Blog Article 6: Guidelines for rehiring older workers ready in 2 years

Article 6:

Guidelines for rehiring older workers ready in 2 yrs: Manpower Minister
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 August 2007 2014 hrs

SINGAPORE: The proposed law on rehiring older workers will be flexible in order to help companies reemploy those who turn 62, and the Ministry of Manpower said these guidelines should be ready within two years to spell out how employees are rehired.

Goh Kee Chai was offered a one-year renewable contract by MediaCorp Technologies when he turned 62; and for the 64-year-old, one of his many duties is to train younger broadcast engineers.

K Govindasamy, 62, was also rehired as senior executive at MediaCorp Technologies recently.

"I'm back at the old job but with many more responsibilities… I'm the honorary secretary of the recreational club. I'm a fire safety manager. I'm vice-chairman of the canteen committee. I'm also in the benefits sub-committee of management," he said.

According to Chan Yit Foon, MediaCorp’s executive vice-president for human resources, there are ten active retirees on the company’s payroll.

“Some of them are actually in the roles they were performing before, such as engineers, technicians. And some of them (are) in new roles... We actually have around 40 per cent of employees who are greater than 40 years of age. So in time to come, they will form a very natural pool of resources for us," she said.

Based on its business needs and the employee's preferences, MediaCorp also rehires older workers on short-term contracts of less than a year.

It is one of the many models the ministry will study before rolling out the reemployment law.

Manpower Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen pointed out, as different companies have different needs, and workers may also have their own preferences, the law should not be too rigid.

The guidelines will also include clear terms on how employees can be rehired, so “through self effort, (a worker) can be sure that he can be re-employed. Not necessary the same job, not necessary the same pay, but he knows that there will be a job.”

The law will also have a platform for disputes between workers and employers.

Full details will be worked out by the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers, chaired by Minister of State for Manpower Gan Kim Yong.

Personal Reflection 6:

This article states that the guidelines for rehiring older workers would be ready in two years, helping many more elderly workers to regain a job. Currently, the Tripartite Committee of Older Workers is testing out models of the policy. The general percepetion of this policy is a positive one, with many elderly workers under the experiment benefiting from it.

To me, this is indeed good news, not only to the individual, but also to the society in general.

With the average live span of a person increasing over the years, people can no longer retire at 55 and hope that the money he or she has saved will be enough to last him or her to the deathbed. Many people live beyond the age of 80 nowadays and 25 years is just too long a period of time. Also, the elderly usually have nothing to do. It is thus better to give them a job so that they can be kept occupied. This would indeed be much better than spending time at home doing nothing.

Also, the society would benefit from this policy. Singapore is facing the problem of an ageing society currently. This would heavily affect Singapore’s economy as more money would have to be used on caring for the elderly. However, if the elderly were to come out and work, burden that Singapore has on building more facilities or more homes for the elderly would lighten. Also, the elderly provide much valued experience and knowledge that would help in developing the young. This would give Singapore’s new economy a new dimension as we would have the vibrancy of the young as well as the experience of the elderly. I believe that this combination would make Singapore’s economy even more powerful.

Some concerns may be raised regarding the effectiveness of these elderly in their work. However, I feel that this is not such a large problem. What the elderly provide is the experience and knowledge which would be critical in decision making or in times of emergency. The young can compensate for the possible ineffectiveness of the elderly.

The only concern that I have is that two years may be too long a wait. I do understand that coming up with a policy is a hard thing to do, especially one that can be put in place in different companies that have different needs as well as different workers who have different preferences. However, I sincerely hope that the government can launch this policy as soon as possible because I believe that it would have a large and immediate impact on our economy.

Lastly, I would just like to add that I understand that I have my own limitations in discussing this topic. I have never experienced work. Therefore, I am assuming that the experience and knowledge that the elderly have will indeed help in our economy. However, I do believe that this policy would give Singapore a great boost in her economy, as well as in her people.