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S’pore losing out on a huge human resource

It was interesting to read the letters, “Age shouldn’t be factor in pay package” (March 5), “Let people work as long as they are medically fit” (March 4) and “Singapore should discard concept of fixed retirement age” (March 2).

It was interesting to read the letters, “Age shouldn’t be factor in pay package” (March 5), “Let people work as long as they are medically fit” (March 4) and “Singapore should discard concept of fixed retirement age” (March 2).

In Parliament, the Environment and Water Resources Minister said that the National Environment Agency does not have an age limit for re-employing its daily-rated workers. (“No age limit for daily-rated workers hired by NEA: Vivian Balakrishnan”; March 3, Channel NewsAsia)

Meanwhile, a Senior Minister of State suggested that investing in training and updating mature workers would create “ageless jobs and evergreen workers”. (“Train and update mature workers to create ‘ageless jobs’: Heng Chee How”; March 3, Channel NewsAsia)

I cannot agree more that the working age should be extended. Discrimination against re-employed workers would occur, however, if there is a compulsory retirement age, as stated in one of the letters.

The reality is that the retirees in many fields, especially in economics, medicine and education, are a huge and outstanding human resource. The nation loses out if people who have long been in these sectors are forced to retire.

Take, for instance, education, an arena I have been in for more than three decades. For all the changes in the system, one thing will never change: Educating hearts is at the heart of education. Most old-timers in education would always embrace this basic unwritten rule.

Also, we hardly take medical leave. Some young workers, whether in education or other industries, may do so at least once a month.

To add to what one of the letter writers wrote, I would ask why an older or re-employed worker’s pay should be cut if he does not take medical leave and his performance is better than the young staff.

As an academic director who also teaches physics and mathematics in an international school, I am proud that for the fourth consecutive year, half of the students scored an A in physics and 45 per cent of them did so in mathematics.

If my pay is cut, would I want to work as hard to keep up such results? It is a world of tit for tat. And if employers treat their staff with heart, the latter would reciprocate in a manner that drives up productivity.

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