RE-EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

RE-EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR:

(Update): 7.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) what measures has the public sector implemented to promote the re-employment of employees aged 62 years and above; (b) what is the impact of the headcount freeze and best sourcing policies on the re-employment of such employees; (c) what are the terms of re-employment offered to such employees; and (d) whether such re-employment is offered to all grades of employees.

8.

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance for each of the years from 2004 to 2006 (a) what is the percentage of workers which the civil service and statutory boards respectively offered re-employment to after they reached the age of 62, expressed as a percentage of the total number of workers reaching 62 in each of these two entities; and (b) how do these figures compare with the private sector's re-employment rate for workers aged 62 and above during the same period.

9.

Mrs Josephine Teo asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance if he can give an update on (i) the recruitment of employees aged above 40 and 50 into the civil service over the last three years and (ii) the current practice of the civil service in re-employing staff who retire at age 62.

Mr Teo Chee Hean (for the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to take Question Nos. 7, 8 and 9 together?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

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Mr Teo Chee Hean: Sir, Mdm Halimah, Mr Christopher de Souza and Mrs Josephine Teo have asked questions relating to re-employment of employees in the civil service reaching 62 years and above and recruitment of employees aged above 40 and 50 years into the civil service over the last three years.

The public sector has taken several steps to facilitate re-employment of retired employees, including amending its re-employment policy in September last year. Agencies are encouraged to offer re-employment to retiring officers, particularly those who have performed well and who can continue to add value to the organisation. Procedures were changed such that agencies need no longer conduct an open recruitment exercise if it re-employs its retired officer within six months from his retirement. The Public Sector also aligned its guidelines on the remuneration package for re-employed officers with the "Tripartite Guidelines on the Employment of Older Workers Above 62 Years Old". Re-employed officers are paid based on the scope of work and responsibility that they are given when they are re-employed. Re-employed officers need not be limited to doing their previous jobs at their previous pay. Those who are given a smaller job scope and responsibility will be paid a salary that is commensurate with the size of the new job. Re-employed officers can be employed on various flexible work arrangements, including on a part-time, or on a project basis. One example is the Ministry of Education's Adjunct Teaching scheme which has 1,100 adjunct teachers aged 62 years and above. They are engaged on either a short-term commitment of four to 10 weeks or a longer-term commitment of one to two years. Adjunct teachers are given the flexibility to do purely teaching, purely CCA or a mix of both.

The civil service has also started an older worker database, the Evergreen

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Connect, in January this year where retiring and retired civil servants can sign up to be on the programme if they wish to be considered for job assignments in the public sector after their retirement. Of the 1,825 officers who were invited, about one-third have signed up for the programme. We have had a very modest start. To date, we have successfully made 14 placements in the civil service. This programme will eventually be extended to include statutory board employees.

The Public Service Division works closely with Government agencies and the public sector unions to educate HR personnel, line supervisors and managers in the public sector to explore ways in which they can enhance employment and employability of older workers in their organisations. PSD and the unions have so far conducted three workshops to-date covering 33 Government agencies and will continue to run more of such workshops with the remaining public sector agencies.

The public sector targets to put in place service-wide re-employment schemes and policies within the next three years. We aim to be ready well before re-employment legislation is implemented in 2012. Work is in progress and details will be released when we are ready.

The average number of civil servants recruited in the 40's age band in the last three years is 270 while the average number for those in the age band above 50 years old is 207. This represents about 6% and 4% of the annual recruitment respectively. This means that about 10% of new hires in the civil service last year were aged above 40 years.

The average number of civil servants who retired annually at age 62 years from 2004 to 2006 is 200. The re-employment rate at age 62 years for the civil service is 22% for 2004, 25% for 2005 and 53% for 2006.

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For the statutory boards as a whole, on average about 410 officers retired annually at age 62 years from 2004 to 2006. The re-employment rate is 83% for 2004, 70% for 2005 and 96% for 2006.

We do not have equivalent re-employment data from the private sector for comparison with the public sector. Data from the Ministry of Manpower's Labour Force Survey show that the national resident employment rate for workers in the age range of 60 to 64 for the period 2004 to 2006 moved up from 34% in 2004 to 42% in 2006.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked about the impact of the headcount freeze and best-sourcing policies on re-employment. Let me explain the objectives of these two policies. The manpower management framework was introduced in 2004 to instil discipline in the use of manpower resources in the public sector. The objective of the best-sourcing policy, introduced in 2003, is to market test whether non-strategic functions can be better done by the private sector and achieve greater value for money for the taxpayer's dollar. Both these policies are not aimed at any particular age group of civil servants. Rather, they are to help Government be disciplined in the way resources are utilised. The statistics, in fact, show that there has been an increase in re-employment of retired officers, particularly in 2006.

Mrs Josephine Teo (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Minister for his response to our questions. I am very glad to note the encouraging improvement in the re-employment figures for retiring employees of the civil service and the statutory boards. I would like to ask the Minister if the civil service will consider placing a target on the number of civil servants who will be offered re-employment ahead of the 2012 legislation, since the Minister has already mentioned

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that the civil service plans to introduce such measures well ahead of the legislative schedule.

I would also like to ask the Minister another supplementary question in relation to the recruitment of mature Singaporeans. He mentioned that the figure was 6% in the civil service and, I think, if I heard him correctly, 4% in the statutory boards. This is 6-plus-4 percent in total. It still seems like a figure that could be improved upon. I would like to ask the Minister if specific measures will be put in place to support the recruitment of mature Singaporeans as well into the civil service.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, as I said, we are currently studying the matter to see how we can move towards compliance with the new re-employment regulations when they come into place in 2012. So, I would not want to commit myself to setting a target for this. But, certainly, by 2012, we will be fully in compliance with the new re-employment regulations.

As regards the employment of new civil servants in the 40's age band and 50's age band, we must not forget that we also have civil servants who are in their 30s and 40s who grow older every year and become 40s and 50s. So, it is not as though we only have 6% in the 40's age band and 4% in the 50's age band, amounting to only 10% of our civil servants. But, in fact, we do have other civil servants who have not just recently been recruited who are in their 40s and 50s. So, we do have a good population of civil servants who are in their 40's and 50's age band in employment, though not necessarily recently recruited.

But I think the Member will also realise that whether or not the civil service is

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able to recruit such people and actually get them to come in depends on the economic situation, the market situation and what other opportunities are available to these people in the 40's and 50's age band as well. So, it is not something which the civil service itself can decide upon, but it is also dependent on market conditions as well as the inclinations of those individuals.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister supplementary questions. Is it a policy in the public sector to consciously source out those who are nearing the age of 62, before they reach the age of 62, to discuss with them about re-employment prospects? Or is it the policy in the public sector for the individual who is reaching the age of 62 to approach his supervisor to ask for re-employment? That is my first question.

Sir, the Minister said that agencies are encouraged to offer re-employment. My question is this: the feedback we receive is that across the Ministries and statutory boards, the efforts seem to be not very consistent. Is there a mechanism within the Public Service Division to coordinate the efforts of the Ministries and statutory boards on re-employment of those above 62?

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do agree with Mdm Halimah that the practice across the Ministries and the agencies is not consistent. It is not uniform. There are some agencies and Ministries which are more active and provide more opportunities. The National Environment Agency, for example, is re-employing many of its employees who have reached the age of 62 and keeping them in employment not only for social reasons but because they feel that they need these employees, and these employees can continue to contribute in an effective way to NEA.

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I would be happy to have the PSD work together with Mdm Halimah and the unions to see how we can improve this process. But I think it is also a two-way process. Because we also want our employees to actively make themselves more employable and to also perform well and not just sit back in the expectation that at the age of 62, they must be offered re-employment, then there is really not a lot of motivation on their own part to make themselves employable and to perform well. So, it requires a matching from both ends as well. We will be happy to work with Mdm Halimah and the unions.

Mr Speaker: Mr de Souza, last supplementary question.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): The Minister mentioned that there were percentages of 22%, 25% and 23% for 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively, in terms of re-employment for those attaining the age of 62, and percentages which were more favourable for the statutory boards. My question is, of these civil servants, how many were re-employed in jobs commensurate to their skills and experience? Also, how many were re-employed on a full-time basis as opposed to a part-time basis? Because I think there must be the appreciation of the point that it could be that they are re-employed on terms that are not favourable to them. For example, they may take a 10%, 20%, or more than 50% reduction on the number of hours they used to work, and in the skill set that they are not entirely comfortable with.

Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not have the specific information to break down all the re-employment into the various categories that Mr de Souza has asked. But, again, I must stress that there has to be a balance between what the employee would like and what the employer is able to offer. The employee's

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assessment of his own performance may not be the same as the employer's assessment of his performance and his capability. It is also possible that the employee himself may want a change of pace at the age of 65. In the Ministry of Education, for example, you may have a person who has been a head of department in a school and he is offered re-employment as a teacher rather than as a head of department. Some employees on retirement would be delighted with that prospect but others might be disappointed. So, it does depend also on the mindset and the orientation and inclination of the employee. I think the purpose is to try and get as close a matching as possible, but we may not be able to get a 100% matching in expectations.