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Rewards to spur firms to rehire seniors in the offing

SINGAPORE — Less than three years after firms were mandated to rehire older workers until they turn 65, the first concrete step to prepare employers for a further raising of the re-employment age ceiling to 67 was set in motion yesterday, with the Government accepting a committee’s recommendations to hand out carrots to employers who do so voluntarily ahead of legislative changes.

Office workers at Raffles Place. Photo: Ernest Chua

Office workers at Raffles Place. Photo: Ernest Chua

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SINGAPORE — Less than three years after firms were mandated to rehire older workers until they turn 65, the first concrete step to prepare employers for a further raising of the re-employment age ceiling to 67 was set in motion yesterday, with the Government accepting a committee’s recommendations to hand out carrots to employers who do so voluntarily ahead of legislative changes.

Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who accepted the recommendation by the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers (Tricom) on behalf of the Government, said: “We are allowing companies adequate time to adjust before legislating and will provide incentives for employers who voluntarily re-employ older workers beyond 65 ahead of it being legislated.”

Details of these incentives can be expected early next year and the incentives will be backdated to Jan 1, 2015.

Companies TODAY spoke to said they have no qualms rehiring workers until they are 67, given the tight labour market conditions, but some hoped laws obliging them to do so will be enacted only in three to five years so they have enough time to adjust.

Since laws kicked in in 2012 requiring employers to rehire workers turning 62 until they are 65 — if they are able and willing to do so — there have been calls, chiefly from the labour movement, to further extend this until employees turn 67. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said the Government supports the move and intends to implement it eventually but is working on a suitable timeline to do so.

Responding to Tricom’s recommendation, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is Minister-in-charge of the Civil Service, said the public sector will take the lead in re-employing officers until they are 67 years old. The Public Service Division has consulted public-sector agencies and unions and will be announcing details, he added.

Deputy chief of the National Trades Union Congress Heng Chee How said the labour movement welcomes the recommendation and will work with unionised companies to re-employ workers beyond age 65. He hopes “significant” incentives from the Government can be given to firms “soonest”.

In its advisory encouraging firms to start extending job offers to those who turn 65 although they are not yet legally obliged to do so, Tricom — chaired by Senior Minister of State (Manpower and Health) Amy Khor — said employers should continue to extend the same re-employment practices to these workers “as a good practice”.

Employers said wage subsidies will help them do so. President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises Kurt Wee suggested subsidies similar to those of the Workfare Income Supplement for low-wage workers, but geared towards mature workers. Ms Athena Kang, director of E-Cleaning, added that subsidies for insurance premiums would help too as it is more expensive to insure older staff.

Meanwhile, Mr Vincent Foo, owner of cleaning company AO ServicePro, suggested the foreign worker quota for firms could be relaxed in tandem with the rehiring of older workers, so the latter can take on less physically demanding jobs. Mr Adrin Loi, executive chairman of Ya Kun, added: “I’m very short on manpower, so everybody is welcome. But they might not be able to do heavy chores like carrying pots of coffee.”

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