By Amelia Tan

THREE YEARS ago, Mr Sannie Abdul moved to Melbourne, Australia, to retire.

But a month of sightseeing and doing things at leisure there left him feeling 'empty'.

He came back here, determined instead to find a way to put to good use his 45years of experience as a building and product designer.

This was how, at the age of 70, he stumbled upon his second career as a lecturer at Nanyang Polytechnic's (NYP) School of Design.

The 73-year-old is one of NYP's 26 employees over the age of 60.

The school, which has been hiring such older workers as a matter of policy, is ahead of the curve: In another three years, it will become law for employers to offer jobs to those aged 62 for another three years.

An NYP spokesman said: 'Age is not the main recruitment criterion. What we are more concerned with is whether the candidate has the relevant qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills set to contribute effectively towards our organisational needs and goals.'

For its enlightened human resource policy, NYP has been named among this year's 11 people-friendly organisations in the 2009 Hewitt 'Best Employers' study.

The study looked at 50 companies across various industries and focused on three areas - leadership, corporate culture and career opportunities for employees.

The issue of raising the retirement age has been discussed often in recent years as Singapore's silver population grows, and the Government has been encouraging organisations to employ older workers and for people to work longer.

Mr Sannie said he initially wanted to teach part-time at NYP for a year, but the heads of its School of Design encouraged him to work full-time. His yearly contract has since been renewed twice.

He said: 'I was concerned that if I continued working every day, I would have no time to think and plan what I would like to do in the future. But I've found my teaching schedule manageable. I also have enough time to spend with my family.'

He is married and has three daughters, all in their 30s, and three grandchildren aged between six and nine.

He added: 'I find it very satisfying when I see my students applying what I taught them in class to their projects, or using the terms I taught them. Now, I think I would like to stay on as long as I am healthy.'

His students say they appreciate his experience and look up to him as a fatherly figure.

Ms Marialaura Lui, 19, said: 'With all the experience he has, he can tell us when our ideas will not work. But he always listens to what we have to say and never talks down to us. That's why we don't hesitate to ask him for help.'

Another NYP lecturer for whom retirement is not on the horizon is Mr Bernard Lian from the School of Health Sciences.

The 70-year-old said: People can get degrees if they study for them, but few have my kind of experience, which I gained from working a long time in the hospitals and teaching in schools. I want to continue teaching because I still have a lot to contribute.'

Unionist Halimah Yacob, noting that the number of older men working has gone up in the last few years, said she hoped many older women would rejoin the workforce, just like their counterparts in developed countries.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.