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Combined response by Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower, to Motions on Ageing with Purpose and Caregiver Support

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1528 OF 2019
RESPONSE TO MOTION FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 13 FEBRUARY 2019

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

For Motion on Ageing with Purpose:

Mr Henry Kwek (Nee Soon)
Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar)
Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar)
Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson)
Ms Rahayu Mazam (Jurong)
Ms Cheng Li Hui (Tampines)

For Motion on Caregiver Support:

Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar)
Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar)
Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah)
Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok)
Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson)

MOTION ON AGEING WITH PURPOSE

That this House calls for a whole of Singapore effort to ensure that Singaporeans are able to age with purpose and dignity, stay healthy and connected, and be financially stable to look forward to their years ahead.

MOTION ON CAREGIVER SUPPORT

That this House recognises, given our rapidly ageing population, the important role that caregivers play in helping our Singaporeans age with dignity, and calls on the Government and the community to continue strengthening support for caregivers.

Answer

  1. Speaker Sir, I would like to thank the members for their views on the two Motions. A year ago, this House discussed a Motion on Support for Senior Citizens, which called on the Government to spearhead community efforts and strengthen support for seniors to thrive and age with dignity. The two Motions today continue to uphold the spirit of last year’s Motion, and underscore the importance of supporting older Singaporeans’ work aspirations, and also their role as caregivers.

Investing in Older Workers

  1. Our nation’s fast-ageing population, longer life expectancy and low birth rates are recasting the roles that older workers will play in our economy. In the last year, I have spoken to many employers. Many employers are looking at how older workers can be a crucial solution to their manpower needs, and our seniors are rising to the challenge.
  2. We are already seeing this bear out in our employment numbers and trends. The employment rate of residents aged 55 to 64 has risen from 57% in 2008 to 67% in 2018. This ranks us 11th when compared to OECD countries, above the United Kingdom, Australia and United States.
  3. Supporting and empowering older workers continue to be our key priority. The rise in older worker employment has come about due to the close partnership and efforts of tripartite partners. Many of the members spoke about tripartite partners working together to raise the retirement and re-employment age. This was done through careful deliberations over the years and is part of the “whole of Singapore effort” to address our demographic challenges. Dr Intan asked to raise the Retirement and Re-employment Ages further. The Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers is studying this, amongst other issues.
  4. Besides legislation, the Government has also invested significant resources to provide funding and transformative support for older Singaporeans and their employers that help them adjust and stay relevant. For example, employers hiring older workers receive wage offsets of up to 11% of their monthly wages via the Special Employment Credit (SEC), as well as training and salary support for employing mature PMETs. The amount of Workfare payouts, which supplements the income of lower-income workers, is higher for older workers.
  5. We have also provided extensive support for seniors to reskill and upskill, so they can continue to contribute in the workplace. For instance, the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidy offers additional subsidies for older workers enrolling in courses pre-approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG). The measures I mentioned encourage and support employers to send their older workers for training, as Mr Patrick Tay has urged earlier. Seniors can also advance their own skills and training by using their SkillsFuture Credits. They can choose from many courses, like those offered by the Silver Infocomm Junctions to equip them with basic digital knowledge. These skills can facilitate their entry into the platform economy and possible freelance opportunities, as suggested by Mr Henry Kwek earlier.
  6. In addition to direct monetary support, I agree with Mr Henry Kwek, Ms Rahayu Mahzam, Mr Zainal Sapari and Dr Teo Ho Pin that we need more companies to take concrete actions in redesigning jobs and improving the working conditions of older workers. The Workpro Age Management Grant and Job Redesign Grant help employers implement age-friendly practices and restructure jobs to make them easier, safer and smarter for mature employees. This not only helps our seniors, but also win-win for our companies, as they stand to gain from the rich experiences and expertise of an older workforce.
  7. Smarte Carte, which supports Changi Airport’s operations, is one such company. I am impressed that over half of their 300-strong workforce is made up of older workers. I asked them and they told me, the average age of its employee is 65 years. There is no compulsory retirement and its staff can enjoy the same pay even after they turn 62 years old. Their oldest employees are trolley service officers Mr Ng Kay Keng and Mr Tan Siak Hwee, who are both 83 years young. They have been with Smarte Carte for four and a half years now and they like the company’s age-friendly practices. Smart Carte really puts in the efforts to redesign work processes for its mature workers and uses mainly diagrams and videos to train the seniors in bite-sized sessions for easy learning. Supervisors tailor their pre-shift briefings to reinforce processes and key messages that are important for our olders workers’ safety and security.
  8. To better support older workers at work, Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Ang Wei Neng have asked about the Special Employment Credit and WorkPro schemes to be enhanced and extended. I want to assure them that MOM is currently reviewing the schemes and will certainly share more details when ready.

Update on Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers

  1. Our efforts do not stop here. We recognise that as more Singaporeans grow older, and we all will get there someday. Some of us, as speaker earlier mentioned, are members of Merdeka Generation. There needs to be adjustments to new work aspirations, retirement and care plans. Our Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo announced the formation of the Tripartite Workgroup (or TWG) on Older Workers mid last year. The TWG was tasked to study key issues such as the retirement and re-employment age as well as CPF contribution rates for older workers. In the last eight months, we have gathered the feedback and input of more than 500 people - older and younger workers, union leaders, HR professionals, SME employers, trade associations, industry associations and various stakeholders.
  2. The exercise revealed diverse wishes that need to be balanced against the needs and expectations of different stakeholders. For instance, while older workers desire to work as long as they can and are able to, younger workers shared with us that they do worry about how that may affect their career progression. Or while employers may want to retain their older workers, these employees may not want to continue to work at the same intensity as before. For example, they may want to spend more time with their grandchildren or pursue their other aspirations, due to their changing life goals.
  3. All of these views are valuable and important, and I assure Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Faishal Manap, it is the aim of the TWG to work towards a balanced win-win outcome. We need to strike a healthy balance between meeting the aspirations of our older workers and younger workers, the need for organisational renewal, redesign jobs and how wages and benefits can be flexibly adjusted. So that Singapore can continue to retain our attractiveness as a business and investment location.

Caregiving Support

  1. Beyond supporting our older workforce, we also recognise the caregiving needs that have emerged with our ageing population. Many MPs have spoken about it over the past three hours. We understand that more Singaporeans are having to balance their work with caregiving responsibilities they shoulder for their loved ones. I want to assure Members, including Dr Lily Neo, Dr Chia Shi Lu, Mr Christopher De Souza, Mr Melvin Yong, Ms Rahayu Mahzam, Mr Chen Show Mao and Ms Tin Pei Ling that MOM and also our tripartite partners are strongly committed to provide caregivers with the necessary workplace support so that they can fulfil their work and personal commitments, including their caregiving commitments.
  2. To better understand the needs of caregivers, MOH SMS Tong led a cross-agency review and engaged stakeholders including employers and caregivers. The working caregivers we interviewed indicated that Flexible Work Arrangements (or FWAs) would be a sustainable solution to help them balance their work and caregiving commitments.

More FWA workplaces

  1. As Mr Henry Kwek and Dr Lily Neo pointed out, employers also have an interest to support employees’ FWA needs. Based on a recent report, MOM’s 2018 Conditions of Employment Report , it was found that among the various workplace practices, the provision of FWA had the greatest impact on staff retention . A talent choosing to join company A, B, FWAs feature heavily in choosing which company to take up. Through the concerted efforts of the tripartite partners, Members including Ms Joan Pereira, Mr Melvin Yong, Mr Christopher De Souza and Ms Rahayu Mahzam will be pleased to know that as compared to five years ago, more workplaces are now supportive of FWAs. The proportion of companies in Singapore offering at least one ad-hoc FWA has increased from 68% in 2013 to 84% in 2018. Those offering at least one formal FWA also rose from 44% in 2013 to 53% in 2018.
  2. Across the sectors, more companies are providing a greater variety of FWAs as they recognise that workers have varying FWA needs at different stages of their lives. A worker may never know when they will need FWAs. But it gives them peace of mind that if they put in a request, the company will provide. Last year, about 23% of companies here offer at least two formal FWAs, up from 12% in 2013.
  3. Besides their wish for FWAs, working caregivers also expressed their need to be able to take time-off whenever necessary, to care for their dependents, their loved ones. I am glad to note that there has been progress on this front. 81% of companies in Singapore currently offer unplanned time-off, and this is a marked increase from 67% five years ago.

Balancing workers’ employability and employers’ needs

  1. Dr Lily Neo, Dr Chia Shi Lu and Mr Christopher De Souza have called for legislating caregivers’ leave. SMS Edwin Tong earlier spoke about it as well. While we understand the reasons for this suggestion, the caregivers from our recent engagement tell us that their key requirement is not so much as to have one or two more days of leave, but to have the flexibility and ability to take some time off when the need arises. Tripartite partners had also pointed out that having more legislated leave on top of the existing leave provisions could add cost to businesses. This could inadvertently affect the employability of those with caregiving responsibilities. To this end, it is our priority to encourage employers to provide more FWAs to meet their employees’ non-work needs. 

FWAs offer employers & caregivers stability with flexibility

  1. Employers who do so with understanding and care really stand to gain from the improved loyalty and productivity of their staff. Take the example of Angilay Davy, who is also known as Angie in short, a 60-year old full-time trainer with aAdvantage Consulting Group. Angie is the primary caregiver to her elderly sister, quite similar to the many profiles that have been shared over the past three hours. She has to bring her sister to hospital appointments regularly. To support Angie in her caregiving duties, aAdvantage lets her have the flexibility to work from home and to take a few hours off work, when necessary. Angie’s co-workers support by covering her work when she is unable to attend client meetings or conduct trainings due to her caregiving duties. This company do a lot of training for their clients.

Companies benefit from FWAs

  1. Such a flexible work arrangement (FWA) is a win-win for both employer and employee. Many other employees also can see that this is a company that cares. aAdvantage is able to retain valuable employees like Angie who is an asset with her many years of experience. Caregivers like Angie can continue to be productive employees, while meeting the care needs of her sister.
  2. We recognise that FWAs are not one-off solutions but long-term practices sustained by a supportive workplace culture. MOM recently extended and enhanced the Work-Life Grant for companies. This scheme allows each company to receive up to $105,000 over two years, to help the company maintain their employees’ flexible working arrangements on a regular basis, whether is it flexi-time, flexi-load or flexi-place. I agree with Dr Chia Shi Lu that schemes must not be administratively onerous such that it deters adoption. Therefore, the Work-Life Grant was recently enhanced to make it easier for the employers to qualify . Since its launch, the Work-Life Grant has received more than 340 applications in 5 months.

Encourage the adoption of FWAs

  1. To enable more companies to benefit from the Work-Life Grant and to make FWA adoption more pervasive, the Ministry for Manpower is currently exploring to increase the Work-Life Grant budget. More details will be shared at the MOM Committee of Supply next month.
  2. We will also continue to encourage more companies to adopt the relevant Tripartite Standards and publicly commit to progressive workplace practices. As at Dec 2018, about 1,200 employers hiring 380,000 workers have adopted the Tripartite Standard on FWAs, while some 430 employers hiring 220,000 workers have adopted the Tripartite Standard on Unpaid Leave for Unexpected Care Needs. I agree with Dr Lily Neo that Government agencies should take the lead, and I am pleased to share that adopters of the Tripartite Standards include those in the public sector.
  3. Our efforts to promote the adoption of FWAs are showing positive effects. Mr Henry Kwek suggested studying and learning from FWA legislation of other countries to promote greater FWA adoption. We will need to examine the potential impact and effectiveness of any FWA legislation before considering a model suitable for Singapore. Having a legislated right to request FWA may not necessarily improve adoption of FWAs if companies are not able to restructure their jobs or restructure their workplace arrangements to accede to FWA requests. We are mindful that FWAs could affect business operations and we would not want to inadvertently affect the employability of staff who are requesting for FWAs.

Helping caregivers return to the workforce

  1. FWAs help working caregivers juggle work and caregiving responsibilities. However, depending on the level of care required by their loved ones, some caregivers may leave the workforce temporarily or even longer periods Those who have been long away may need additional help to find jobs but they may not be familiar with the existing employment support they can get.
  2. We will raise greater awareness of the Adapt and Grow initiative that offers a suite of services and programmes to facilitate employment matching and help jobseekers overcome mismatches in skills, wages or job expectations. I want to assure Mr Melvin Yong that MOM and MOH will in the second half of 2019, be reaching out to caregivers who wish to return to the workforce. We will do so through various touchpoints such as AICare Links operated by the Agency for Integrated Care.

Enhance the retirement adequacy of elderly Singaporeans

  1. Dr Intan asked to raise the CPF contribution rates for members aged 55 and above. The TWG on Older Workers is currently studying the CPF contribution rates for members aged 55 and above. For self-employed persons (or SEPs), we are going to make it easier for them to make MediSave contributions by implementing a “contribute-as-you-earn” model. The Government, as a service buyer, will take the lead to pilot this with our self-employed contractors. After addressing the challenges the SEPs face with MediSave contributions, we will then review how SEPs can also contribute to their CPF Special Account.

Caring for caregivers

  1. Members including Mr Henry Kwek, Ms Anthea Ong and Ms Chen Show Mao, they have voiced their concerns about the improving the retirement adequacy of caregivers. We recognise that some full-time caregivers may not have been able to work in their younger years. They may therefore not have much CPF savings for retirement. This is where the Silver Support Scheme can come in. Silver Support Scheme supplements the retirement incomes of elderly Singaporeans who had low earnings throughout their lives and currently have little or no family support. In 2018, over 153,000 elderly persons received Silver Support payouts amounting to $335 million.
  2. For those with family members who can top up their CPF savings, the Government has lowered the minimum threshold sum required to make it easier for CPF members to transfer their CPF savings to their spouses, parents and grandparents. This will enable more members to strengthen the retirement adequacy of their loved ones. We are encouraged by the positive response to this move. Last year, a total of 3,200 members benefited from CPF transfers from their spouses, while a total of about 2,800 members received CPF transfers from their children and grandchildren.
  3. A/P Walter Theseira made three suggestions. First, he proposed to strengthen Silver Support. Second, he suggested topping the CPF accounts of members with low contributions. Finally, he asked for the Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme (LRIS) to be introduced soon.
  4. First, we are concerned about elderly who may not have enough retirement income. However, it is important to place this in context. The vast majority of our elderly own their own homes, and have family support and personal savings to rely on. Attainment of the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) has been improving steadily, with about 70% of active members expected to attain BRS at the age of 55 by 2020. For those with low incomes through their lives and have little or no family support in retirement, we have the Silver Support Scheme to supplement their retirement incomes. I want to assure A/P Walter Theseira we will review the Silver Support Scheme from time to time to ensure that it continues to provide meaningful support for this group of elderly. At the same time, we have to balance this with the need to ensure that the entire system remains fiscally sustainable in the long term.
  5. Second, we already supplement CPF contributions of the lower-income via the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme. We have taken this approach because as a society, we want to encourage work and employment. Earlier on we have heard from many Members that many of the seniors that you spoke to want to work for various reasons – for financial independence, for passion, for purpose. I remember Mr Patrick Tay spoke about the example that he mentioned that he wants to work because it allows him to be physically and mentally sharp. We have uplifted the wages of the lower-income, and kept employment high and unemployment low. For those unable to help themselves for various reasons, we want to make sure the safety net is there to support them. The Government will provide for their basic needs and if necessary, give them long term support. This is where the whole of Government needs to step in – MOM, MOF, MSF and you have heard from Ms Sun Xueling, MND as well.
  6. Third, CPF interest rates are already high compared to other market instruments on a risk adjusted basis. I want to assure A/P Walter Theseira that we are studying LRIS carefully. However, developing an investment product is a complex effort and we have to carefully balance the risk taken by members and the expected returns. I want to assure A/P Walter Theseira we will certainly update on LRIS in due course.
  7. Overall, we have a system that strikes a balance between adequacy in retirement, and longer term fiscal sustainability. We have achieved good results in retirement adequacy, with comparable replacement rates to other OECD countries. While we are constantly looking for ways to do better, we should build on what has been working well for Singapore.
  8. We recognise that some people may find the different CPF schemes and requirements mind-boggling. In 2015, we introduced a one-on-one, personalised CPF Retirement Planning Service (or CRPS) to help older workers better understand the various CPF schemes and make their plans before they turn 55. Last year, we expanded the CRPS to include options such as the Silver Housing Bonus, which lets members unlock the value of their HDB flats and boost their retirement payouts. This year, the CRPS is available to those turning 65. As Mr Henry Kwek suggested, we will also work with community partners to provide services that help older Singaporeans plan for their financial milestones and better prepare for retirement.

Conclusion

  1. Mr Speaker, indeed, a whole-of-society effort is necessary for Singaporeans to age with purpose and dignity. Increasingly continued employment is becoming a key aspiration of ageing meaningfully. It is our common goal to support our seniors so that they can continue to contribute to our economy and community for as long as they are able and wish to. We will do all we can to make our workplaces supportive of Singaporeans who need to balance caregiving responsibilities alongside their work.
  2. There will be no let-up in MOM’s efforts to foster age-friendly and progressive work practices among employers. “Age-smart” companies stand to gain when they start thinking about creating alternative career routes for older workers and also providing more flexible assignments and schedules. By creating opportunities for our senior workers to mentor younger workers, these “Age-Smart” companies can enjoy the best of ‘both worlds’ and healthy age diversity. This not only helps them attract and retain talent, it also encourages employees to adopt the mindset of continuous upskilling to remain employable and productive.
  3. Together, we can age purposefully in a caring society where work and family have a place, and where our responsibilities and aspirations are met as we strive to support one another.
  4. On this note, Mr Speaker Sir, I support both Motions.