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The Big Read in short: What’s ailing the funeral industry?

Each week, TODAY’s long-running Big Read series delves into the trends and issues that matter. This week, we take an in-depth look at the funeral trade in Singapore, which has been in the spotlight of late. This is a shortened version of the feature.

While fresh blood has breathed new life into a once-scruffy industry, the quality of funerary services varies widely, training is patchy (or non-existent in some firms), and inexperienced workers end up having to pick up skills on the job.

While fresh blood has breathed new life into a once-scruffy industry, the quality of funerary services varies widely, training is patchy (or non-existent in some firms), and inexperienced workers end up having to pick up skills on the job.

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Each week, TODAY’s long-running Big Read series delves into the trends and issues that matter. This week, we take an in-depth look at the funeral trade in Singapore, which has been in the spotlight of late. This is a shortened version of the feature, which can be found here.

SINGAPORE — Buoyed by low barriers to entry, a wave of new blood — young people fresh out of school among them — have forayed into the funeral industry and turned it on its head.

While some traditional players remain, the dingy parlours and boisterous workers of decades past have largely given way to professionally run businesses with better systems and smartly dressed crew.

Today, more than 800 businesses provide funeral and related services, based on industry estimates.

Operators that do not focus on funerals as their primary business — such as tent companies — are also muscling their way in.

While fresh blood has breathed new life into a once-scruffy industry, the quality of funerary services varies widely, training is patchy (or non-existent in some firms), and inexperienced workers end up having to pick up skills on the job.

In the past year alone, two high-profile incidents have turned the spotlight on the industry.

In December last year, a mix-up by an employee of funeral firm Harmony Funeral Care led to the cremation of a wrong body. Earlier that year, a man had his mother’s body moved to another funeral parlour after an undertaker in Geylang Bahru allegedly left it uncovered.

Right now, the National Environment Agency (NEA) licenses funeral parlours with embalming facilities to uphold environmental hygiene standards. It does not regulate providers of other funerary services, such as businesses supplying wake halls and funeral directors without embalming services.

NEW WAVE SWEEPING THE INDUSTRY

The past decade has seen shifting perceptions of the funeral industry, as parlours were spruced up, and more funeral directors ditched singlets and shorts for suits.

In general, the industry has become more palatable to the young, industry players said.

Some of the established players in the market are now run by second-, third- and fourth-generation entrepreneurs.

For instance, after veteran undertaker Roland Tay, 73, handed over the reins at household name Direct Funeral Services to his daughter Jenny Tay, 34, she put improvements in place. Among other things, the firm set in motion rigorous standard operating procedures and underwent rebranding.

Aside from family-owned businesses, younger professionals with several years of experience in the trade are also starting their own firms.

The industry’s low entry barriers have their pros and cons, said industry players. On the one hand, it encourages the entry of players who bring new ideas to the table. This benefits the sector. But on the other hand, some may not abide by the rules governing the trade.

WHAT’S DRIVING INTEREST IN THE TRADE?

Fresh entrants, including young people, have become more interested in the trade for a variety of reasons:

  • Young people tend to stay in the industry because of a sense of fulfilment, said Mr Eugene Tan of Entrust Funeral Service. The industry is also better managed now. Others may also find that the trade gives them a chance to build a career, as there are no educational prerequisites.

  • Mr Zhuo Weijie of New Century Funeral Services said that those joining the sector also find more opportunities to learn as younger funeral bosses take the helm.

  • The industry has also become more service-oriented and sentiments towards the trade, once viewed as a job for outcasts, have shifted radically, said other industry players.  

ISSUES FACING THE INDUSTRY

As the industry evolves on the back of heightened interest from the younger generation, it has made strides towards professionalising its workers and raising the quality of services.

But standards remain uneven.

The dearth of structured training and space for business expansion is posing headaches for the industry. 

Lack of training: Most funeral workers acquire the tools of the trade on the job, and training standards vary across companies.

  • Employees at established players, such as Direct Funeral Services and the Ang Chin Moh Group of Companies, are put through training programmes from cleaning and dressing bodies to logistics and operations.

  • But workers in other firms receive less training, as their jobs are mostly logistics-based and workers are already familiar with the tasks at hand.

  • At present, the profession here lacks a standard course for funeral directors and a mortuary college, and funeral directors seeking certification have had to turn to overseas colleges, said industry observers and players. Institutes in places such as the United States and Taiwan already offer programmes that lead to degrees, diplomas or certificates in mortuary science and funeral service.

Lack of space to expand: Funeral businesses said the dearth of sites parcelled out by NEA for funeral parlours has also impaired their growth and ability to improve services and standards.

  • Right now, licensed funeral parlours are located at six sites including Geylang Bahru, Sin Ming Drive and Toa Payoh Industrial Park. While NEA has announced five sites — in Bidadari, Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Batok, Mandai and Woodlands — that will be developed over the next decade or so, firms said the schedule was too long and called on the agency to accelerate development. To this, NEA said that while there is a planned development schedule for the new funeral parlours, it would make adjustments where necessary. “We will monitor the demand for funeral space, adjust the timelines if necessary, and launch the new funeral parlour sites progressively over the next couple of years,” the agency added. Among the five new locations, the site in Woodlands will be the first to be launched for development around the middle of this year.

  • Firms said having their own embalming theatres and spaces to display caskets and store funeral supplies would raise convenience, allow them to expand, and obviate the need to find storage space.

WAYS TO UPLIFT THE TRADE

Funeral businesses said Singapore needs a formal course for funeral directors, which could lead to licensing.

Others said that the industry’s entry barriers should be raised by imposing basic requirements before a person can start a funeral business.

Standard training leading to licensing: Most industry players interviewed suggested that the Association of Funeral Directors Singapore (AFD), working with NEA and educational institutions, could start a programme to groom funeral professionals.

  • Industry veterans could conduct the course and scholars from overseas could be invited to teach students about customs and beliefs. Larger firms could also share resources to train committed workers, said industry players.

  • This could lead to a licence for funeral directors, as in Taiwan’s case, said Mr Nicky Teo of the Singapore Funeral Company.

  • Still, some funeral professionals said certification is not a cure-all and elements of the vocation, such as customs and religious practices, are best learnt on the ground.

  • For a course aimed at funeral directors to materialise, AFD said there must be commitment from everyone in the funeral profession. In devising a course, the association said the challenges include agreeing on the syllabi that all funeral professionals must undergo to achieve certification and the availability of qualified teachers.

  • AFD noted that Ang Chin Moh Foundation, a charity that raises awareness about end-of-life conversations in Singapore, had engaged an institution of higher learning in an attempt to develop a course on funerals and embalming. “However, this did not go beyond the working-level stage, as the institution was of the opinion that parents and the public would not support such a course of study and that the demand will not be cost-effective to run it,” the association said.

  • Responding to the suggestion, NEA said it would work with the industry to strengthen training for workers by identifying and developing the skills needed by the industry. The agency would also do a review with AFD to find ways to help Singaporeans who wish to practise embalming — few embalmers here are locals owing to the lack of training opportunities.

Raise barriers to entry: There have also been suggestions to impose rules on starting funeral firms.

Mr Calvin Tang of the Singapore Casket suggested that those wishing to set up a funeral firm must first have an office, a full-time embalmer, an embalming theatre and a certain number of full-time employees. NEA and AFD could discuss how to put these requirements in place, he added.

MORE REGULATIONS ‘MAY LEAD TO HIGHER COSTS’

NEA said it was prepared to consider more regulations where needed.

“But the trade-off of potentially higher costs, which will eventually be passed on to the families, will have to be carefully assessed,” the agency said.

To appreciate the problems affecting the industry, industry observer Chen Jiaxi, who was formerly with Ang Chin Moh Funeral Directors, said NEA should appoint an independent committee to review potential gaps in the profession, and in present procedures and guidelines. This could lead to a robust code of conduct that licensees and operators must follow.

As far as statistics on complaints go, consumers do not appear hugely dissatisfied with funeral services.

In the past three years, NEA received four pieces of feedback about embalming work. The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) drew 11 complaints about funeral-related services in the last three years — eight of them in 2019. The complaints were about overcharging, sales tactics and misleading claims.

Mr Teo suggested that all funeral firms be accredited under CaseTrust, a scheme by Case for fair trading practices.

Case president Lim Biow Chuan said that the association would be happy to start an accreditation scheme for the funeral industry if firms are found to be taking advantage of consumers. But he noted that Case is not a regulator, and if firms breach their commitments, the only recourse is to remove their accreditation.

Related topics

funeral services funeral parlour business

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