The ADVANTAGE! Scheme for Singapore's Aging Population

Singapore, like many other countries is facing the aging population, which serves a problem as our workforce is shifting towards a population of greater age. The slow down in growth of Singapore labor force is expected to grow to 55% of our resident workforce that were aged 40 years and above by Year 2015.

With such a new concern, the government is introducing legislation requiring companies to offer re-employment to workers beyond the age of 62, effectively by 1 January 2012. This will allow older workers to work longer and have a sufficient amount of saving for old age. Companies have to grapple with and adapt to the change of the re-employment policy and benefit from the financial grant available under the legislation. Companies can also enjoy employing mature workers that are capable in a diverse and expanding economy. The older generation experience and knowledge that are acquired at work over the years can be an asset to the company.

In order to attract companies to start early before the upcoming legislation, The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) has enhanced and implemented the ADVANTAGE! Scheme.

The ADVANTAGE! scheme is only applicable to Singapore based and registered companies. It is offering a grant of up to $400,000 to support your company's initiatives and effort in fulfilling the 3 R's, recruiting, re-employing and retention.

Recruitment of new workers age 40 and above.
Re-employing of existing workers aged 62 and above.
Retention of existing workers age 55-61.

Companies are encouraged to implement constructive HR systems for retention and re-employment of mature workers.
Systems may include, but not limited to:

Institution of re-employment policy
Wage restructuring
Institution of non-discriminatory recruitment/hiring policy
Provision of career and retirement counseling especially for workers withdrawing their CPF at the age of 55
Redesigning of medical benefits
Introduction of part time work to attract economically inactive mature workers
Improving working environment to help mature workers be more productive
Skills upgrading or re-skilling of mature workers
Health promotion programmes
Institutionalizing career guidance programmes
Implementing performance management systems
Job re-design to raise productivity and introduce new roles and responsibilities for mature workers

The grant of $400,000 includes the cost incurred for training, consultancy, Intellectual Property Rights, equipments, absentee payroll and staff salary, however, it is not granted to any used or purpose of retention bonus or salary support.

Before the approval of the ADVANTAGE! scheme for your company, companies are required to submit a simple proposal of their project for a 1-year period, stating the following 4 points:

Number of workers aged 40 and above to be recruited
Number of workers aged 55-61 to be retained
Number of workers aged 62 and above to be re-employed
Details of its re-employment system (mandatory)

Companies are also required to submit a statement of declaring the estimate cost of the project.

All companies that are applying have to commit to point D, where else companies with existing staff aged 55 and above must commit to point B and C, in addition to D depending on the age of existing staff. Companies who do not have existing staff aged 55 and above may commit to only point A, in addition to D, but the grant amount will be capped at $100,000 per company.

The grant computation will be based on:

Number of workers aged 40 and above to be recruited X $3,000+
Number of Workers aged 55-61 to be retained X $3,000+
Number of Workers aged 62 and above to be re-employed X $4,000

Or 80% of declared project cost, which is lower, subject to a cap of $400,000 per company.

You are still eligible to apply for the enhanced ADVANTAGE! scheme even if your company have received the grant before. The total cumulative grant will be subjected to an overall cap of $400,000.

The grants will definitely help the cost of recruiting, retaining and re-employing mature workers including the development and implementing of the system. Companies are encouraged to apply for the ADVANTAGE! scheme and benefit from the financial grant available.

Grant Disbursement

Disbursement Tranche	Outcomes
Disbursement Tranche	(A) Recruitment of new workers aged 40 and above	(B) Retention of existing staff aged 55-61	(C) Re-employment of existing staff aged 62 and above
1st Tranche 30%	New re-employment system announced or committed to staff/union eg. Through HR circulars or new re-employment clauses in Collective Agreements	New re-employment system announced or committed to staff/union eg. Through HR circulars or new re-employment clauses in Collective Agreements	New re-employment system announced or committed to staff/union eg. Through HR circulars or new re-employment clauses in Collective Agreements
2nd Tranche 30%	At least 50% of recruitment target achieved 6 months after 1st disbursement	At least 70% retention rate achieved 6 months after 1st disbursement	At least 70% of staff re-employed 6 months after 1st disbursement
	100% of recruitment target achieved 9 months after 1st disbursement. At least 50% of new recruits were retained for 3 months	At least 70% retention rate sustained 12 months after 1st disbursement	At least 70% of staff continue to be re-employed 12 months after 1st disbursement

Grant will be disbursed over 3 tranches and it is tied to the achievement of the following outcomes within 1 year.