| By Kor Kian Beng |
But should there be no job available with the company, the worker will not leave empty-handed.
He can expect his employer to give him a payment to help tide him over while he hunts for a job, according to draft guidelines announced yesterday on giving employment to eligible workers beyond the retirement age of 62.
This Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) is a key feature of the guidelines for re-hiring workers who are medically fit and whose performance is up to scratch.
The guidelines will form the core of the law to be passed by 2012 for re-employment up to age 65, and later, up to 67.
They were announced by Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday, in a speech that underlined the need to make productive use of Singapore’s limited labour resources amid an ageing population.
Urging companies to introduce re-hiring practices, he said: ‘With one in five residents aged 65 and older by 2030…the sooner companies put in place the process and systems for re-employment, the better positioned they will be to meet the challenges ahead.’
The guidelines were crafted by a tripartite group made up of employers, unionists and government officials and will be finalised by early next year. Essentially, they give employers the flexibility to re-employ, and offer them ways to implement the systems and processes for it.
One of them calls on employers to offer a re-employment contract three months before retirement age.
The push for re-employment is urgent, indicated Mr Gan, quoting from his ministry’s mid-year Labour Force Survey this year.
The preliminary results show the employment rate for residents aged 55 to 64 is 57.2per cent – the same as last year, even though the total employment rate of those aged 25 to 64 fell to 75.8per cent this year because of the recession, from 77per cent last year.
Significantly, the employment rate for older men rose from 73.8 to 74.7per cent, leading Mr Gan to say ‘we should press on to encourage the employment of older workers, especially women’.
Quoting from another Ministry of Manpower survey of 2,900 companies conducted last year, he noted that nearly two-thirds that stipulate a retirement age offer re-employment or let their staff continue working beyond 62.
He cited two: Copthorne King’s Hotel and soyabean chain Mr Bean.
But during an hour-long dialogue following his announcement, several union leaders voiced concerns that some companies might use the EAP as a way to get rid of older workers.
Labour chief Lim Swee Say, who was on the panel that includes Mr Gan and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) president Stephen Lee, allayed their fears by pledging that the labour movement would intervene in such cases.
He pointed to the labour movement’s current focus on building a more inclusive workforce with a CBF (cheaper, better and faster) economy.
Said Mr Lim: ‘So if the company’s starting point is that the older workers cannot and should not be part of the CBF economy, I think the unions will take on the management and challenge whether they have thought through the issue.’
Earlier, commenting on the EAP, Mr Alexander Melchers, SNEF’s vice-president who chairs the tripartite group, said it did not want to specify the amount so as to give employers flexibility. It should be enough to help low-wage workers, but not too high to deter them from seeking new jobs, he added.
Analysts, like labour economist Shandre Thangavelu of the National University of Singapore, welcomed the guidelines, saying they encouraged the employment of older workers who may be vulnerable in a downturn.
‘Given that older workers still have important human capital in terms of work experience, their retention will be important in the recovery process,’ he said.
The public can give feedback on the guidelines via the Reach portal: www.reach.gov.sg. The last day is Dec18.
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I think that he can expect a lot from the employer to give a payment to help tide him over a job.
It is outright evil to call our workforce “cheap” and yet expect them to be better and work faster…there is a hokkien saying, “ai bi ai qi, ai tua liap nee”