Reemployment of Older Workers

8/8/2019 Reemployment of Older Workers

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What is Re-employment?

Why Re-employment is important?

Retirement Age Active

Tripartite Guidelines of Re-employment of Older Workers


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- Employers to offer jobs to employees reaching the retirementage, need not be for the same job position, on same salary andterms

- Better than raising the retirement age because:-

a) Flexibility both employer and employees can work outoffer that is agreeable to both parties, taking into thecompanys requirement and needs of the older workers

b) Sustainability wages and benefits can be adjusted toreflect the value of the job and the contribution of theworkers so that companies can remain competitive


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Ageing population and workforce

- One of the key challenges facing Singapore today

- Half of Singaporean aged 62 and above will live past the age 85(according to Department of Statistics)

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Projection from United Nations that by 2050, the median age inSingapore will rise to 54 years, the 4th oldest population in the World

Rising Life Expectancy

- Life expectancy continues to improve. Eg. Someone retiring age 62 canexpect to live for another 20 years (source: Singapore Department ofStatistics 2007)


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This means that Singaporeans will live longer and therefore, will need towork longer to lead healthy and productive lives and have enoughsavings for retirement.

Employers - Fewer young people entering workforce each year in the

future and they will need to be prepared for the challenges of an ageingworkforce. Re-employment thus helps both workers and business


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1988 Government encouraged employers and unions tovoluntarily raise the retirement age from 55 years to 60 years

Effective 1 July 993 Retirement Age Act raised to 60 years. TheGovernment had stated its long term objective to increase to 67

years progressively.

Effective 1 Jan 1999 Increase to 62 years together with othercost-cutting measures, such as reduction in employers CPFcontribution rate and reduction in wages for workers aged 60years above.


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It is aimed at preparing business and employees for re-employmentlegislation come 2012

Urged companies to implement re-employment practices sooner as onein five residents age 65 and older by 2030, companies will have to

include more older workers in their company workforce profile.

Draft guidelines as follows:-

1) Planning and Preparing employees for re-employment

- Identifying eligible employees for re-employment

- Pre-retirement planning and re-employment consultation- Job arrangements for re-employment


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2) The re-employment contract

- Offer of re-employment

- Duration of re-employment

- Adjustment to wages and medical and other benefits

- Termination with notice

3) Recognizing the contributions of re-employed employees- Should continue to reward them based on company and individual

performance such as long term service award, performance bonuses

- Such recognition helps to incentivize and motivates them to perform well

4) Assistance for eligible employees whom employers cannot re-employ

- Employers should consider all available re-employment options and identifysuitable jobs for eligible employees

- If employers cant find suitable jobs, employees should be inform as early aspracticable.


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Companies should implement the following to eligible forAdvantage Scheme

a) Recruitment packages

b) wage restructuring

c) benefit structure

d) re-employment policy

e) make flexi-work available

f) use of equipment

g) new job role

WDA work with partners, the Singapore National EmployersFederation,(SNEF), Association of Small & Medium Enterprise(ASME) and Centre For Seniors (CFS) to conduct trainingprogrammes to assist companies in making adjustments to theirHR policies for re-employment. These training programmes aresubsidized by WDA


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Management Commitment

- Sincere, visible in terms of action

- Clear management guidelines minimizes

misunderstanding at the workplace.

Attitudes of Managers

- Autocratic styles of management

- Self-conscious attitudes

- Inter-personal skills training for participativestyle.


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Importance of the Supervisor

- Trained with necessary skills to be themiddle-men

Union Leadership

- Pro-management union leaders tend tochampion the workers to gain popularity

- Frequent change in union representativesdisrupts past efforts in maintaining trust &understanding


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Employees Attitude

- Tight labour market creates negativeattitutes among some workers who treat their

jobs as temp jobs.- Lack of commitment frustrates employerseffort in fostering good relations.

- In a recession, employees worry that

companies will retrench workers to cut cost.


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Better Educated

- Younger workers now have higher aspirationsthan their older co-workers

Female Workers

- More female workers compared with thesituation a decade ago.

- Like it or not


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Diverse Workforce

- With a population of only 4m people, Singaporehas to depend on foreign workers for its labour-intensive industries (construction & marine)

- Supervisors must be aware of the culturaldifferences in habits, communication skills andexpectations

Foreign Levy and Quota

- 2-tier foreign levy system to discourage theemployment of unskilled workers- Maximum no. of foreign workers is also subjected to

a quota for e.g Service sector ratio is 3 locals to 1foreign worker / Marine Industry 1:3


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Foreign Professionals- Mainly from western countries like UK, US,Australia, Canada, Russia

- Increasing numbers from China & Indiarecently

- Managers must be able to motivate thesehighly qualified but culturally diverse group ofprofessionals

- Managers must also convince local

professionals that the expats are not a threat totheir career advancements however, theirexpertise are needed as Singapore moves tobeing a knowledge-based economy.

Documents

Reemployment of Older Workers