About 25 Singapore companies have committed themselves to the
Advantage! scheme since it was introduced in October 2005 to help 4,000
mature employees to continue working.
A paint company brought in bar coding and helped 14 older workers with
failing eyesight to keep their jobs, and a nursing home created 50 jobs
for older workers by redesigning work processes to make them less
physically demanding.
Stephen Lee, president of the Singapore National Employers’ Federation,
said: ‘To prepare the workplace to receive older workers, whether on a
factory floor or offices, companies have to make some investment both
in the hardware and software. They shoulould perhaps look at how to
take some of the heavier part of the work out, re-segregate the jobs,
re-divide them so that one job is physically lighter. Employers would
welcome this incentive mostly for preparation work and prepare the
factory floor to make it more conducive for older workers to stay on.’
Richard Soh, regional general manager (Southeast Asia) of SCA Packaging
Asia Singapore, said: ‘For us, [using older workers] is a win-win
because, for the company, we get staff who are more reliable, who are
more stable; and on the workers’ side, they continue to work, and they
still get training and they upgrade their skills.’
The Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers is
encouraging businesses in healthcare, transport, hotels, restaurants
and other sectors, as well as manufacturing, to take advantage of the
scheme, and create jobs for older workers.
By 2015, the number of workers in Singapore aged 50 and above is
expected to increase from 380,000, to 600,000, and many in this age
group already want to work beyond the legal retirement age of 62.
