Choice to work, choice of work: What the new senior employment recommendations mean for you

In this article:

• The six recommendations from the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment (TWG-SE), and what each one means for you
• How the new Flexi-Load Programme could give you more part-time and flexible work options from age 50
• Why the Retirement Age and Re-employment Age will rise to 65 and 70 a year early, on 1 January 2029
• Changes that put more money in your pocket, including a higher Employment Assistance Payment and lower taxes for those who keep working
• Where to get help from NTUC and e2i if you’re planning your next career move

When Tan Ai Kim’s contract as a financial accountant ended, the 53-year-old knew the job market had shifted. Short-term contract roles were becoming more common, and employers increasingly wanted skills in artificial intelligence (AI), analytics and digital tools.

She turned to NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) for help.

Her career coach worked with her on job referrals and interview preparation. The coach also recommended e2i’s Career Pulse workshop, which helped her understand industry trends, in-demand skills and where she could improve.

She has since received a job offer and is waiting for her start date to be confirmed.

Her story reflects the kind of support senior workers can expect more of under recommendations released on 26 October 2026 by the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment (TWG-SE).

Co-chaired by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), the workgroup made six recommendations to help seniors who wish to work stay in meaningful employment for longer, if they choose to.

The Government has fully accepted them, and further details will be released in the first half of 2027.

“Choice to work and choice of work,” said NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Desmond Tan, one of the workgroup’s three co-chairs. “Senior workers should have genuine options in how they continue contributing – whether through full-time work, flexible arrangements or adjusted responsibilities.”

 NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Desmond Tan said senior workers should have ‘choice to work and choice of work’ in his opening remarks at the TWG-SE report launch.

Shaped by what senior workers want

The TWG-SE was set up in July 2025. It consulted more than 1,000 stakeholders, including union leaders and members, senior workers, employers, human resource (HR) professionals and academics.

Mr Tan said the conversations revealed three broad groups of workers.

Some want to stay in full-time work; a growing number want flexible hours or a lighter workload because of caregiving, health or lifestyle reasons; others want to retire from paid work and contribute through volunteering instead.

NTUC’s own survey of senior workers, cited in the report, found strong interest in working beyond the eventual re-employment age of 70, along with demand for more flexible ways of working.

The workgroup also convened the Alliance for Action on Empowering Multi-Stage Careers for Mature Workers (AfA-EMW). Under it, 30 organisations piloted new approaches to training, career guidance, job matching, alternative work models and phased retirement, which have helped more than 1,600 senior workers.

The data points to a clear gap. Labour force participation begins to fall sharply from around age 50, and caregiving and health are among the most common reasons people stop working.

(From left) DSG Desmond Tan, MOS Dinesh Vasu Dash and SNEF Vice-President Tan Hwee Bin discuss how to build age-friendly jobs and multi-generational workplaces, in a panel moderated by Institute for Human Resource Professionals CEO Aslam Sardar.

More flexible jobs, so you don’t have to choose between full-time and nothing

Many senior workers want to keep working, but not always full-time. The new Flexi-Load Programme aims to give them more options.

Flexi-load means working a reduced workload for pay that matches it. Examples include part-time work, job sharing, and fractional roles, where an experienced professional takes on a defined part of a job, sometimes for more than one employer.

The programme will help employers cover the cost of setting up these roles, such as redesigning jobs and HR systems built around full-time work.

It will replace the Part-Time Re-employment Grant when that grant expires at the end of 2027. The current grant has supported about 68,500 senior workers and 7,800 employers.

Two key changes:

• Wider coverage: The new programme covers workers aged 50 and above, compared with 60 and above today.
• Funding tied to results: Employers will be funded for actually creating additional flexi-load roles, not only for changing their HR policies.

A new programme office for career longevity, led by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) with NTUC and SNEF, will help workers plan their careers and skills earlier, well before retirement is in sight.

It will also help employers adopt age-inclusive practices such as Structured Career Planning, and connect both sides to suitable job opportunities, including flexi-load roles.

Retirement and re-employment ages rise a year early

The Retirement Age will go up from 64 to 65, and the Re-employment Age from 69 to 70, on 1 January 2029 – a year ahead of the original 2030 timeline.

These ages are often misunderstood. The Retirement Age is not the age workers must work until. It’s a safeguard that prevents employers from asking employees to retire because of their age. Eligible employees must be offered re-employment up to their re-employment age.

More financial support for workers and employers

Three recommendations focus on what senior workers take home:

• Employment Assistance Payment (EAP): If an employer is unable to offer re-employment, it must give workers a one-off EAP to tide over while they look for a new job. The payment is 3.5 months’ salary, subject to a minimum and maximum amount. Those amounts were last updated in 2022 and will be raised to reflect wage growth.
• Earned Income Relief: If workers choose to work beyond the retirement and re-employment age, enhanced tax relief will allow them to keep more of what they earn.
• Re-Employment Credit: From 2028, this will replace the Senior Employment Credit, which gives employers wage offsets of up to 7 per cent for Singaporean workers aged 60 and above who earn under $4,000 a month. The new credit will give stronger support to employers who hire and retain workers beyond the Retirement and Re-employment Ages, and the workgroup has recommended raising the wage ceiling.

Extra support for lower-wage seniors

If workers choose to work beyond the retirement and re-employment age, enhanced tax relief will allow them to keep more of what they earn.

The workgroup recommends enhancing the Workfare Income Supplement. It tops up lower-wage workers’ incomes with cash and CPF contributions, and older workers already receive higher payouts.

It also recommends updating the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme, which co-funds wage increases for lower-wage workers, so that it keeps pace with wage growth.

Support when your career takes a turn

Longer careers are not always smooth. NTUC’s Mr Tan noted that workers aged 50 to 59 had the highest rate of retrenchment, and only about four in 10 returned to work within six months.

“Senior workers need the assurance that, when circumstances change, they will not have to navigate the next step alone,” he said.

Senior workers can turn to:

• e2i’s Senior PMET Career Support, which follows five steps: Regroup, Reposition, Reskill and Pivot, Reconnect and Re-enter. It includes career coaching, job matching and access to NTUC’s AI Career Coach.
• NTUC LearningHub, for courses that keep skills current, including in AI.
• Company Training Committees, through which unions work with employers to redesign jobs, for example by reducing physically demanding tasks or introducing more flexible schedules.
• The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme, which gives involuntarily unemployed workers temporary financial support while they look for a good-fit job.

Work that is meaningful, sustainable and dignified

For Ms Tan, help came at the moment she needed it, when her contract ended and the next step was unclear.

The workgroup’s recommendations aim to make that support the norm rather than the exception.

Senior workers should be able to stay in their jobs, step back to a lighter load or return after a break, with the right support at each stage of a multi-stage career.

“Growing older should not mean being written off or having assumptions made about one’s ability. Longer working lives must be more than possible – they must be meaningful, sustainable and dignified,” Mr Tan said.

Find out more about the TWG-SE recommendations here. Ready to plan your next move? e2i’s Senior PMET Career Support can help.