IN HER commentary, 'Golden age of the elderly' (Oct 9), Ms Salma Khalik highlighted a recent article in prestigious medical journal The Lancet, which showed that people in developed countries are not only living longer, but also remaining healthy for much of their lives.

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She quoted the authors as saying: 'A reasonable strategy to cope with the economic implications of population ageing is to raise the typical age of retirement, and most governments are moving in this direction.

'Improvements in health and functioning, along with the shifting of employment from jobs that need strength to jobs needing knowledge, imply that a rising proportion of people in their 60s and 70s are capable of contributing to the economy.'

As a non-profit organisation, we have been running workshops to encourage and prepare older workers to be employed/re-employed for as long as possible.

We have also held courses for employers, management and human resource executives to help and equip them to understand older workers, and how to manage and harness the experience and strengths of their older workers more effectively.

Of the thousands of seniors who have attended our training programmes, the majority wanted to continue working. However, many were concerned that their employers did not appear keen to retain them.

Indeed, we have observed that some employers and management staff continue to harbour stereotypical perceptions and attitudes about older workers.

Some of the myths: that a significant proportion of older people aged 65 and above suffer from cognitive impairment, and that most older workers cannot work as effectively as younger ones.

These myths are clearly contrary to the substantial body of evidence available. Studies of employed older people under actual working conditions generally show that, on most measures, most older workers can work as well as, if not better than, younger workers.

Moreover, intellectual performance, on which much of work performance depends, does not decline substantially until the 70s in most individuals and even later in others.

Employers should re-examine their beliefs and assumptions about older workers, and give these willing and able workers the chance to prove their worth.

Helen Ko (Ms)
Executive Director
Centre For Seniors

This article was first published in The Straits Times.