KUCHING: The various pros and cons of retiring at 65 instead of 60 currently should be weighed before any change is made.
Last Monday (Sept 2), Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran said the government would study a suggestion by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) to raise the mandatory retirement age.
“Generally, the proposal would be good for the country’s development. Experienced workers would have more time to pass on their knowledge, experience and skills to their younger colleagues,” said research and development technician Alan Chua, 26.
Furthermore, he said, this potential change could save time and resources for industries as new employees, particularly fresh graduates, would have to be trained.
However, he noted that the beneficial effects could be more significantly observed in Malaysia if the positions in question were in white-collar professions where the turnover rate of employees is low and the experience gap between each level of the hierarchy is not wide.
“Sadly speaking, such conditions are less likely to happen in the Malaysian working environment,” Chua said.
In terms of disadvantages, he said increasing the retirement age would raise concerns among generations Y and Z due to imbalance in the workforce.
“These two generations are more highly-educated and less prone to take up blue-collar positions, causing high unemployment rates,” he explained.
Chua believed that the government and society should improve the current working environment in order to make the proposed change more effective.
“Then such an evolution would be more meaningful and result in long-term impact in balancing workforce development,” he said.
A financial consultant Cinthy Yii, 46, was supportive of the proposal, saying that the change could help senior employees stay mentally and physically healthy.
“Employment would keep their minds occupied. People will also have the opportunity to save more money for their retirement and to gain financial freedom,” she said, adding that these senior folk would also be more independent and able to support themselves without relying too much on others.
On the other hand, Yii felt that the evolution of technology prevalent in daily life might be a challenge to the older generation.
“They can be slow learners or unwilling to adapt to such changes,” she said.
In addition, she pointed out that the longer employees work the more the cost in terms of increasing wages and benefits that would have to be absorbed by companies.
Account executive Azfarina Masri, 28, felt that the retirement age should not be raised to 65.
“With the ever-growing advancement of technology, instead of spending extra cost of training those who are nearly retired, it is better to let the younger generation (who are more technologically savvy) take over,” she reasoned.
She believed that retaining senior employees would result in more unemployment among fresh graduates and youth in general.
“Instead, opportunities should be given to the younger generation to grow and gain experience.”
Azfarina added that if retiring at 65 was compulsory instead of voluntary, this could affect the well-being of the retiree-to-be.
“It could lead to non-productive work which would be an unnecessary burden or additional cost,” she said.
“So instead of making it mandatory, it should be optional. After all, the experience and skills of the senior workforce could be utilised over a longer period.”
