Hire.Seniors https://hireseniors.my Connecting mature & experienced professionals, seniors & retirees to companies in need of experienced & skilled resources Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:36:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.8 https://hireseniors.my/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/cropped-cropped-RA-1-2-32x32.jpg Hire.Seniors https://hireseniors.my 32 32 The Edge: Talent: When old is gold https://hireseniors.my/the-edge-talent-when-old-is-gold/ Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:36:54 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3726 Jennifer Jacobs / The Edge Malaysia  |  May 19, 2020   The […]

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Jennifer Jacobs / The Edge Malaysia  |  May 19, 2020

 

The Hire Seniors story is a case of being in the right place at the right time. Jasmin Amirul and her co-founder Sharmila Sinnathurai (who has since left the company) came up with the idea of hiring out retired professionals to companies suffering from a lack of staff just as Malaysia was waking up to the fact that this was an untapped resource to help deal with the severe talent shortage in the country.

“We wanted to do something for seniors. They have so much experience and the idea was to help them avoid mental degradation after retirement. What could we do around that space?” says Jasmin, co-founder and CEO of Hire Seniors, in an interview with Enterprise.

Then one day, Jasmin’s husband, who works for a local bank, mentioned that he needed an accountant to come in and do some work, but he did not have the budget to hire a full-time employee. A retired accountant who could come in and help out for three to six months would be ideal.

“We thought it was a fantastic idea. So, we searched for an agency in Malaysia that managed retirees for companies whose expertise we could tap,” says Jasmin.

There was none. “We started doing more research and realised that this whole ageing nation concept was already happening in Malaysia. Statistically, we are already there. According to the World Health Organisation, if 14% of your population is above 65, you are considered an aged nation,” she says.

“According to our Statistics Department, 15.6% of our population will be above 65 by 2040. This means we will be an aged nation in 15 years or so.”

What does this mean for employers? “It means they need to have another look at their hiring strategies because this is an expanding group. We looked at the statistics of those between 50 and 65 as well. Currently, they account for 21% of the population. By 2040, they are expected to account for 35%, which means the population of those below 50 will shrink to 65% from 77% currently,” says Jasmin.

“So, can you imagine, the older population is growing and the younger population is shrinking. Employers will definitely have to start rethinking their employment strategies. That was one of the reasons we started looking into this.”

First, the two co-founders reached out to seniors to find out if they wanted to go back to work. “We reached out to some seniors’ associations, as well as any other avenue we could find, and the response was overwhelming. The majority of them told us that they had always wanted to go back to work but never knew where to go,” says Jasmin.

The second group — the employers — was a little trickier. Would they be open to hiring seniors? “From the human resources (HR) side, the response was pretty good because these hires would promote diversity and inclusion in the company,” she says.

But the senior management of most companies had a very clear age bias. “We have seen cases where they prefer to hire someone with maybe just five years of experience, who is half the age, versus someone, say 60 years old, but with years and years of experience,” says Jasmin.

After the two co-founders ascertained that the idea was indeed viable, they decided to test it out in the real world. “We started to get retirees or seniors to register with us and built up our database. Today, we have almost 4,000 registered,” she says.

The duo started working with partners to increase their reach. “We partnered Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), which gave us access to 50,000 senior citizens or retirees who had registered with its MyPesara app. The app allows users to check their pensions and KWAP throws in other services as well. Hire Seniors is a job provider, if you will, for senior citizens who have registered with the app,” says Jasmin.

Now, it is a matter of building more partnerships with other bodies to increase awareness of Hire Seniors among employers as well as seniors. “There is still a lot of work to be done,” she says.

For instance, understanding the age bias among employers and what their main concerns are when it comes to hiring seniors. “We are working with Talent Corp Malaysia Bhd on that. The idea is to see what we can do with the government to improve the situation,” says Jasmin.

The other challenge with employers is that most of them are not even aware that something like Hire Seniors exists. “They do not know this is available to them and that they can tap into the experience of seniors, even if it is for a short period, as an alternative pool of resources,” she says.

Jasmin notes that this will be an interesting proposition particularly for small and medium enterprises. “They face more struggles in hiring talent than large multinational corporations and government-linked companies. So why not consider hiring retirees?”

And these companies do not necessarily have to take the seniors on full-time. “You could hire them on a part-time basis. If you need an accountant or a chief financial officer (CFO) to come in, consider a retiree,” she says.

The major challenge among the seniors themselves is what Jasmin calls “family bias”. “Some families don’t think seniors should go back to work. There needs to be a mindset change there,” she says.

Sometimes, the mindset change needs to happen with the seniors themselves. “Some of them need to build up confidence even to apply for a job. We try to help them with that,” says Jasmin.

Contrary to popular prejudice, most seniors are open to learning new things. “They are willing to learn.

 

Source: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/talent-when-old-gold?fbclid=IwAR1Z0ctmOu0GStwlNc6tUwrGdny2UNtwmq-TFRkpghH8nqpAC2U14hBBTWk

 

This article first appeared in Enterprise, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on May 11, 2020 – May 17, 2020.

 

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BFM: Popek Popek: Working Till 70 https://hireseniors.my/bfm-popek-popek-working-till-70/ Fri, 10 Jan 2020 03:28:14 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3676 Hire.Seniors Managing Director Jasmin Amirul was interviewed on BFM: Popek Popek: Working […]

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Hire.Seniors Managing Director Jasmin Amirul was interviewed on BFM: Popek Popek: Working till 70.  Japan’s labour ministry wants to encourage companies to employ workers until they are 70, in response to their ageing and shrinking population. We discuss how companies might adapt to accommodate the needs of senior workers. Hire.Seniors was interviewed by BFM as they explore this topic.

Produced by: Lee Chwi Lynn, Loo Juosie

Presented by: Lee Chwi Lynn, Aiman Rashad

 

To listen click the play button below:

Source: https://www.bfm.my/podcast/evening-edition/evening-edition/popek-popek-working-till-70

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BFM: Age- Old Entrepreneurs https://hireseniors.my/bfm-age-old-entrepreneurs/ Wed, 14 Aug 2019 10:06:52 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3433 Jasmin Amirul Ghani, Cofounder of Hire.Seniors 14-Aug, 2019 Hire.Seniors was featured on […]

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Jasmin Amirul Ghani, Cofounder of Hire.Seniors

14-Aug, 2019

Hire.Seniors was featured on BFM as part of Enterprise: Biz Bytes, speaking about the areas that seniors have an advantage over the younger generation in the working world. Listen to the podcast here (from 14 mins onwards)

Produced by: Christine Wong

Presented by: Jeff Sandhu, Arvindh Yuvaraj, & Audrey Raj

 

To listen click the play button below

 

Source: https://www.bfm.my/podcast/enterprise/enterprise-biz-bytes/ent-bb-next-generation-entrepreneurs-seniors

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The Edge: Tapping the expertise of retirees https://hireseniors.my/the-edge-tapping-the-expertise-of-retirees/ Wed, 14 Aug 2019 09:46:39 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3426 Vanessa Gomes / The Edge Malaysia | July 20, 2019 This article […]

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Vanessa Gomes / The Edge Malaysia | July 20, 2019

This article first appeared in Personal Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on July 8, 2019 – July 14, 2019.

More retirees are looking to rejoin the workforce in various capacities due to factors such as having insufficient savings as a result of the increased cost of living as well as to keep themselves occupied and relevant, Hire.Seniors co-founder Sharmila Sinnathurai told participants at The Edge Third Age Economy Symposium 2019.

“Some retirees we spoke to said they had been looking forward to retirement. But after taking a year off and [doing various things like] travelling, remodelling the house, seeing their children get married, taking care of their grandchildren … they became bored and wanted to do something else.

“Another group told us that they could not afford to retire but were forced to do so because they had reached retirement age,” she said, adding that most of the seniors she had spoken to were eager to try a job that was different from what they had been previously doing for 30 to 40 years.

Sharmila decided to co-found Hire.Seniors, a post-retirement job specialist platform, when she realised that there was no such service dedicated to retirees.

Through her years of working in human resources and recruitment, she discovered that a lot of organisations sought to hire good talent but could not find them. This inadvertently impacted their business as many roles could not be filled.

“So, that’s when we (Sharmila and co-founder Jasmin Amirul Ghani) got together and realised that on the one hand, we have corporations that want good talent but could not find them.

“And on the other hand, we have a group of wonderfully experienced people who have retired but want to contribute to society and whose skills are not being tapped into. So, we thought, why not bring them together and that’s how we created Hire.Seniors.”

Currently, the youngest job seeker on the platform is 48 years old while the oldest is 72.

The platform categorises candidates based on their job skills — specialists, semi-skilled and generalists.

During her talk, titled “The Silver Talent: Our Nation’s Untapped Potential”, Sharmila pointed out that in the mid-1980s, a large portion of the workforce comprised younger people and as they aged, the number of older people in organisations have become smaller. However, this trend is set to change by 2025.

“You will see that the age gap of employees in an organisation will become smaller and there will be more people from the older age bracket who are above 40 who will actually be in the workforce,” she said.

“Another thing we’re seeing is that the composition of the workforce is going to change. Organisations have also realised that they aren’t able to accommodate a workforce where 95% of the people are full-time or internal employees.

“[By 2025], perhaps 60% of the workforce would be made up of internal staff while 40% would be external workforce. When they say external, it means that they are going to identify the right skills and the right person for the right job at the right time,” Sharmila explained.

“This is where organisations are going to start looking for individuals who can come in to do a particular piece of work, contribute their expertise and move on.”

Based on the results of a pulse survey she did in 2017 with 85 companies, 66% of them were open to hiring seniors. However, they were concerned about the assimilation of retirees into the workforce.

Sharmila said there are benefits for employers when it comes to hiring seniors, one of which is the latter’s experience. There have been a lot of requests for seniors with relationship skills, she pointed out.

“Businesses are beginning to see the value seniors can bring when selling products and services, especially in areas that are senior-related.

“How many of us would accept food samples in a grocery shop from someone in their sixties compared with someone in their twenties? Asians are generally less likely to say no to seniors.”

One concern raised by companies is that graduates may have less employment opportunities if seniors were allowed to return to work but Sharmila said that is not the case. “Companies should look at the areas in their organisation where they need the expertise but have not been able to get the right talent. Seniors can be an alternative pool of talent to fulfil those needs,” she explained.

“It’s a contingency workforce. For example, an accounting firm with a backlog of tax and audit jobs could hire a group of seniors with the relevant experience to help it for two to three months.”

Another benefit of employing seniors is that the hiring process would be much shorter. “A senior is probably available to start work the next day and can attend interviews in the afternoon, so the hiring cycle becomes shorter. That, in return, means that you are saving cost. You are getting value much earlier and helping the business grow,” she said.

 

Source: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/tapping-expertise-retirees?fbclid=IwAR1kpLAGGk_ExnkvgP3gn844gvbHJcdcHsFDO5T04ZHx98hdXAc3UGXlxgk 

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Nanyang Siang Pau: Job Search Platform Hire.Seniors https://hireseniors.my/job-search-platform-hire-seniors-job-searching-for-seniors-citizen-no-longer-a-challenge/ Thu, 18 Jul 2019 10:12:54 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3376 Nanyang Siang Pau: Job Search Platform Hire.Seniors – Job searching for Seniors […]

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Nanyang Siang Pau: Job Search Platform Hire.Seniors – Job searching for Seniors Citizen no longer a challenge

8 July 2019 | Nanyang Siang Pau | By: Tee Bee Lay

*Translated from Mandarin by Jo Lee*

 

When you reach the legal retirement age, you typically do gardening at home, watch TV with your grandchildren, have casual chats with friends in the cafe, doing things you are interested in, or volunteer. Not necessarily so!

Tun Dr. Mahathir returned to the political arena again at the age of 93. You are a few decades younger than him, of course, you can continue to work for two or three more decades, making money while contributing your knowledge and ability.

For seniors/retirees job seekers who would like to re-enter the workplace, now there is new a channel – Hire.Seniors.

As its name Hire.Seniors suggests, this is a job matching platform for seniors (retired, retirees) and employers, co-founded by Jasmin Amirul Ghani  and Sharmila Sinnathurai, two women who have worked in Accenture, a multinational company that specializes in management consulting, information technology and business process outsourcing.

Like other job-seeking websites, this platform is open for job seekers to use for free, fees will be charged to the hiring employer. Any senior citizens who is interested to re-enter the workplace can go to the platform to search for job vacancies and apply.

 

Jobs covers all fields

As seen on the website, the work opportunities for senior job seekers covers all areas and types, including medical representatives, apartment management staff, school administrators, sales and marketing executives, secretaries, drivers, real estates agents, and programmers (coding), customer service, engineers etc.

However, the most important thing is that there will not be any “age-discrimination” when job searching through this platform, because the companies who come to the platform know that the job seekers are retirees.

As for the definition of senior citizen, the platform has not set any restriction, as long as the senior citizen has the necessary ability to cope with work requirement, it does not matter whether the candidate is close to retirement age or already retired. Of course, if the job seeker is too young, such as in his twenties (and indeed this has happened) and if he applies for a job on this platform, he will naturally be rejected.

Picture: Jasmin: The Prime Minister has set a good example for everyone to know that it is never too late to return to the workplace.

 

Personalized coordination and job search

Jasmin pointed out that unlike other job search platforms, Hire.Seniors has a human touch. Most job search platforms require job seekers to upload resumes and apply for jobs themselves, but at Hire.Seniors, she and Sharmila provide assistance when these senior job seekers need them, including:

  • Resume Writing: If the senior job seeker does not have a resume, the duo provide three ways to help, including using the online resume creation website, using the Microsoft Word resume template, or filling out a form on the platform, and then create the resume based on the data provided by the job seeker.
  • Interview Preparation: Advising senior job seekers to prepare them for the interview. “Some may have worked for thirty or forty years, they may be nervous about attending interview. We will tell them what to prepare and what to expect… Some people will say that he has a headache at the last minute to find various excuses. ”

“You can’t treat senior job seekers as general job seekers. They need more guidance. The world is now electronic, but some are not familiar with uploading resumes, and some have no resumes. We will help”.

“If there is no resume, we will give some tips and tools to help them prepare the resumes. If they don’t know how, we will accept the paper resume and help them turn into electronic version. If you don’t know how to use email, you can use WhatsApp. … There is a lot of extra work, but we are doing this because our goal is to help them return to the workplace.”

Picture Sharmila : A lot of jobs are limited to a maximum age to apply, however we believe for jobs like administrative and accounting work, skills and experience should be the focus rather than the age.

 

Return to the workplace, stay active

According to the duo, Jasmin and Sharmila, who had worked together, they always hoped to have their own business, and Jasmin’s husband complaints had inspired the two.

Jasmin’s husband worked in the finance department of in the airline industry. One day, he expressed his wish in hiring a retiree to help with accounting for several months. After all, retirees have extensive experience and can immediately start working without training.  For a company that is facing temporarily halt in hiring, it is undoubtedly the best solution to recruit retirees for short-term work.

Jasmin’s husband remarks were purely hypothetical, but the two took it seriously and studied the possibilities. After the research, they found that there was demand in the market but no one provided such services. The two professional women decided to set up Hire.Seniors.

 

Meet the needs of the times

“We all have older parents and relatives. If we watch TV all day after retirement, our brain power will easily deteriorate, so we were thinking about what we can do to help them to stay active and mentally engaged.” Jasmin revealed that after considering many options, they landed on two possible options that could help stimulate seniors brain activity which included organizing daytime social and learning activities; or returning to the workplace. In this case, returning to the work place seemed the most practical option.

Sharmila added that Malaysia is expected to become an ageing nation by 2030. By then, the elderly over 60 will account for 15% of the total population. Re-employment of retirees is also in line with the needs of the times. At the same time, organisations are also facing the pressure to find the right talent. “Sometimes the economic environment is not good, companies freeze hiring, the senior talent pool is very suitable. Their working schedule can be very flexible and can work for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or even full time.”

 

Make good use of skills, achieve results

It is undeniable that whether it is 55 or 60 years old, it is still too early to retire from the workplace. In fact, they still have the ability and willingness to continue to contribute in the workplace.

Jasmin pointed out that senior job seekers who are willing to return to the workplace can be divided into two types, one is to maintain physical and mental active to pass the time, the others need a salary to help the family, they rather work full time comparing to part time. ” Nowadays we have longer-life span. If you have only RM200,000 to RM300,000 in your retirement fund, it may not be enough to cope with your life.”

However, the key to whether senior job seekers can return to the workplace lies on whether companies are willing to hire. The two admitted that this is the challenge for senior job seekers.

 

Rejections from Business Departments

In fact, when they discuss with various organisations human resources department, they often shows an open-minded attitude towards hiring seniors, however they often face resistance from the hiring managers themselves (such as the marketing department, sales department), refusing to hire seniors.

Sharmila pointed out that this could be related to the lack of awareness. “Basically, companies are age-biased. When they see an older person, they begin to think of slow action, lack of productivity, difficulty in being taught, demanding and arbitrariness…… These are the misunderstandings and fears that we try to resolve through awareness and education”.

“There are political figures of all ages in the current political arena. This is what we have been telling companies. Companies with a mix of employees of all ages and know how to use the skills and abilities of senior job seekers can get good results. ”

 

More professional work ethics

In fact, the benefits of hiring seniors to the business include:

  • Highly scalable employment methods and duration, which can be employed in accordance with the business objectives and financial capabilities of the company. The employment methods include project-based, part-time, full-time, and the term of office is from one month to long term;
  • With a wealth of work experience and skills, as well as a rich network of contacts, the candidate can start work immediately without training;
  • Older people are undoubtedly has better work ethics than the younger generation;
  • Lower EPF contribution, apart from government incentives.

 

For seniors seeking to work post-retirement, they have provided 3 suggestions:

  1. Understand the areas and work that you are interested in, matching your past experience and skills, and highlight them in your resume;
  2. Change your mindset and adapt to the environment. For example, in the past, your way of working was to meet and discuss when you need a decision. But in this era, you must adapt to using WhatsApp and email. In addition, keeping in mind not to compare to your past salary, otherwise you will feel being exploited/deceived. You will be paid based on the job value which you can choose to accept or not.
  3. Willingness to accept different or flexible working hours will increase hiring opportunities.

 

Example A:

While an international logistics company is entering the digital age, it still had some old computer systems which their junior staff did not have the skills and experience to help with. Thus they approached Hire.Seniors for recommendation of a suitable candidate. In her fifties, Vicky Tan stood out as a part-time job among several candidates due to her past experience with the relevant systems. Recently she moved from part-time to full-time, because the company found that Vicky not only could support the old computer systems, but she also had good project management experience. She possessed the talent that the company needed.

 

Example B:

A logistics company needed someone to help with the customs clearance of the products. Thiagaraja Govindasamy, a 60-year-old retiree with deep experience and contacts in this area, was hired on a part time basis working for 3 days per week. Subsequently he was extended to additional 3 more months.

 

Conclusion:

Although demand for some skills have been declining, but there are still needs for some companies, and the younger generation may not interested or even have experience in these areas, this is the opportunity for senior job seekers.

 

Source: Nanyang Siang Pau  http://www.enanyang.my/?p=1252222

 

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BFM: Working After Retirement https://hireseniors.my/bfm-working-after-retirement/ Thu, 18 Jul 2019 07:53:55 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3368 BFM: Working After Retirement Jasmin Amirul Ghani | Sharmila Sinnathurai, Hire.Seniors 19-Jun-19 […]

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BFM: Working After Retirement

Jasmin Amirul Ghani | Sharmila Sinnathurai, Hire.Seniors

19-Jun-19 10:00

Today’s seniors are healthier, more active and have a longer life expectancy than before thanks to advancements in medical sciences. Where in the past, retirement used to mean the end of work, studies now show that a majority of people plan to continue working after they retire – often in new and different ways. We speak to post-retirement job specialists Hire.Seniors about the options available in the market, the challenges in matching seniors with jobs that matter to them, and how companies could benefit from harnessing what is now being termed “grey power”.

Produced by: Audrey Raj & Christine Wong

Presented by: Audrey Raj

 

To listen click the play button below:

 
https://www.bfm.my/podcast/enterprise/open-for-business/ent-ofb-working-after-retirement

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Focus Malaysia: Finding work after retirement https://hireseniors.my/finding-work-after-retirement/ Thu, 18 Jul 2019 07:39:12 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=3358 income+ Focus Malaysia (March 9-15, 2019) by Tan Jee Yee We may […]

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income+ Focus Malaysia (March 9-15, 2019) by Tan Jee Yee
  • We may need to work after our retirement age. Thankfully, the gig economy means we’re able to find more work opportunities
  • Some people may want to work after retirement age, and there are now growing opportunities for side-jobs
  • There are platforms that specifically lists jobs for seniors and retirees

For some people, working after retirement is a necessity. For Edward Wong Ing How, it was because of boredom. The 62-year-old spoke to FocusM after turning off his Grab application for the afternoon. “I’ll turn it back on in the evening, and stop during dinnertime. Usually the missus gets angry if I skip dinner in order to drive,” he says with a chuckle. Wong has been a ride-hailing driver for almost a year now – an endeavour he undertook because he found retirement to be quite boring. “I like that I have a lot of time, but sometimes you have too much time, you know? I might as well earn some money,” he says.

However, he may not be a ride-hailing driver soon. With the new ride-hailing regulations in place, Wong isn’t keen on getting a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence, let alone take the necessary exams. Not that this will stop him from seeking work. The former telecommunications maintenance officer has already begun scouting for potential part-time work in various places. “I could be a delivery guy, if I want to. Maybe an admin assistant, from this job offer I found online,” he says. “I think we’re at a time where there are more work opportunities for retirees, if we only know where to look.”

 

The post-retirement conundrum

Malaysia is becoming an aging nation, and with it comes a list of concerns. A primary worry would be whether or not we could afford retirement. According to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), more than 68% of its members aged 54 had less than RM50,000 in EPF savings. Another EPF survey conducted in 2017 found that over 90% of its respondents across big cities and rural areas do not have enough savings to retire comfortably. It’s a matter of financial planning and policies, though for those who are heading into their retirement with insufficient savings, the prospects of working past the age of 60 may be a reality.

Some may also be considering working as a viable way to spend their retirement. It may allow us to live longer, for one – a 2016 study by the Oregon State University in the United States found that working past age 65 can add years to one’s life, while retiring early could put one at risk of dying younger. A large study conducted in France on nearly half a million self-employed workers, released in 2014, found that delaying retirement means people may be at a lower risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Taking on the gig economy

At the very least, we can take what Wong said as an assurance. It’s hard to say that work opportunities for retirees have increased exponentially, but we are living at a time when options for side-jobs are growing, thanks to the so-called “gig economy”. A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organisations seek out independent workers for short-term engagements instead of long-term employment. We can already see the opportunities this gig economy has for retirees – ride-hailing services like Grab do not discriminate age, with a medical check-up being one requirement for drivers above 50. Working retirees like Wong are already eyeing other gig economy options, like being a delivery person with GrabFood or HonestBee. “They require that you have a motorcycle licence, which I do. I can see myself doing that, if I’m not being a ride-hailing driver,” he says.

 

Searching at the right places

A more prevalent gig economy also means more opportunities for part-time work with other organisations. Former administrative executive Annie Teoh Sue Huan has been able to continue with her career after retiring four years ago, albeit on a part-time basis. She is currently working as an administrator for a small company in Kota Damansara, which is close to her home. The 64-year old only needs to come in for a few hours a day and work has been relatively simpler compared to when she was a full-timer. “It’s like a stripped-down version of my original work. I get paid less but I do enjoy the slower pace and the free time I get before and after work,” she says.

What to take from Teoh is not just the job she managed to find, but where she found it. A year ago, Teoh took to searching for positions on job platforms that are catered specifically to seniors. They included Hire.Seniors, a website that does just that, as well as JobStreet, which also posts jobs that welcome retirees. “I think online platforms that gather these jobs in one place really makes searching a lot easier. Much better than poring through newspaper classifieds!” Teoh says.

While Teoh did go through Hire.Seniors and JobStreet, she found her side-job through PartTimePost, a website that lists part-time and freelance jobs. “I wasn’t sure if they would hire a retiree but it turned out I was exactly what they were looking for,” she explains.

 

Work-from-home options

If one takes time to go through each job platform, they may also find job opportunities that allow them to work from home. Linda Chan Hue May, 58, serves as an example. She was working as a virtual assistant after she was retrenched. Being a virtual assistant had allowed chan to work at home, which offers her the flexibility she needs now that she’s essentially retired. Chan is no longer a virtual assistant now, but has since started working as a freelance typist and transcriber, taking in jobs from various regular clients that she has accrued over the past year or so. “I needed more flexibility now that I have to also ferry my grandchildren to school,” she says. Her daughter-in-law had helped seek out remote working opportunities before landing on a few offers in a Facebook group.

This technically makes Chan a freelancer, a title she accepts with glee. “I feel like I’m part of the young crowd now.” Chan believes that with the right skill and mindset, retirees can try being freelancers themselves. “I’m sure we have more to offer to the workforce. We just need to put ourselves out there. Hopefully, there’ll be platforms that allow retirees to post their services as well,” she says.

 

[Extracted from Focus Malaysia Printed on 9th March 2019, Page 28]

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FT: Companies cannot afford to ignore older workers https://hireseniors.my/ft-companies-cannot-afford-to-ignore-older-workers/ Tue, 09 Apr 2019 21:32:03 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=2373 Companies cannot afford to ignore older workers An ageing population and later […]

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Companies cannot afford to ignore older workers
An ageing population and later retirement means employers will soon have little choice

Brian Groom MARCH 26, 2019  

Why, asked Philip Larkin in his poem “Toads” (1954), “should I let the toad work/ Squat on my life? Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork/ And drive the brute off?”

The post-second world war generation took up their pitchforks with gusto and escaped work as early as they could. Many retired in their fifties, aided by redundancy packages from employers who feared that older workers could not keep up the pace.

Now we see a reversal. Average retirement ages are rising throughout the developed world as individuals with inadequate pension savings face longer lifespans, employers confront a shortage of younger workers and governments struggle to fund services for ageing populations.

Newly released data shows the UK’s labour market created 473,000 jobs in the year to January despite Brexit uncertainty, the fastest annual growth for two-and-a-half years. Those aged 50-plus accounted for more than two-thirds, as the number of retired people reached a 25-year low.

Around the world, the average effective age of retirement has been rising for a couple of decades. The UK rate reached 65 for men (up from 61.7 in 1998) and 63.9 for women in 2017, above France and Germany but below the US and Japan, according to the OECD, the club of developed nations. In the US, older workers are sometimes referred to as “perennials”, as influential in their way as millennials.

People currently in their 20s are likely to be working into their late 70s and even 80s, say Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, authors of The 100-Year Life. In South Korea, the average effective retirement age for women is already above 73.

Governments are raising the age at which people can receive a state-funded pension. In the UK, the trend has been fuelled by the decline in defined-benefit company pension schemes and by equalisation of the state pension age resulting in fewer women retiring between 60 and 65.

Many welcome the change as a way to keep active and use their skills, though they may also be making the best of necessity. Older people have fuelled UK growth in self-employment. Even the number of chief executives of FTSE 100 companies over 60 has doubled in the past 20 years.

One might think the interests of people, employers and governments were aligned. Yet there are doubts about whether change is happening fast enough.

Insurer Aviva warns that UK businesses could face a shortage of up to 3m workers in the coming decade. Japan’s workforce is forecast to shrink by 22 per cent by 2040 without urgent action to increase the number of working women and older workers.

In Britain, almost 1m people aged 50–64 who are not in employment say they would like to work. Older workers face discrimination in recruitment and progression: across the OECD, only Turkey and Slovenia have lower levels of on-the-job training for older workers. They face higher levels of long-term unemployment, low pay and gender pay differentials.

The charity Centre for Ageing Better urges employers to adopt “age-friendly” practices such as ending age bias in recruitment, improving provision of flexible working, continuing training and progression for workers of all ages, and supporting carers and those with health conditions.

The British government has abolished mandatory retirement ages and widened the statutory right to request flexible working. There is more that can be done, particularly on enforcement, but real progress will happen only when more employers see it as in their interest.

There are examples of good practice across the world. CVS, the US pharmacy chain, allows staff to transfer temporarily to stores in warmer states during winter months, mirroring older customers’ behaviour. Carmakers such as BMW and Porsche are redesigning factories ergonomically to suit older workers.

In the UK, Aviva is pioneering the “midlife MoT”, a review of career, wellbeing and finances for over-45s. Centrica, owner of British Gas, is among companies offering paid leave and flexible working to carers so it can retain their skills.

Many employers have negative stereotypes, however, believing wrongly that older workers are less productive. They miss their skills and experience only when it is too late. According to the Milken Institute’s Center for the Future of Aging and the Stanford Center on Longevity, older employees take fewer sick days, are more adept at resolving conflicts, have a strong work ethic and are loyal.

Economics aside, people need not just longer working lives but better-quality, satisfying work. That is not easy when many are on insecure contracts or in what anthropologist David Graeber calls “bullshit jobs”. It is vital, though, if people are not to suffer Larkin’s desultory resignation in “Toads Revisited” (1962): “Give me your arm, old toad;/ Help me down Cemetery Road.”

The writer, formerly the FT’s business and employment editor, insists he is only semi-retired

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/34ec4970-4b3a-11e9-bde6-79eaea5acb64

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Edge: The State of the Nation: Leveraging Malaysia’s grey power in the workplace https://hireseniors.my/the-state-of-the-nation-leveraging-malaysias-grey-power-in-the-workplace/ Tue, 02 Apr 2019 03:22:43 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=2166 By Supriya Surendran / Edge Malaysia  |  March 25th 2019   FOR […]

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By Supriya Surendran / Edge Malaysia  |  March 25th 2019

 

FOR 65-year-old retiree Balan, who had spent more than 30 years working in the aviation industry, staying at home without a job was a dreadful experience.

“I felt like I had no purpose, having been working in a fast-paced environment all these years. I did not feel I was getting older, but once I started staying at home, I felt old for the first time, and I did not like it.

“I recently got a job on a one-year contract with a property development firm to manage their security services. My employers told me they prefer hiring a senior person as they feel seniors are more dedicated to their jobs, [and] things like punctuality and such. I was happy to hear this as I want to work as long as I am able to, but there is always a nagging doubt that I could be easily replaced by a younger person once my contract is up for renewal,” he says.

Many Malaysians aged 60 and above are probably familiar with Balan’s situation.

By 2020, around 11.1% or one in 10 Malaysians will be 60 and above. This percentage will rise to 15.3% by 2030, according to a recent study by the Institute of Labour Market Information and Analysis (ILMIA).

Last month, Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran urged employers to hire those over 60 as their talents and experience should not go to waste because they still have much to contribute.

n order to do this, Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie says there needs to be a radical change in the way institutions and organisations handle the ageing workforce.

“This means a rethinking of public policies and business practices to develop an age-friendly human resource (HR) system to facilitate the participation of older workers.

“Older persons have knowledge, experience and insights that are valuable to the organisation in terms of reliability, institutional know-how, and commitment. Not only are they thinkers and problem-solvers, but they also serve as mentors and role models to the younger generation, bringing synergy to the diverse age groups in the organisation,” he says.

 

Will hiring the elderly aggravate youth unemployment?

It is arguable that retaining older workers might deprive the younger generation of job opportunities despite inconclusive facts. The basis for that argument more than likely reflects the perceived high level of youth unemployment in the country.

In 2017, the youth unemployment rate was 10.8%, which is three times the national average of 3.4%. However, ILMIA adviser Lee Chee Sung pointed out that this is beyond an anomaly.

“There is always the statement that youth unemployment is high, but youth unemployment has been three times the national average for the past 15 years, and this is in line with most countries. This is because youths lack the experience, some of them are picky in jobs and some of them probably do not have the right qualifications.

“What is more worrying is [the percentage] of youth that have been unemployed for a long time — long-term youth unemployment, that is what we need to worry about. But based on the statistics we have seen, the long-term unemployment rate is at a manageable level.

“So, if you ask me, if hiring older workers would pose a problem for youths to secure jobs, I would say no because it [what we are currently seeing] is the natural rate of youth unemployment,” he explains.

Sunway University Business School professor of economics Dr Yeah Kim Leng raises the substitute or complementary effect.

“The substitute effect comes into play when older workers possess the same skills as their younger counterparts but are demanding higher pay. Staff costs for an organisation would rise.

“On the flip side, the results are complementary in an organisation, which is in the midst of an expansion. Retaining older workers in the managerial level creates more employment opportunities at the entry level for youth” he says.

Meanwhile, the dearth of qualified and experienced middle-aged personnel to fill top as well as highly technical positions — a phenomenon akin to a “hollow middle” commonly found in the organisation structure of many high-growth firms — is a key factor for retaining talents that have reached retirement age, he adds.

 

Should the retirement age be increased?

Reuters reported last week that Singapore, the world’s second fastest ageing society after South Korea, is looking to increase its retirement age. Singapore’s retirement age is 62 years old while companies are required by law to offer eligible employees the option of continuing to work until they reach the age of 67.

Malaysia’s retirement age is at 60, but some quarters have called for it to be raised to 65.

Lee says there are merits to raising the retirement age, such as helping senior citizens to build up their savings — according to the central bank, only 4 in 10 Malaysians are financially ready for retirement — so that they can retire comfortably.

That said, a huge concern also revolves around Malaysia’s 1.6 million civil servants whose ever rising wage and pension payments are an albatross around the government’s neck. Putrajaya has yet to find a solution to managing the extreme bloat and the fiscal consequences are increasingly coming at the expense of the country’s development.

“We need to conduct a careful study on the implications of raising the retirement age in the public sector given the current fiscal concerns and high emoluments and pension bills. In Budget 2019, emoluments will amount to RM82 billion, or 31.6% of total operating expenditure, while pension payments will rise to RM26.6 billion in 2019, or 10.2% of total operating expenditure, from RM25.8 billion in 2018.”

However, before even thinking of raising the retirement age, the public sector wage bill has to be contained, Lee observed. “The government can consider right-sizing the public sector through a rationalisation of the processes and systems via ICT applications to create lean and user-centric public delivery services.

As for the private sector, he said employers would want flexibility in the HR management of older workers while taking into consideration staff costs, EPF contributions, and medical expenses.

“Some companies and organisations have extended their experienced staff on a contract basis post the mandatory retirement age of 60. Instead of retiring at say 63 or 65, one can consider continued employment beyond 60 on a voluntary basis,” he says.

For Malaysians, given the rise in life expectancy, coupled with inadequate savings, Yeah believes it is timely for the government to consider providing more incentives to help private sector employers to lower the cost of re-hiring workers who wish to work past the mandatory retirement age. Besides lower EPF contributions for those aged 60 and above, these incentives can include double deduction tax incentives on salaries, and other benefits such as medical, he says.

 

Are there jobs for seniors?

Former employees of Accenture, Sharmila Sinnathurai and Jasmin Amirul Ghani, who set up Hire.Seniors, a social enterprise that specialises in helping seniors to find employment believe there are abundant job opportunities.

“Looking at our own parents and relatives, we realised the importance of ensuring senior minds are kept active. Hence, we explored ideas to best do this, and employment came up as one of the ideas we thought could be achievable,” says Sharmila.

Operating for 1½ years, Hire.Seniors charges employers a small fee to post jobs specifically for seniors. The jobs are then shared via direct channels as well as partners, but seniors can register their details with Hire. Seniors at no charge.

“The jobs that appear rather often from employers tend to include roles for administrative and clerical, customer service, payroll, finance, accounting, tutors, and part time drivers for children.

“From our experience, many seniors tend to prefer part-time jobs with flexible hours that are located closer to home or offer the ability to work from home. However, we have also seen recently, many seniors who are willing to apply for jobs that are full time and some are even willing to relocate to other states in order to gain employment,” says Jasmin.

Employers have shared that their initial apprehension in hiring seniors boiled down to IT savviness.

“However, they have also said that with patience and dedication, the seniors have been able to learn new skills and contribute effectively to the organisation,” says Sharmila.

“Some employers shared that they ended up learning from the seniors that they hired due to their depth of knowledge and experience. The seniors ended up coaching the younger team.”

Sharmila and Jasmin believe the government’s push to hire workers above the age of 60 is timely given that seniors today are living longer, healthier lives thanks to more advanced healthcare.

“We also believe in having choices, and that seniors should be given the option to continue working beyond retirement if they are willing and have the mental or physical capacity to continue. Age is just a number, as proven by our 94-year-old prime minister.”

Source: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/state-nation-leveraging-malaysias-grey-power-workplace

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Star: A service that helps retirees secure jobs https://hireseniors.my/a-service-that-helps-retirees-secure-jobs/ Sun, 30 Dec 2018 11:22:12 +0000 https://www.hireseniors.my/?p=1030 BY STAR2.COM; DECEMBER 29, 2018 For many retirees, going for a job interview […]

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BY STAR2.COM; DECEMBER 29, 2018

For many retirees, going for a job interview can be a daunting task. After retiring from teaching, Alice Tan applied for a job as an editor in a publishing house.

“I wasn’t nervous until I was asked to go in for an interview and sit for a ‘test’. I panicked. I realised that I’ve never been for an interview.

“As a teacher, I was given a posting after college and I just went to the school. I didn’t know how to prepare for an interview,” said Tan, 68, who taught for 30 years in government schools, and is currently teaching at a tuition centre in Kuala Lumpur.

To help seniors get back into the workforce, post-retirement job specialists Hire.Seniors offer coaching for retirees who need help with writing their resumes or preparing for interviews.

“Also, job interviews have changed over the years as many employers now opt for informal chats rather than a formal interview and so we prep them for this ‘chat’ where employers want to know if the candidate can fit into the organisation well and so on.

“Just before their interview, I would ask them if they need support. Some don’t but for those who do, I run through with them a little about the company they are interviewing with, what they will be required to do … things like that. I also just make sure they know where they have to go so that they don’t panic,” explains Sharmila Sinnathurai, co-founder of Hire.Seniors.

Sharmila and her business partner Jasmin Amirul Ghani also check in on their clients after they’ve started work, to make sure they are adjusting well.

“Some struggle after starting their jobs. Dealing with a demanding boss, for example, can be hard for some seniors and we want to make sure they are adjusting well or help them wherever we can.

“We don’t charge them or even take anything from their salaries once they have been employed. We charge their employers,” explains Jasmin.

This “human touch” doesn’t’ go unappreciated. Thiagarajah Govindasamy, who found a job in a logistics company in Setia Alam through Hire.Seniors, says that the extra support was heartening.

“A few days into my job, Sharmila called to find out how I was coping. I was impressed. I was also pleased that they managed to find me a job that was related to what I was doing before – logistics.

“At this Swiss-based company, I act as an advisor and I go in three days a week and the hours are flexible. I wouldn’t mind working more days but I can’t complain,” says Thiagarajah who ran his own logistics firm in Cambodia before returning to Malaysia to retire.

Like many of his peers, Thiagarajah intends to work “for as long as I can”.

“It keeps me going,” he says.

Source: https://www.star2.com/family/2018/12/29/retirees-joining-workforce/

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