Employees in the Singapore Public Service can look forward to early implementation of re-employment guidelines in July 2011, ahead of the national legislation.

Re-employment will give officers the opportunity to work up to age 65 years in the first instance and, later, up to age 67 years

Employees in the Singapore Public Service can look forward to early implementation of re-employment guidelines in July 2011, ahead of the national legislation.

The 124,000-strong Public Service, comprising 15 ministries and more than 50 statutory boards, accounts for about 4 per cent of the workforce and is one of the largest employers in Singapore.

Working closely with ministries, statutory boards and public sector unions, the Public Service Division has issued guidelines on re-employing staff who reach the statutory retirement age of 62 years.

This comes after close consultation with union leaders.

Re-employment will give officers the opportunity to work up to age 65 years in the first instance and, later, up to age 67 years. Explaining the rationale for introducing reemployment, Ms Bernadette Sim, Director of Careers and Attraction, Public Service

Division, Prime Minister’s Office said: “Officers will be able to remain economically productive and be meaningfully engaged in their golden years while the Public Service will continue to benefit from the wealth of institutional knowledge and experience that these older officers bring with them.”

The guidelines for the Public Service takes reference from the Tripartite Guidelines on Re-employment of Older Employees issued earlier this year to help businesses and employees prepare for re-employment when legislation comes into force in early 2012.

The guidelines are also adapted from an earlier PSD Advisory issued in January 2009, which outlined good practices for re-employment in the Public Service.

The guidelines cover the following areas: identification of eligible officers, terms of reemployment contracts and preparing officers for re-employment:

• To qualify for re-employment, an officer must have, in the three years prior to retirement, put in satisfactory work performance as well as have no disciplinary action taken against them. They must also be medically fit to continue working.

• When offering re-employment, public service organizations should take into consideration officers’ preferences and the availability of suitable positions in the organization. Public service organizations may re-employ officers in jobs similar to that before retirement, or on other arrangements such as part-time, job-sharing, or project work. Salaries will be determined taking into consideration the job level and any revised job arrangements.

• Officers nearing 62 years old are encouraged to attend a pre-retirement and re-employment preparation course at the Civil Service College to help them plan early for their retirement and re-employment. Eligible officers should be informed at least six months before retirement to discuss re-employment, with an offer to be made at least three months before retirement.

• Public service organisations will help officers not offered re-employment with career information and resources for their job search. Public service organizations will give a one-time lump sum Employment Assistance Payment (EAPayment) to eligible officers who are not offered re-employment.

The Public Service has started re-employing its officers even before the issuance of these guidelines. Last year, about 90% of 820 public officers who retired at the age of 62 years were offered re-employment. Of those offered re-employment, 540 officers (or 74%) accepted the offers.

The majority of those not offered re-employment did not meet at least one of the eligibility criteria.

Those who declined re-employment cited reasons such as having other plans or preferring not to continue working.