Silver workforce can play a part in Singapore's future

SINGAPORE prides itself as a nation with one of the highest employment rates for people aged 65 and over. The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) and other agencies have been actively promoting the redesigning of jobs and reskilling for older workers as ways for companies to mobilise the growing pool of "silver" talent.

The need for institutional intervention to support this cause has been exacerbated with the rapid automation of jobs as we know them.

Marsh & McLennan Companies' Asia Pacific Risk Center (APRC) estimates, for example, that Singapore's aging society could result in losses of US$3.3 billion in GDP (1 per cent of total) due to sickness absenteeism.

In our latest research, we have attempted to understand the confluence of aging and automation across 15 countries, and the resulting impact on older workers. The world runs a serious risk. In an environment where the demand for particular kinds of labour is diminishing, older workers skilled in the work of yesterday might be at risk of being excluded from the economies of tomorrow.

We found that countries with higher rates of projected aging tend to also have larger proportions of older workers at risk from automation. The risks are particularly pronounced across Asia, as well as in parts of Europe such as Germany and Italy. These are countries where older workers are largely employed in widely "automatable occupations" which entail repetitive tasks.

Older workers tend to face unique difficulties in the labour market - such as high long-term unemployment and age discrimination - and so are prone to particularly harsh fallouts from displacement by new technologies.

Concerted efforts on the part of governments and companies to devise strategies for encouraging and accommodating the older worker will be crucial in the coming decades.

A more proactive approach which values the experience and ethos of the older workers and educates the younger workers around inherent unconscious biases against older workers is needed.

As we see the future of work shift towards tasks which require higher cognitive complexity, the emotional intelligence of older workers can be harnessed to better manage the people side of digital transformation.

We examine the implications along four dimensions:

Companies have much to benefit from investing the productivity gains from automation into their human workers - particularly older ones, who are more and more willing and able to remain in or re-enter workplaces around the world.

Contrary to conventional opinion, older workers can actually be a reliable treasure trove of experience, adaptability and productivity given the right environment and opportunities. Researchers have found, for example, that older workers tend to outperform younger workers in semantic memory, and language and speech skills. Older workers also tend to be more resilient amidst change, and score higher on EQ (emotional intelligence) required to manage tensions at work.

With more and more older persons re-entering and remaining in the workforce in Singapore and around the world, businesses would do well to devise strategies for harnessing the many benefits they have to offer.

There may be a real "silver lining" to giving "Silvers" a real chance at success in this age of disruption. Enabling them to thrive is positively contributing to the nation's future.