Retirees an asset of this nation

VIEWPOINT

At a restroom at Changi Airport in Singapore recently, I struck up a conversation with the supervisor who was overseeing a foreign worker’s work.

The man, who was in his late 60s, informed me that he retired from the civil service and had joined the cleaning company to oversee the janitorial service on the first floor of the airport. It was his responsibility to ensure that the restrooms were clean and dry at all times.

He told me he was proud of his job and never found it boring. He is among the several retirees employed by Changi Airport. In our country, are retirees viewed as human resources or as people who have nothing more to contribute to the nation?

Retiree works in a food court in Singapore. Photo Source: todayonline.com

I am sure Malaysia has many retired professionals, managers, engineers, accountants, nurses, teachers, communications practitioners, media personnel, police, military personnel and civil servants.

While some of them may be spending their days going on well-deserved vacations and enjoying the life of retirement to the fullest, others may have retreated to a life of utter dullness, passing each day feeling bored and useless.

Instead of allowing their experience and expertise to go to waste, they should be offered employment in the fields related to their expertise, thus enabling them to further contribute to our nation’s growth and development.

While I was working for a waste management company, we received a letter from an agency in France informing us that they would be able to “export” retired landfill engineers, incinerator engineers, technicians and managers to our country in order to assist in the development of our company’s business.

I felt that it was an excellent way for the retirees to earn an income and for our company to utilise their services. Under the package proposed by the agency, our company would have to pay the retirees the salary they requested while the agency would take care of their travel, accommodation and medical insurance arrangements.

However, the offer was not accepted by our company as the idea of employing retirees was still new back in 2004.

I certainly feel that there is a fantastic opportunity to explore the capabilities of these “forgotten people” who have contributed immensely to the well-being of the nation and industry that they served.

While we are looking high and low for workers to serve in various sectors, especially the service sector, I think we should consider this reservoir of people who are lying idle and whose talents can be tapped to boost our nation’s economy.

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, as of 2017 retirees numbered 597,000 out of the 2.01 million Malaysians aged 65 years and above.

The employment rate of people aged 65 in advanced countries like Iceland is 38.3 per cent, South Korea 31.5 per cent and Japan 23.5 per cent, while in agriculture-based Indonesia the rate is 41.8 per cent.

If the senior citizens of these countries are employable, similar opportunities should also be extended to Malaysians in the same age category.

According to University Malaya’s Social Well-being Research Centre, the number of Malaysians aged 60 and above is projected to reach 3.5 million next year and 6.3 million in 2040 – about 20 per cent of the country’s population.

Malaysia must take positive measures to address this issue in a serious manner. Retirees should not be viewed as a burden. They have talents, skills and maturity, and add to that wisdom, which will enable them to steer the company they work for through many storms or disasters in a pragmatic and sensible manner.

The rehiring of retirees has to be a government initiative, carried out with the help of non-governmental organisations like the National Council of Senior Citizen Organisations Malaysia, Gerontology Association of Malaysia, Malaysian Humanitarian Foundation and Persatuan Kebajikan Usiamas Malaysia and the support of international agencies such as Help Age International, United Nations Population Fund, Senior Net USA or the International Federation of Ageing.

As Malaysia heads towards becoming an ageing nation by 2030 when seven per cent of its population is aged 65 and above, every effort made in rehiring retirees will bring great rewards to our nation.

The six advantages of hiring retirees are as follows:

Experience: They have the know-how gleaned from years on the job and having gone through business cycle dips, management trends and different bosses. Their institutional knowledge alone means that firms need not have to spend time and money reinventing the wheel.
Work ethics: According to a recent study, employees over 50 years of age are more likely to demonstrate dependability and perseverance and remain task-focused. Those traits offer a good model for younger workers.
Customer service: Many retailers (in other countries) are hiring older employees because they are more mature emotionally and can relate better to customers, hence developing a happier environment for both employee and customer. Also, research indicates that good verbal communication, among other skills, increases with age, thus further contributing to a more pleasant atmosphere in the working world.
Customer identification: A number of companies with older customers are hiring more seniors because they are able to identify with the clients’ needs.
Loyalty: Unlike younger employees, seniors are less likely to job-hop, and a lower turnover rate saves considerable money for the company.
Motivation: Older workers are among the most motivated in the workplace, according to a December 2005 study conducted by an international consulting firm. According to the study, workers aged 55 and above had an average “motivation score” of 78.4, compared to 71.2 for those between the ages of 18 and 29.

Retirees are a good source of income for our nation. Let’s look at them seriously and start engaging them effectively to ensure that the economy and retirees benefit from the rehiring scheme. – Bernama