No taboo in death trade for millennials seeking ‘meaningful’ careers

SINGAPORE — Undergraduate Glorainne Heng raised eyebrows and caused consternation when she announced to her family and friends in May that she had secured a two-month internship with a funeral company.

“They were like ‘huh why do you want to join the industry?’”, said the final-year Nanyang Technological University student reading Linguistics and Multilingual Studies.

Inspired after hearing that her older brother wanted to be a coroner, she began trawling through articles about the funeral industry, including the pro-bono work done by veteran undertaker Roland Tay, who offered free funeral services for the poor, the destitute and murder victims.

“I thought it could be something that is meaningful, so after reading all these (articles), I was like, well, maybe I will just try for it,” said the 24-year-old.

Ms Heng, who interned with Mr Tay’s Direct Funeral Services in June and July, is among a growing group of millennials who have taken a keen interest in the funeral industry in their search for more “meaningful careers”, a trend that those in the industry noticed only in recent years.

In the past one to two years, Direct Funeral Services managing director Jenny Tay receives about six to eight job applications every month from candidates aged between 20 and 40.

Interest level is so high that from last year, the company decided to offer internship positions to allow the younger generation to learn more about the profession, said Ms Tay, who took over the running of the family business from her father Roland Tay.

This was a far cry from the days when her father started the business — some 40 years ago — when only those in their 40s to 60s would take on the work.

“Because of education and (media) exposure (about the funeral industry), more people are willing to consider this line,” she added. Today, 70 per cent of her staff — or 45 out of 65 employees — are in their 20s to 40s. They take on roles such service crew and operation team after completing a three-month probation programme.

Over at The Life Celebrant, founder Ang Jolie Mei said almost half — or five — out of a total staff strength of 12 are under 30 years of age. A similar trend is observed at Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors, where about one-third of its employees are below 30, and its marketing and human resources director Nicole Yeo said turnover rate has been “very low”.

The younger generation are drawn to the industry as they find that there is a purpose in what they are doing, said Ms Ang, adding: “(For them), (it) is not about the money, it is really about the passion. It’s about the meaning behind the job, so we have more and more people applying.”

For some, curiosity about this formerly taboo industry is what draws them, said Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors’s chief executive officer Deborah Andres. This has led some funeral companies to set up targeted programmes to groom and train the younger set.

Direct Funeral Services runs an internship programme that exposes undergraduates to “basic essential” roles such as learning how to prepare a coffin and dressing the deceased. Eventually, if they want to lead and run an event as a funeral director, they will know how a funeral runs from start to finish, said Ms Tay.

Since last year, Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors has rolled out a 12-week training programme for all new employees, where they are cross trained and rotated through the company’s various departments. The idea is to expose them to the different job scopes and for them to find out where their interests lie.

Employees will learn how to carry out funerals for different religions and how to comfort and advise grieving families, among other things, said Ms Andres. And if someone expresses interest in a particular field, the company will invest resources to upskill him or her, she added.

For example, a 29-year-old who started out in the human resource department but has become an embalmer after he showed an interest in the role and the company sent him to Scotland for an embalming course.

Lin Wai Yin, 19, joined Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors in June this year as he was curious about the work they do.

“I want to stay on (after the programme) because I want to understand this industry (better),” said Mr Lin in Mandarin. “I joined because I want to help family members prepare the last journey for their loved ones who have passed on”.

As for overcoming reservations from their family, the millennials interviewed by TODAY say their loved ones do come around — eventually.

Ms Heng said her parents changed their minds about her internship after they got to know more about it.

“After they learnt more about what I actually did, which was pretty meaningful as it helps the families, it was not as bad as what they thought it would be,” she said, adding that she is keen to take on a full-time position in this industry once she graduates.

Some of her friends and relatives have also been supportive, telling her that they think her internship is interesting.

“(Some) who (went through some) tragic events in their families would find it’s a pretty meaningful thing because it helped them before to cope with their grief,” she said.

Joanne Ong, 23, decided to get into the funeral industry after a bad experience with an undertaker when her mother died. She is part of the decedent care team at The Life Celebrant. Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY