Elderly Singaporean coders in the labor force may sound unusual for most. At age 65, people in the world would look forward to slowing down and going on vacation as they hit retirement. But in Singapore, a country with a life expectancy of almost 85 years, things are different for the men and women in these golden years. The government is looking to raise the retirement age, pushing workers to learn new skills.
Reports from the Department of Statistics Singapore show that productivity declines as the labour force ages. With this, workers are being encouraged to adopt new skills that are relevant to the digital world.
Singtel employees benefit from short courses
Valerie Yeong Tan is one of those elderly Singaporean coders. She worked at Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. for 47 years as an HR department administrator. She was persuaded to enroll into bot-building courses to improve her skills.
At an interview at a new Singtel office in Singapore, she said,
Learning is a lifelong process, and I want to keep my mind active. I also hope to encourage and inspire the younger generation of workers and show them that you can learn new skills no matter how far you are in your career.
Similarly, another elderly Singaporean coder named Yeong-Tan attended Singtel’s four-day Bot Maker Training course and two-day Bot Maker Hackathon. Now, her new-found skills are being used to improve her work productivity for repetitive tasks.
Both women have no basic programming knowledge but learned from short courses.
How the government addresses the need for new skills
SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore are government agencies that have organized programs that offer courses for new skills and help workers find jobs. Singaporeans utilized the SkillsFuture Credit, a program that subsidized government-approved training courses. In 2018, more than 430,000 workers availed the subsidy—showing almost 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase from 2017.
Singaporean businesses are also doing their part. Last Thursday, Singtel announced its plans to invest SGD45 million (USD32.7 million) over the next three years to help its employees receive upskill training to help them adapt to the digital environment. Programs will include data analytics to 5G capabilities.
In 2018, SAP SE launched a program called “SAP Skills University” in partnership with government agencies and local educational institutions. The said program was targeted towards mid-career professionals.
Singtel group’s CEO, Chua Sock Koong said,
Work, as we know it today, is very different from 10 years ago. And ten years from now, it will be very different from today. That is why we mustn’t stop evolving as an employee as a company.”
