Stamp out ageism in the workplace

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How do you see the move to enable older Singaporeans to stay employed for longer? What changes, if any, would your organisation make in light of the upcoming increase in retirement age, re-employment age and CPF rates?

Max Loh Singapore and Brunei Managing Partner Ernst & Young LLP

There are always opportunities in and for change. Enabling older Singaporeans to stay employed for longer makes available an experienced workforce for companies to leverage. As well, it supports active ageing, allowing our seniors to continue to contribute to the economy if they wish to. There will invariably be higher business costs that need to be factored into the company's talent management and operating models, and fiscal support from the government will be helpful. Business costs aside, companies will also need to think strategically about what a multi-generational workforce means for their culture and the importance of inclusion, the nature of work and job types, and the role of technology and reskilling in optimising this workforce segment.

Chia Ngiang Hong President Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS)

We see the recent change in manpower policy as a forward-looking and pragmatic initiative to promote an inclusive and progressive workforce in view of the ageing population. What matters is not age but an employee's capability, attitude and willingness to work and the value he/she can bring to the organisation. Older workers offer a wealth of institutional knowledge and experience and are an important talent source in the shrinking labour pool. While increase in costs is expected, support from the government and introducing the measures in small gradual steps over time will help to mitigate the impact especially for smaller companies. Employers should work closely with workers in their retraining and upskilling programme, creating more flexible working models with a long term perspective and start open conversations and career planning sessions with workers when they are in their 40s or 50s.

Patrick Lee CEO Singapore Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited

This is in line with our flexible working practices that give our employees the option to find the balance they need at varying stages of their lives. With an increasing pool of flexible workforce and with more upskilling in new technology such as API, coding, agile/scrum, this will help to ease future talent gaps faster.

We have about 120 colleagues who are over 60 years old - some extended their employment with us even after they crossed the retirement age, and they have a wealth of experience to share. For instance, our longest-serving employee of 50 years had retired but returned to work on contract for a project.

Victor Mills Chief Executive Singapore International Chamber of Commerce

The Chamber has been advocating for these changes for some time as part of its response to the ageism which exists in the workforce. The measures announced are fair and just both to mature workers and - because of the phased implementation and the support package planned for Budget 2020, to employers. The Chamber has scrapped the retirement age for all staff who are able and wish to keep working. I look forward to the day when CPF rates will not be reduced for mature workers and when everyone is paid according to their skills and contributions regardless of their age.

Andrew Chan Founder and CEO ACI HR Solutions

The policy move is not a surprise but a much needed stimulus for the workforce, particularly in the service sector that has struggled with manpower issues. Whilst the official adjustments are being made at a statutory level, I do hope to see employers adjust their mindsets when it comes to employing older workers as there is still an inherent stigma and perceived bias at the recruitment level. Furthermore, millennials have traditionally been known to job hop. If we consider the retention of staff as one of the success factors of recruitment, older workers who want to continue working or re-enter the workforce may prove to be a more steady and loyal option for employers.

Motohiko Uno President Fujitsu Singapore

We are an equal opportunity employer and believe every employee can contribute positively. We are committed to build a rewarding age-friendly workplace culture that values career development, by providing various forms of support to encourage each employee to pursue self-initiated career development. At Fujitsu, 25 per cent of our workforce is more than 50 years old and our mature employees demonstrate strong commitment and are good mentors for the younger workforce as they are more experienced, with good domain knowledge and expertise. As a technology leader, we will continue to train our mature employees on digital skills to keep up with the advent of technology and ever-changing business demands.

Jean Drouffe Chief Executive Officer AXA Insurance Pte Ltd (Singapore)

Organisations should be ready to support employees who choose to work for more years. One of our key thrusts at AXA is ''Diversity and Inclusion'' where each employee's contribution is valued regardless of age, race, and cultural background.

We believe in supporting our employees with options such as lighter roles and flexible hours to suit their personal situation alongside evolving business needs. Mature colleagues seeking re-employment too can avail themselves of these. The other key components to our approach are workforce wellness, wellbeing, and learning agility. We empower our employees to continuously look for learning opportunities that meet their individual needs. At the centre of everything we do is our aim to bring the best out of everyone.

Naveen Menon President, ASEAN Cisco

Reskilling mid-career talent is absolutely critical to enable older Singaporeans to stay employed for longer. On Aug 20, 2019, Cisco pledged to train one million students and workers in South-east Asia by the end of 2020. To put this in context, we trained nearly one million people in South-east Asia in the last 22 years, and now we are targeting to train the same number of people in just over one year. To live up to this commitment we will need to work closely with many stakeholders: national governments, local enterprise, academia, non-profits and civil society to strengthen the region's digital economy and maximise opportunities brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. I hope that by announcing ambitious goals like this we will be able to inspire and motivate others to join us in this courageous movement to upskill millions more in the region.

Wilf Blackburn CEO Prudential Singapore

Prudential is fully supportive of the government's recent manpower policy move. The business cost taken on now to build an age-friendly workforce is a long-term investment that is worthwhile making because we want to retain our best talent and harness their years of experience. Recognising our increasing longevity, Prudential has removed its retirement age and raised the CPF contribution rate for our employees above 55 because we want to give our people the opportunity to extend their careers if they continue to perform. For us, it is the performance that matters, not age. In giving everyone equal opportunities at work and pegging remuneration to quality of work, we believe we will have a more productive, engaged and future-ready workforce.

Joanne Wong Senior Regional Director, Asia Pacific & Japan LogRhythm

In today's discussions about diversity, gender discrimination has inadvertently shadowed an equally pressing issue: ageism. Singapore's announcement on raising retirement and re-employment age has underscored the need to be inclusive and considerate of senior workers - and for good reasons. If we are just more open, older professionals can help fill existing talent gaps, even for industries such as cybersecurity because they bring with them a wealth of diverse skills, including critical soft skills. It is possible! In 2017, we hired Madam Ivy Lim, then 63 years old. She is still working with us now and continues to receive accolades, being one of our top performing cybersecurity sales development employees in the region.

Paddy Rangappa General Manager Pizza Hut Singapore

We welcome the move to enable Singaporeans to work longer before retiring. Pizza Hut is proud of our diverse workforce - we have a near equal male-female staff ratio, and currently employ more than 100 individuals with special needs, and over 200 employees aged 50 and older (our oldest employee is 79). We emphasise diversity in recruitment: for example, our posters always feature a diverse group of employees. The Prime Minister's announcement is therefore perfectly synced with our values.

We're already working with the government to attract older people to join our career fairs where we hire on the spot. We try to understand older citizens' needs and provide arrangements like scheduling tasks they're physically able to perform and, through flexible work rostering, allowing them to work around their personal commitments. We embrace the Re-employment Act through three-year term contracts with employees. With the new policy, therefore, we won't need to change much; just continue doing what we're already doing, but even better.

Wong Keng Fye Head of Human Capital Maybank Singapore

With the planned changes, employers can tap a larger pool of resources for their institutional knowledge, skills and experience. While Maybank Singapore welcomes the move to extend the retirement and re-employment age to ensure employability and income stability for our older workers, we note that employees and employers need to continue to invest in skill upgrading and job redesign, and to embrace the challenges of a digital world where certain roles might be transformed and jobs might be redeployed, as well as to transition into flexible work arrangements where necessary.

The recommended move, along with increase in CPF contribution rate, will add cost pressures on businesses amidst an uncertain economic environment. Hence, the proactive support from the government in various schemes like wage support, training grants and technological enhancement support will go a long way in helping employers sustain the employability of Singapore's older workers.

Jason Hammond Chief Executive Officer QBE Asia

We can address several demographic and economic issues by enabling older Singaporeans to remain employed for longer. Singaporeans have among the world's longest life expectancy, so early retirement can threaten their financial stability into old age.

Singapore's ageing population also means we have a pool of experienced, eager talent that can help companies meet their workforce needs. Legislating a premature ''use-by'' date for people while they can still make valuable contributions has negative effects on their self-esteem and financial well-being.

Our firm encourages older workers to stay on, offering comprehensive flex-benefits so that work fits their changing lifestyles and ensuring we have an agile and flexible workforce with deep technical expertise.

Jayaprakash Jagateesan Chief Executive Officer RHT Holdings Pte Ltd

It's a significant move to boost retirement adequacy for senior staff members as our lifespan grows. However, it can't be business as usual as we enter our 60s; lifelong learning is key to ageing right. Senior jobseekers' willingness to adapt and grow will go a long way to shift employers' perceptions.

As a professional services company, we see the importance of our senior staff and experienced industry veterans, who bring their highly valued knowledge in client servicing and in providing guidance to junior staff members. Our senior team is expected to continue upskilling to stay relevant and drive the company forward into new areas like fintech. Bridging a knowledge gap will always be more important than an age gap.

Tomoyuki Igawa CEO and Research Head Chugai Pharmabody Research

With the rapidly-aging workforce, this is viewed as a proactive move by the government. While innovative technologies provide possibilities to digitalise work processes, the human touch remains irreplaceable. Raising the retirement age allows us to leverage person-to-person skills transfer; and innovative technologies also free up time to allow experienced employees to work on creative activities, making them a valuable resource. Though our current staff is young, we are always ready to make the necessary changes. Redesigning our job scope based on an older worker's experience and capabilities will be key so that they can continue to value-add to our company.

Praba Thiagarajah Founder & Group CEO Basis Bay

The move by Singapore to increase the retirement age to enable older workers who can and want to work beyond the age of 65 is most favourable. With life expectancy having increased exponentially as a result of better health from medical innovations, organisations in Singapore should explore redesigning the workplace to adapt and accommodate the diverse range of generations that remain employed.

As a regional organisation with a multigenerational workforce, Basis Bay continuously conducts multiple studies wherever possible to standardise all HR policies for the benefit of our organisation and employees, whether they are millennials or seniors who continue to contribute their expertise and services to the business.

Bicky Bhangu President British Chamber of Commerce Singapore

In a recent British Chamber of Commerce event on this very topic, both closed-door and in an open forum, the Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo heard directly from our member companies on the initiatives that they are driving to support employees keen to work beyond the current retirement age.

Many companies shared their practices from implementation of increasing retirement age to those with no retirement age. With the proportion of older workers within the Singapore working-age population growing faster than new entrants and with the increasing life expectancy, proactive steps are necessary to support employees and companies. We welcome the 2020 Budget announcement to address the associated costs with these measures.

Cherry Huang General Manager, Cross-border Business, South and Southeast Asia Alipay

Since entering the market two years ago, Alipay has worked with hundreds of thousands of small and medium enterprises in Singapore by helping them connect and engage with Chinese tourists. Many of these businesses are started and run by older Singaporeans, such as 60-year-old MJ Heng of Sweet Musings and 68-year-old Rod Lim of Lim Chee Guan.

Through their willingness to learn and adopt digital technology solutions like Alipay, these business owners have grown their businesses and come closer to achieving their dreams. Our experience reaffirms that Singaporeans, even older Singaporeans, have an aptitude for technology adoption which enables them to stay employable.

Phua Tien Beng CEO, Singapore Operations Parkway Pantai

The expertise of our staff is our greatest asset in Parkway Pantai. It is essential that we retain their experience and knowledge in the organisation for as long as possible, even as we transform ourselves to deliver quality healthcare in the digital era.

Our hospitals have already employed greater use of automation, artificial intelligence, a variety of electronic sensors and other technological solutions within the facilities to lessen the physicality of routine tasks, reduce redundancies and minimise the risk of errors. Together with regular training and upskilling, our older workers will continue to contribute effectively and meaningfully in our evolving healthcare landscape.

Yann Hamon Managing Director why innovation!

People are indeed living longer, but they also gain more knowledge over the years. A 60-year-old today is likely to be healthier and more educated than a 60-year-old of 20 years ago.

Older employees could leverage their years of experience to pair with the younger generation who carry new knowledge and skills in technology. While sharing a common digital vision of the future, senior people can help identify risks and blockers and contribute to effective ''build, test, learn'' strategies.

They also have the chance to practise more and be proficient in the so-called ''age-appreciating'' skills like writing, oral, interpersonal skills, and teamworking. These skills, already valued in the workplace, will be even more prized in the future as mature economies move away from physically demanding industries to knowledge and skill-based sectors.

Ho Geok Choo Chief Executive Officer Human Capital (Singapore) Pte Ltd

It is definitely a good move because there are benefits to retaining older workers. More importantly, we will have to address the issue of how do we get older Singaporeans and employers to support the move. Intrinsically, both stakeholders will have to be change-ready for new work arrangement, if necessary.

For the millennials who will retire in 50 years' time, they may have a very different take on retirement. For instance, their expectations on career breaks, sabbaticals and job mobility, etc, are likely to become more prevalent and businesses must be prepared for this.

The increase in CPF rates will not be a major concern for me if I am retaining the right people for the job. Our work culture will have to change to accommodate the old and young working as a team. I will implement flexible work arrangements, introduce job shadowing and develop a role-model system tapping the knowledge, experience and leadership of the old and passing to the young.

Maren Schweizer Director Schweizer World Pte Ltd

Passionate employees have no expiry date. We stand for age diversity and inclusion. This includes longer employment. To build a workforce that can tackle the full spectrum of our business requirements, we need people at all ages and stages of their careers.

Younger talents may have an advantage when it comes to technological fluency and the latest trends while older generations have a head start in attributes such as leadership, strategic thinking, industry knowledge, emotional intelligence and soft skills that take time to develop. And also by lengthening the career, they allow people who live longer the chance to contribute meaningfully to society and that is something beyond money.

While inclusion is ultimately a human issue, it is also beneficial to our businesses' purpose. Singapore's transitioning approach is giving employers time to prepare. Our experience has proven that increased labour costs are compensated by non-directly quantifiable advantages such as better customer experiences - and thus future positive cash flows.

Lim Soon Hock Managing Director PLAN-B ICAG

Among all the announcements made by the Prime Minister at the National Day Rally, the one that resonated most with me is that relating to the raising of retirement age, re-employment age and CPF contributions for seniors. This is because I prescribed and subscribed to working as long as I can, to keep myself economically and intellectually active - and despite the fact that I will not be able to enjoy the policy benefits, given that I will turn 70 next year.

While the changes will spell attractive incentives for older workers to stay employed longer, it is still very much a personal choice. But as a policy move, it is a step in the right direction, given our labour-short workforce and ageing population.

It is an undisputed fact that old hands bring much experience and expertise to businesses, so long as they are healthy and are able to do so, and when properly deployed, will outweigh (and in many instances can justify) the additional costs involved. Companies must be receptive to investing in retraining and reskilling older workers for them to be productive.

When the changes take effect, it is vital that they are not abused by companies to employ senior citizens as phantom workers to hire more foreign labour.

David Leong Managing Director PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

Employing older Singapore workers will be a hiring norm by 2030. Our aging population and demographic shifts necessitate this move to raise the retirement age, re-employment age and CPF rates. The government has planned this with a 10-year transition period with a support package to help alleviate the cost burden.

What is more important is the effective contribution of the older workers who, in general, tend to be more stable and are experienced. They are unlikely to job-hop. Such attributes must not be overlooked and they should not be judged in terms of costs alone, with the increased CPF rate.

This manpower policy is very much a societal issue as much as a commercial viability consideration. SkillsFuture and lifelong learning must be the core psyche of every working Singaporean so that we can continue to be effective workers with the changing times. At PeopleWorldwide, our oldest staff is 74.

Leonard Cheong Managing Director AdNovum Singapore Pte Ltd

Having the older workers employed for longer reduces social pressure in society, in light of increasing life expectancy. The move for companies to better hire and retain older workers with robust skills and experience must be done without any discrimination. With technologies like AI, work tasks are of higher-value and less manual. There must be skills upgrading and redesigning of jobs to enable the seniors to better fit in today's digital economy.

The pool of potential employees will be widened in the current tight labour market, especially for the cybersecurity sector. AdNovum will continue our flexible work culture with arrangements like flexi-days and part-time schedules, as a gradual transit for these older workers into full retirement.

Henry Tan Group CEO Nexia TS Group

Keeping older persons employed in the workforce is a good economic proposition. What is important to solve is more of what is the remuneration and roles for the older employees. If we continue to pay based on seniority and the older staff continue to stay in their senior roles, the problem will be on succession planning and in attracting younger people into the organisation. It would be important to have a good balance between retaining older employees and attracting younger talents into leadership roles.

Seamus Phan CTO, Head of Content McGallen & Bolden® Group

The government's intention to engage older employees is noble. The crux is in how they, older workers, can remain relevant to employers. Simply increasing CPF rates, retirement age and re-employment age with temporary subsidies is not a sustainable solution.

While a young digital native with an advanced computing degree may be willing to accept a modest salary and be happily deployed to farflung corners of the world, would such ''startup terms'' be acceptable to a mid-level executive in his/her 50s, with 30 years of non-equitable executive experience but no relevant or sought-after advanced digital skills? Make no mistake, re-training will only equip older executives with rudimentary skills at best. Being competitive for the same few jobs means being resilient and ready to accept not just challenges, but what one's skillsets and knowledge equitably command. Fair wages for fair labour.

Dora Hoan Group CEO Best World International Ltd

Life expectancy of Singaporeans is getting longer. The move to enable older Singaporeans to stay employed for longer is inevitable yet reasonable. And it indeed ensures better social engagement of the seniors, which brings with it physical health benefits.

I believe most companies in Singapore will retain their valued employees even though they have reached retirement age. But the relatively high remuneration of long-serving older employees is undeniably a significant financial burden for an organisation, especially if it is not doing well. An organisation must primarily focus on its business interests, so consideration for re-employment will be on a case-by-case basis.

Certainly, we strongly wish for our older employees to stay longer. Yet, for staff whose abilities are not as good as before, adjustments to the re-employment package (including job scope, working hours, benefits) will be done accordingly. It should be a win-win for all if it is acceptable to the older staff. Otherwise, in order to protect the relationship and interests of both parties, perhaps retirement should be a better option for them.

Zaheer K Merchant Regional Director (Singapore & Europe) QI Group of Companies

It's slightly open-ended how the cross-section of workers will view the move to be employed longer as it does depend on varying needs or wants. For those who want to and are capable of working, certainly the move is timely and good, since it will allow for more gainful employment and income. But the changes overall require new operational process flows. The government says it is mindful of the business cost pressures from the hike in CPF rates for older workers, and is monitoring the impact on businesses.

This is but one element; there are a host of other factors, including workplace safety, insurance needs, capital expenditure and added operational costs in the entirety of the scheme. So while we are studying the overall costs associated with the extended retirement age, we are also faced with an element of uncertainty in how we will make up the additional costs, what tax and other benefits we may leverage off to offset the expenses. For now, we welcome the change for numerous positives, but with some uncertainty.

Ian Lee CEO, Asia Pacific The Adecco Group

This is a realistic proposition based on facts and changing lifestyles. The family nucleus has evolved where many women no longer play the role of caregiver, but instead opt to stay independent and active, with work playing a part in enabling this lifestyle of choice.

The challenge is that technological innovations are outpacing skillsets. In this year of bicentennial anniversary, we must not forget that it is the people who built and transformed this nation, so we must continue to work together to upskill and reskill our people to keep pace with today's digital changes - and that includes workers of all ages.

Annie Yap CEO AYP Group

The move to raise retirement age is encouraging as older Singaporeans can then stay employed longer to continue earning a living and being part of this fast-moving society. However, in another context, it's a distressing reality that in our 60s, rather than enjoying life, we are pushed into an environment where we have to continue to work to fend for ourselves due to high living costs.

We are supportive of this latest manpower policy change to help older Singaporeans stay employed and relevant if there's support and help from the government (eg SkillsFuture). Currently, we have one employee in his late 60s working with us as a senior finance executive.

Johnson Chng Managing Partner (Asia) QVARTZ

The government should just remove the ''retirement age'' and let the market decide when one should retire. What the government should do is to facilitate the environment to allow and enable one to stay employed longer. At 63 or 65, one should be working because he or she wants to, rather than have to (though some have to).

Most importantly, CPF funds belong to the employee, and the withdrawal age should not be changed even as the retirement age goes up.

Benjamin Low Vice-President, Sales, Asia Pacific Milestone Systems

Organisations are increasingly challenged to ensure employees of all ages integrate their knowledge with current technology and innovation in a digital world.

The public and private sector should maintain an open and agile mindset to achieving success in a digital future of work, to leverage new technologies and explore how technology, such as video management solutions, can provide solutions to everyday problems.

It is a collaboration of time and resources between businesses and employees to ensure they can contribute effectively, and find fulfilment in their work across all ages.

Axel Berkling Executive Vice-President KONE Asia Pacific

The latest announcements around retirement and re-employment age provide people the flexibility to work longer. With an ageing workforce, it is imperative that organisations in Singapore ensure that office spaces are accessible and cater to the needs of older employees. At KONE, we design our mobility solutions to improve accessibility, better urban living and drive seamless people flows around, in and between buildings; ensuring elderly people can move easily and safely.

Technology will be the driving force for the future of work and I believe it's important to have a diverse and inclusive working environment to drive social progress and sustainable economic prosperity.

Rathakrishnan Govind CEO London School of Business and Finance

Singapore is one of the most stressful workplaces in the world! Many here talk about looking forward to retirement, to enjoying the silver years, without the stress of work responsibilities. While I understand the government's intention, given the low fertility rate here, this new policy may not be something the general population is looking for, or celebrate! From the employer's point of view, this move will raise the cost of doing business.

For the increase in CPF contribution, why should the employer pay more to keep the older workers when younger ones can be hired for less? There's also the risk of increased costs associated with higher medical coverage and extended sick leave, so businesses are not likely to see this as any advantage, but rather a national service towards government policy.

I believe the current system, without the proposed changes, serves both older workers and employers best. Older workers pay out less to CPF and so have more disposable cash in their silver years, while businesses - with reduced CPF costs - have an incentive to keep the older workers. If the intention is to keep the worker gainfully employed longer, the government should compensate both the employer and older worker - by keeping to the current lower employers' CPF contribution rate and topping up the older workers' CPF, to make this a truly attractive proposition to both parties.

Ambica Saxena Head YSC Singapore & Hong Kong

While the government is taking a step in the right direction, these changes in regulation must be complemented by the right mindset, ensuring that employees are resilient and able to meaningfully navigate times of change and challenge.

Organisations that will succeed are those that cultivate and nurture a growth mindset, as they will be more ready to embrace challenges, since they value mistakes and perceive them as an opportunity to learn and improve.

This begins with inclusive leadership, where leaders encourage employees to be curious, to take risks and to face challenges head-on, all while removing the fear of failure.