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SINGAPORE : A call has been made for employers to move away from ad hoc arrangements on the re-employment of older workers in Singapore.
NTUC's Assistant Secretary General Halimah Yacob made this point on Wednesday at a tripartite forum involving employers, government and unions.
The forum was also told that Singapore's civil service will speed up the re-employment process of older workers within the next three years, rather that wait for legislative changes scheduled in five years' time.
Changing mindsets about working beyond the retirement age - that is a challenge facing the tripartite partners.
And they must address it immediately because even now, the current retirement age of 62 is not being fully implemented.
Bob Tan, Vice President, Singapore National Employers' Federation, said: "What is really more important is how do we encourage companies to create the right environment to encourage older workers to work comfortably and productively in the companies. Making it easier for them to work physically (is) an important factor. But putting a retirement age beyond 62 does not help.
"You want companies to say we should introduce such measures at 50, 55 so that these workers can continue to be employed, but not necessarily in a taxing environment. The approach that has been envisaged by the committee is a good one because we go out actively to promote a company, work with companies to facilitate the employment of workers beyond 55, beyond 62, and way beyond."
One of the ideas that came up during the tripartite forum was to showcase some of the best practices Singapore companies have adopted in the employment of older workers.
Participants felt such showcasing would encourage many more companies to follow suit.
And one practice they hope will become more prevalent is to make the re-employment of older workers a policy in companies.
Unionists wanted to know if a five-year time frame is too long before legislative changes are made to allow older workers to continue working beyond 62.
Gan Kim Yong, Minister of State, Manpower Ministry, said: "It is also important for us to take these five years to work with the employers and employees to introduce some measures, so that they are better ready when legislation comes into effect in five years' time. What do we want to do? We want to work with companies to introduce this re-employment system ahead of the five-year time frame.
"The public service, the civil service for example, has already made the commitment that they will implement this re-employment system within three years, not five years. If we simply introduce the legislation, it may become a very rigid system similar to the Japanese system in the past and therefore eventually, the workers may not be the ones who benefit. Despite the introduction of the legislation, we may not be able to see an improvement rate for older workers."
Employers have also been urged to organise outreach programmes to improve the employment participation rate of females. - CNA/ch
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