By FELDA CHAY

MANY companies are still not moving to hire workers aged 55-64, even though re-employment legislation is set to take effect in 2012, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Boon Heng said yesterday.

'My advice is: Don't wait, start working on it now,' he said. 'You have only just over two years to get ready.'

Mr Lim was speaking at a luncheon where the Housing & Development Board, National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Royal Plaza on Scotts (RPS) were commended for winning AARP International Innovative Employer Awards - an initiative of US-based non-profit organisation AARP.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore's employment rate for workers aged 55-64 is 57 per cent.

'So we still have a long way to go to reach our target of 65 per cent by 2012,' Mr Lim said.

When re-employment legislation kicks in in January 2012, companies will have to offer to keep workers past retirement if they are fit and capable - but not necessarily in the same job or on similar wages as before.

'The labour market in Singapore is quite a small one,' Mr Lim told reporters at the event.

'Although we have not got out of a recession as yet, the labour market is tightening.

'When we don't have enough workers, we should look at the pool of people who are not working.'

Firms should learn how to implement age-friendly practices from the three companies that won AARP awards, he said.

RPS, for instance, no longer requires job applicants to put their age on application forms. It also has flexi-work arrangements for older workers, who work 22 hours a week instead of 44.

NHG creates and re-designs jobs for older workers, and like RPS, it has introduced flexi-work for them. Some 17 per cent of its staff are aged 50 or older, and its re-employment rate is 85 per cent.

At HDB, employees aged 50 and above make up 35 per cent of the work force.

AARP selected 10 international winners for their recruiting practices, employee benefits, scheduling and retirement flexibility, and training opportunities, among other factors.

This article was first published in The Business Times.