SINGAPORE - The "vast majority" of companies are either already implementing re-employment practices or allowing employees to continue working beyond the retirement age, Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said yesterday as he reassured that the Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) would not be an easy way for employers to lay off their older workers.

The "main priority" is to get older workers employed and the EAP, which is a payment employers give to workers above 62 whom they are not re-employing, "will help them tide over" the time needed to find another job, he said.

"EAP is only one of the features that is provided by the draft guidelines to help these older workers find new employment. So it's not meant to be an easy way out for employers to find ways to get rid of their workers," stressed Mr Gan.

He is "confident" that employers understand this, and "we will be able to improve the employment rate of older workers, even with EAP".

"I think we have to take this (EAP) in the right spirit.

"The most important priority for us is to encourage employers to recognise the contributions of older workers and also encourage older workers to stay productive so that they remain employable as they age," he said.