SINGAPORE: On the back of the impending rise in re-employment age, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) U Live has launched a guidebook for companies entitled “Understanding Re-employment” on Monday (Aug 8).

U Live is NTUC’s platform for mature members aged 55 and above which aims to prepare them for their golden years.

The guidebook was launched at U Live’s roadshow located at the Central Business District and is available to all union leaders and unionised companies’ HR practitioners.

The guidebook will help union leaders, employees and workers better understand the revised tripartite guidelines on the re-employment of older employees and adopt them earlier, NTUC said. The guidelines were revised in May.

This is among efforts by the Labour movement to encourage more unionised companies to adopt the guidelines. Other initiatives include WorkPro, where companies can apply for grants aimed at encouraging them to redesign jobs and retain older workers.

According to NTUC, 1016 unionised companies surveyed by U Live are re-employing beyond the age of 65, while 183 companies have at least a re-employment policy to hire up to the age of 67.

This is a significant increase from a year ago, where the number of unionised companies re-employing beyond the age of 65 was at 585.

Deputy Secretary-general of NTUC Heng Chee How said: “The re-employment ceiling will go up from 65 to 67 from July next year. We are therefore in the stage of working with companies to get ready.

“Most unionised companies are already taking steps to do this early and do it right. To help all employers to do this early and do this right, NTUC has produced this handbook,” Mr Heng added.