’s re-employment model has indeed worked well for businesses and senior workers who wish to continue working.
Currently, more than 90 per cent of eligible resident employees who wish to continue working have been offered re-employment at age 62. We expect this level of re-employment to continue, given the tight labour market.
The re-employment age was also raised from 67 to 68 on July 1, which enables senior workers to work longer if they wish to.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also incentivises companies to adopt a higher internal retirement and re-employment age above the minimum statutory requirements, through the Senior Worker Early Adopter Grant.
As at May, more than 5,200 companies have successfully applied for the grant, with more than 44,000 senior workers expected to benefit.
Ms Yap also suggested that senior workers could work part-time instead of full-time, and that training should be provided.
MOM and our tripartite partners have been encouraging employers to conduct structured career planning (SCP) with their mature and senior workers to better understand and plan for their career and training needs.
Employers can then offer their staff a supportive workplace environment, such as more part-time re-employment opportunities, as well as implement age-friendly workplace practices such as training, job redesign and workplace health programmes.
Employers may refer to the SCP Guidebook (www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/re-employment) launched by the Singapore National Employers Federation this month to help employers adopt SCP.
For funding to support employers that offer part-time re-employment opportunities and engage in job redesign, employers can also tap the Part-time Re-employment Grant and Support for Job Redesign under the Productivity Solutions Grant. Under the Senior Employment Credit, employers will also receive wage offsets for hiring Singaporean senior workers aged 55 and above, and earning up to $4,000 a month.
We encourage employers who implement age-friendly workplace practices to adopt the Tripartite Standard on Age-Friendly Workplace Practices (www.tal.sg/tafep/employment-practices/age-management). This way, they can be recognised as a progressive employer of choice and be better positioned to attract and retain experienced, well-trained workers.
Lee Chung Wei
Divisional Director
Workplace Policy and Strategy Division
Ministry of Manpower
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MCI (P) 031/10/2021, MCI (P) 032/10/2021. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2021 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.