Senior Employability: Meaningful Employment and its Value for Businesses and Singapore

ADJOURNMENT MOTION

The Leader of the House (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Question proposed.

Senior Employability: Meaningful Employment and its Value for Businesses and Singapore

6.00 pm

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above. Based on the United Nations' report on the world's population ageing in 2019, Singapore will be amongst the top 10 aged countries in the world in 2050 and the second highest country with the largest percentage point increase in the share of older persons in the world.

Life expectancy, as we all discussed earlier, of Singaporeans is going up, and in 2020, it is 83.93 years with healthy life expectancy at 73.7 years for males and 75.2 years for females. With longer life expectancy and healthier life, a senior can continue to work productively and lead a meaningful life for longer.

While longevity touches many aspects of how we live, work and play, I am advocating the need for a concerted focus on work and senior employability.

Enhancing the employability of seniors aged 55 and above is not a new topic in Singapore. There are a myriad of re-employment, retirement and retention policies, financial support and grants to employ seniors, programmes to redesign work, to hire and support seniors who want to continue to work. The Motion today is to share the voices from surveys and focus group discussions on senior employment and to make recommendations to enable meaningful employment of seniors and the value of the pool of talent for businesses and Singapore.

To understand senior employability, as part of the PAP Seniors Group's effort to reach out and hear the voices of seniors employed and unemployed, we conducted online surveys and focus group discussions with seniors. This enabled us to learn more about what matters to seniors in their working lives, the opportunities and challenges they face. In October 2021, PAP Seniors Group started our engagement with seniors aged 50 and above through an online survey. Nine hundred and thirty-four seniors of diverse profiles responded to the survey. To gather further insights, we engaged 200 seniors, including the survey respondents who were willing to participate in Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to have deeper conversations and dialogues. In addition, we conducted a literature review on senior employability both locally and globally. We examined the matter from the perspectives of seniors and various stakeholders, such as employers and younger workers who work with seniors.

Contrary to the popular belief that one would retire, not work and "enjoy" life; seniors we engaged with shared that they want to continue to work as well as to do work that tapped on their capability. The primary motivation is the sense of satisfaction derived from the contributions made at work, amongst others, of course, more realistically, economic and some sociological motivations. The survey results corroborated with the qualitative responses of seniors who participated in our focus group discussions.

We also conducted online surveys with the younger workers and employers to hear and examine the matter from their perspectives. In August this year, together with the support of Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) and in partnership with Professor John Wong and the team from NUS and NUHS working on the Singapore Health District @ Queenstown, I joined a dialogue with human resource professionals and decision makers from different companies to understand their experience in hiring and managing seniors in the workforce.

The inputs we gathered from online surveys and FGDs with seniors, employers, younger workers and HR professionals have informed the recommendations I am putting forward on senior employability.

The seniors, employers, HR professionals and younger employees we engaged, acknowledge the value of the many policies and programmes available today, that promote support and advance the hiring, training and retention of seniors in the workforce. However, all stakeholders agreed that more needs to be done to address challenges faced and to promote active employment of seniors for more meaningful and happier employment. It is not just the number of seniors being employed but the quality of the jobs and the work experience of seniors as well as seniors being able to fulfill the requirements of available jobs.

Ageism and the continued need to learn new things or skills to stay relevant amid the dynamic macro environment were two key challenges and experiences shared by seniors in the survey and FGDs. Feedback from employers, younger workers and HR professionals highlighted the value of the experience, knowledge and expertise of older workers and the diversity with a multi-generational workforce. However again, all stakeholders, including seniors themselves, shared challenges of managing or working in a multi-generational workforce.

In the FGDs with seniors, participants shared their experiences with ageism, with many citing difficulties in getting the opportunity for interviews for the multiple jobs applications made. In our discussion with HR professionals, they did share that often business leaders may not consider workers above 50yrs for certain roles as they are seen as having not enough "runway". While citing these examples, seniors and HR professionals acknowledged that it is often unconscious bias and not a deliberate attempt to discriminate. From both the surveys and FGDs, seniors shared that they worry about not being able to continue to work after the retirement and re-employment age.

In Singapore, the Retirement and Re-Employment Act (RRA) protects employees from being dismissed because of age. When they reach the retirement age, which is currently 63, the company will have to re-employ them until they reach the re-employment age, which is currently 68. In the FGD with HR professionals, they highlighted that while the intent is to protect older workers, the RRA is a double-edge sword, leading to an unconscious bias against selecting seniors for roles. As a company considers hiring someone who is senior and has little "runway" to retirement, they may see it as a risk to hire a person if he/she turns out not be a good fit for the role, as the company will be required to offer re-employment for the person when he/she reaches retirement age.

In the OECD report on Promoting an Age-Inclusive Workforce 2020, it was reported that across OECD, the hiring rate for older workers aged 55 to 64 is half that for younger workers, and the challenges in recruitment posed barriers for older workers.

From the employer FGD and the online survey with younger workers, a significant proportion of participants highlighted the need for seniors to learn new skills, especially digital skills. Employers also indicated that seniors may not have the motivation or interest to attend training due to lack of relevance of the training content, or not understanding the language used to deliver training, not being able to follow the pace of training, or not having the time. And this finding corresponds to the responses by seniors. The employers also indicated that there is a shortage of manpower to send employees away for training.

From the survey with younger workers, the findings showed a paradox, where a high proportion of respondents, which is 94%, which caught me by surprise as well, acknowledged the advantages of working with older colleagues and yet, a relatively high number of respondents, 78%, faced challenges working with older colleagues. I will not give you details of some of the responses they gave. These responses translate to the general sentiment that it is beneficial to work alongside older colleagues, but at the same time, one needs to recognise there are challenges in a multi-generational workforce. These challenges are attributed to the differences between people in terms of beliefs, mindset, values, disposition and working styles.

I have summarised and shared what we have heard on senior employability from seniors and other stakeholders. While we acknowledge and recognise the value of policies and programmes available today that promote, support and advance the hiring, training and retention of seniors in the workforce, the challenges need to be addressed.

My recommendations touch on two areas: one, structural change required in how we learn and organise work; two, the need to better support a multi-generational workforce.

We are facing structural economic and social shifts. We have an ageing population, longevity, healthier life expectancy, declining birth rates, technological advances and disruptions. The traditional one-directional and linear progression of distinct life stages of education, work and retirement and how they affect meaningful employment need to be seen through new lenses. Minister Ong Ye Kung touched on this point about life stages determining the different points in terms of health and I think we need to also look at it in terms of work.

We need structural change to policies around learning, employment models, work processes, HR practices, career planning to enable seniors to have more meaningful employment and for employers and Singapore to effectively tap the potential of this segment and growing pool of talent.

As people live longer and healthier, we continue to learn, we can be productive and we have a desire to contribute in different ways. This implies that many of us will continue to work as we age. This means that we will progress through our life stages in a non-linear way, where there are different pathways. Just as we allow for different pathways of our young in formal education, perhaps we need to re-think of how we structure this for seniors in the workforce to enable continuous learning and work. Individuals and employers know the value of continuous learning, the challenge is making time, making time to substantially invest in it. Hence, the vicious cycle of talent gaps and skills relevancy affecting both businesses and individuals. Structural intervention is required. For example, to allow a period of perhaps, maybe a few months for work related learning every few years. Then we will really build skills. Today, there is already significant subsidies and funds available for training and development. What is required is to make learning as systemic for workers and not just seniors in the workplace as it is for young in formal education.

Making it systemic does not mean that it is a one size fits all. Individuals will want to make different choices, choices that will work for them. There should be multiple routes connecting the roles, opportunities and commitments of individuals throughout their adult lives. This will mean that people may transition in and out of life stages, work and learning often. We need to understand and support individuals to learn, work and age well throughout their lives. People need to be able to access learning formal and informal and acquire knowledge in ways that fit their life stages and their abilities.

An area emphasised by HR professionals in our FGD is the need for functional, technical and cognitive skills to support senior learners prepare and deal with career transitions. We need to recognise that senior learners may face a combination of structural, physical and emotional challenges in learning. Delivery methods should address the various needs and challenges for positive learning experience and outcomes.

As people live and work longer, work and employment models need to be organised differently to allow greater flexibility for career, parenting, caregiving and personal obligations throughout the different stages of one's life. This is especially important for seniors.

Let me touch on multi-generational workforce. Employers, younger workers and HR professionals we engaged, value the experience of the knowledge, experience and expertise of older workers as well as the diversity of a multi-generational workforce. Opportunities for mentoring and reverse mentoring were also highlighted. But as I mentioned earlier, the challenges were also highlighted.

With longevity, an ageing population, technological disruptions and flexible work arrangements, people are working longer. It is not just a matter of young versus old employees but multi-generational, four or five generations. Many organisations – I do not think we realise this – in many organisations today, there are multi-generations already there. Therefore, the needs of employees do differ between the different generations: the baby boomers, the Gen X, the Millennials, the Gen Z and now, the Generation Alphas. Factors such as one's tenure with the organisation, job type, job level add further complexity to this. Each generation has its preferences, working styles, its strengths, influenced by the world we grew up in, our work experiences and our life stage. Generational differences can lead to communication and difficulty of working together between different age groups in an organisation. Organisations must give attention to acknowledge and understand the challenges and put the right programmes, tools and processes to support and respect the needs of employees of all ages.

A World Economic Forum, AARP and the OECD study found that investing in a multi-generational workforce actually increases GDP per capita by almost 19% in three decades. The key learnings that were released by OECD revealed that the multi-generational workforces increased productivity, leads to better retention of experiences and know-how, increases resilience and better access to multi-skilled teams and other benefits. Age diversity in the workplace means varied experiences and points of view, which can become a source of innovation, if we are able to harness the strengths and varied experiences of all workers. This will not only foster a culture of creative thinking, innovation, better decision making and progress for all but also address the ageism and unconscious biases.

A multi-generational workforce can also provide a platform for sharing of knowledge through mentoring and reverse mentoring amongst the different generations. We must do more in Singapore to understand and provide the environment to harness the strength of a multi-generational workforce. I do hope that MOM will agree with me on the benefits of a multi-generational workforce and will help put in place the right reforms in our system to make meaningful policies that will support this environment.

I want to say that the Forward Singapore Movement provides an opportunity and an important platform for all stakeholders young and old, individuals, employers, Government, unions, educational and training institutions, trade associations and industry bodies to come together to chart the way forward for meaningful employment of seniors.

My recommendation on structural change is broad as I am advocating a rethink of work and learning in the workforce, as people are living longer and healthier lives and are working longer. This change is not trivial. It will require all stakeholders to come together and take action to make the change if we are to tap the value of work of seniors and a multi-generational workforce in Singapore. What we do now will affect not only our seniors but our young of today, as they will be seniors of the future.

I think that the Government will play a very important role to put in the reforms in our system to make this change possible and to help galvanise this change, to allow us to make meaningful senior employability possible. [Applause.]

Mr Deputy Speaker: Minister of State Gan Siow Huang.

6.16 pm

The Minister of State for Manpower (Ms Gan Siow Huang): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the hon Member Jessica Tan for sharing her insights on this very important subject of senior employability and also sharing her findings from the PAP Seniors Group, their surveys as well as their focus group discussions.

Indeed, as our seniors lead longer and healthier lives, we need to collectively shift our mindset as a society. It is important to see this as a golden opportunity to tap on the accumulated human capital of our seniors.

The Government has long placed a strong emphasis on improving the employability of our senior workers and we have made good progress. Employment rates for senior workers have continued to rise, even during the pandemic. From 2019 to 2021, the employment rate for those aged 55 to 64 increased from 67.6% to 69% while those aged 65 to 69 increased from 41.7% to 49.0%. This is comparable to top OECD countries and reflect the fact that our senior workers are valued by employers in Singapore.

Perhaps another reality is that we have a tight labour market in Singapore and an ageing workforce, so companies that are progressive and forward looking know that they must tap on the growing pool of senior workers if they want to meet their needs for manpower and talent in the long run.

It is heartening to hear that seniors themselves want to continue to work. Together with our tripartite partners, we have put in place a roadmap to support that. We have raised the retirement and re-employment age to 63 and 68 respectively from 1 July this year. Our goal is to increase it to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030. This will support more senior workers who wish to continue working to do so.

Even as we work towards this goal, we are mindful that there must be sufficient flexibility to avoid unintended consequences.

Under the retirement and re-employment framework, the onus is placed on businesses to re-employ senior workers but there is some flexibility to adjust re-employment terms so that businesses can provide employment opportunities to our senior workers while remaining competitive.

If an employer is unable to identify a suitable position to re-employ the senior worker in, he can provide an Employment Assistance Payment in lieu of re-employment as a last resort. This is to help the worker tide over while he or she seeks alternative employment.

These flexibilities are the outcome of close discussions between tripartite partners and seek to mitigate the concerns on whether re-employment policies may inadvertently disincentivise the hiring of senior workers.

We will continue to study international best practices and ensure that our retirement and re-employment framework stays robust and relevant for Singapore.

Beyond just employment, I agree with Ms Jessica Tan that we should also make sure that senior workers are employed in meaningful roles. The key to this is reskilling and upskilling our senior workers so that they continue to remain relevant as the economy evolves.

Ms Jessica Tan raised an important point that with improving longevity and more frequent economic change, our career paths may no longer be so linear as before but rather, we may need to be prepared for a few career changes throughout our working lives. Senior workers, in particular, may wish to or even find themselves needing to transition into new roles or getting into new growth sectors.

For seniors who are currently out of the workforce and require assistance in job search, Workforce Singapore and NTUC's e2i provide career matching services.

We have put in place a skills upgrading ecosystem to support career switches through the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package and, more recently, SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme. We also provide enhanced salary and training support of up to 90% through reskilling programmes such as career conversion programmes which support employers to upskill their new hires, including senior employees, to take on enhanced job roles such as in digital fields, where we know there are lots of exciting development.

There is a career conversion programme, for example, for in-house digital communication professionals, which equips individuals with digital marketing skills to take on in-demand job functions such as brand development. In addition, there are volunteer career advisors, some of them senior workers themselves, who provide their peers with sector- and occupation-specific career advice and mentoring and connect them to relevant Government programmes and services.

To complement these moves, we provide structural support through schemes such as the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit, which encourages employers to invest in the training and capability building of their employees.

Ms Jessica Tan has raised several other pertinent points that can support the upskilling of senior workers. We will definitely take her feedback into consideration as we continually look into how we can refine our training ecosystem. In particular, we are studying how we can support Singaporean mid-career workers in enhancing their skills more substantially during the later stages of their working lives.

Ms Jessica Tan has also suggested that there must be a culture of continuous learning at the workplace. I fully agree. Indeed, this is critical not just for senior workers but also for other workers. While the Government can and will continue to provide the necessary resources and support, employers must also see the value of adopting a "plug-train-play" approach rather than a "plug-and-play" approach.

This is why we have been working with companies to provide quality training to their employees at the workplace. We have expanded the reach of the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning (NACE) to uplift the workplace learning capabilities of companies, especially SMEs. To date, more than 1,700 companies have benefited from the programmes offered by NACE.

I agree with Ms Jessica Tan that we must continue promoting different pathways for workers to progress. There is no one-size-fits-all-solution. Different businesses will have different needs and so do different senior workers.

A ground-up approach is thus needed where employers take ownership and conduct regular and structured career conversations with their senior workers. This is one of the key aspects that the NTUC's Company Training Committees (CTCs) seek to do – bringing together the employers, HR and employee representatives to identify gaps and opportunities and align the training plans for its workforce to its business transformation roadmap.

MOM has also worked with the Singapore National Employers Federation to develop a structured career planning resource guide. I encourage more employers to utilise this guide and take a more deliberate approach in workforce planning.

As our population ages, multi-generational workplaces will increasingly be the norm. As Ms Jessica Tan has pointed out, a multi-generational workforce allows us to harness the experience and expertise of senior workers which can contribute to better productivity.

As the saying goes, "姜还是老的辣". The older, the wiser. Senior workers bring a different value-add and complement the younger workerforce as they often have more experience and knowledge of the trade.

We all have a role to play in creating effective multi-generational workplaces. Senior workers themselves play an important role in shaping perceptions. It may not be easy but they should be open to job role changes and picking up new skills to keep pace with technological advancements and also changes in the ways of working. The Government will always support our senior workers on this journey.

Employers should adopt age-friendly workplace practices such as job redesign to make tasks and workplace environments more age-friendly, providing flexible work arrangements and practising fair employment practices. Business leaders and HR have an important role to play in shaping a company culture that is age-friendly. The tripartite partners have taken steps to nurture age-friendly work practices.

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Practices, or TAFEP in short, runs complimentary workshops to guide employers on putting fair employment practices into place. I encourage employers to approach TAFEP to find out more. I would also like to encourage more employers to adopt the Tripartite Standard on Age-friendly Workplace Practices, which specifies a set of good age management practices and recognises progressive employers that implement them.

Several Members in this House today and in the past have expressed concerns with ageism affecting job opportunities and career progression for senior workers. The Government does not tolerate age discrimination.

I would like to reiterate that all employers are expected to abide by the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP). As announced last year, a Tripartite Committee is looking into enacting workplace fairness legislation. This will broaden the range of measures and penalties available to address workplace discrimination, including age discrimination.

Mr Deputy Speaker, as a society, we must collectively rethink our attitudes towards ageing and see it as a boon, not a bane. The Government will continue to provide the fullest support to enable our seniors to have longer careers and contribute meaningfully in multi-generational workplaces. But we cannot do this alone. We need a strong ecosystem of employers, unions, training institutions and, most of all, employees, young and old, to play a part to enable Singaporeans to harness the benefits of longevity. [Applause.]

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn."

Adjourned accordingly at 6.27 pm.