In early 2024, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Desmond Choo, who is also a member of Parliament (MP) for Tampines GRC and the Mayor of Singapore’s North-East District, was asked in Parliament about what plans were being made to enhance the employability and availability of suitable jobs for older workers.
He shared that statistically, between 2017 and 2021, about 97% of eligible Singaporean workers who wished to continue working were offered and accepted re-employment after reaching retirement age.
Senior employment matters. As such, Singapore’s statutory retirement and re-employment ages will be progressively raised to 65 and 70 by 2030.
Of course, some seniors may wish to work in jobs that are less intense or have greater flexibility in terms of work hours or job scope.
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MP Desmond explained how local employers are incentivised to offer jobs tailored to these needs through the Part-Time Re-employment Grant (PTRG).
This grant provides up to $125,000 to employers who offer part-time re-employment, other flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and structured career planning (SCP) to senior workers.
To qualify for the grant, companies will need to have at least one senior worker aged 60 years and above at the point of application and claim. Companies also need to fulfil all the following to be eligible for claims if they have not previously received the PTRG:
- Provide part-time re-employment opportunities to eligible senior workers who request it.
- Adopt the Tripartite Standard on Age-Friendly Workplace Practices.
- Adopt Tripartite Standard on Flexible Work Arrangements.
- Offer FWAs and implement SCP as part of their formal HR policy.
- Commit to providing SCP to mature employees aged 45 and above in their HR policy.
- Send one senior management and one HR practitioner each to attend one session of a fully funded SCP workshop for senior management and HR practitioners respectively conducted by SNEF.
Upskilling and reskilling will help senior workers stay relevant in the workforce
He added: “To improve the employability of our senior workers, we support them to upskill and reskill.
“We encourage them to do so earlier and continuously throughout their careers so that they stay relevant to the workforce.
“For instance, the Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs) help mid-career workers to reskill and transit into jobs or sectors with good prospects.
“Eligible senior workers can undergo training with up to 90% salary and course fee support.”
Workforce Singapore’s (WSG’s) Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs) support employers in reskilling mid-career new hires or existing employees into new job roles with good longer-term prospects. Long-term unemployed or mature jobseekers aged 40 and above are eligible for higher funding support.
Some of the programme’s benefits include:
- Industry-recognised training to move into new occupations or sectors with good prospects.
- Salary support of up to 90% for mid-career workers.
- Embark on a new career with CCPs across around 30 sectors.
For senior workers who want more advice on how to strategise the continuation of their careers, here’s some real-world advice from Kai Ning, the co-founder of The Courage Chapter, a Singapore organisation founded with a mission on changing the narrative around aging in the office.
What are some of the challenges senior and older workers tend to face when it comes to finding the right job these days?
Kai Ning (KN): Generally, when senior professionals (starting from 40-years-old) seek full-time employment, they may be hit with some of these objections:
- “Overqualification” – companies may look for someone with “less experience” as that usually comes with a lower price tag. This is sometimes true, as the number of years of working experience doesn’t always means there’s a capability to do the job.
- Companies looking for employees with a “longer runway” – this is generally an excuse, I believe. I’ve heard of professionals in their 50s with at least a good decade away from retirement who are rejected because of that objection.
- Some employers can be concerned on whether the senior professional can “fit into” the team/company culture
- Some senior or older workers don’t help themselves by applying to roles that they may not have a natural advantage in; for instance, an operations executive/finance analyst role would likely be a better fit for a younger professional generally, as they require multi-tasking abilities and good excel skills. However, an older professional would thrive in roles that require more “crystallised intelligence” and network, leveraging their experience and maturity in implementing projects, expanding business into new markets, process improvement, etc.
That said, are local employers keen to hire senior and older workers, and what are the better paying roles that tend to be available?
KN: At The Courage Chapter, we focus on helping senior and older workers find short-term or part-time roles, such as Maternity/Sabbatical/Resignation covers or stable 3-day/week/fractional roles.
We have seen employers from different industries, multi-national companies (MNCs), small and medium enterprises (SME’s) and charities keen to hire, in general.
Some of the better-paying roles tend to be corporate function jobs, which require more transferrable and timeless skills, such as human resource, finance, operations, or marketing.
In fact, older workers are more attractive to such employers for their maturity in handling difficult work situations, their level of experience/technical expertise in certain fields, their network, and potentially leadership abilities and loyalty to the organisation!
Of course, upskilling is crucial to staying relevant for such roles. For those making a career change, salary expectations should also be adjusted to factor in that companies will pay for the experience and capability of the role they hire for, not the total years of experience.
For workers who haven’t reach “senior” level yet, how should they be strategising to maintain their career longevity?
In my interactions with our senior professional community and my corresponding reflections on career longevity, I’ve come to realise that some roles and industries command more respect as you age, while others prefer younger folks.
These preferences can be greatly explained by the level of fluid intelligence vs. crystallised intelligence that each role demands.
For context, fluid intelligence is the ability to reason, think flexibly, and solve novel problems. It is highest relatively early in young adulthood and starts diminishing in one’s 30s and 40s.
Crystallised intelligence is the ability to apply a stock of knowledge learned in the past, and it increases with age through the 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.
The most fulfilled professionals were able to redesign their careers from innovation to instruction over the long term. Hence, you see many experienced professionals finding their second chapters in mentoring, consulting or teaching. Industries like real estate or academia also value tenured individuals.
A good question for workers in the 40-50 age demographic is, “How may I craft my career as I move from raw smarts to wisdom?”
In a nutshell, I believe mid-career (even in their 30s), employees should already start to plan how they may “age gracefully” into their next career chapter, leveraging their natural biological clock and strengths.
Transitioning to a more educative/advisory role in one’s later years may help one remain highly productive in the workplace.
This article was done in collaboration with The Courage Chapter.
