Singapore

SINGAPORE – Many older Singaporeans are continuing to work beyond retirement age, motivated by a mix of financial needs, social connection, mental stimulation and a desire to pass on decades of experience. For 71-year-old horticulturist Said Mohamed, remaining at Mandai Wildlife Reserve also means supporting his 37-year-old son, who has a disability.

Said joined the then Singapore Zoo when he was 27 and has spent 44 years caring for plants across the wildlife reserve’s five attractions. Among the trees he has tended is a 50m-tall buah sentul, or cotton fruit tree, at the entrance to the proboscis monkey exhibit. He planted it as a seedling and cared for it over the following 40 years.

His connection to the workplace is personal as well as professional. “I also met and married my supervisor at the zoo,” he said with a laugh.

He said friendships and his social network at work help him remain mentally alert. But he also needs his income to support his son, who attends a special school for adults, and to pay for a domestic helper who assists with his son’s daily needs.

Surveys cited by The Straits Times point to similar reasons among older workers. A November 2025 Sun Life survey found that more than three in five seniors in Singapore remained in work after reaching retirement age. While social engagement and mental stimulation were leading reasons, many respondents said they continued working because of financial considerations.

Even among higher-income respondents in Singapore, 48% said they required additional income for everyday expenses and long-term financial security. The online survey, titled Retirement Reimagined: Asia’s Retirement Divide, included 3,006 respondents in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Of that total, 521 respondents were from Singapore.

A separate NTUC survey, conducted between September and October 2025 with nearly 600 respondents across age groups, found that 46% hoped to work beyond age 70. The share was higher among respondents aged 64 and above, with more than 66% saying they wanted to continue working past 70, compared with 51% of those aged 50 to 63.

Singapore’s statutory retirement age rose from 63 to 64 in July 2026, while the re-employment age increased from 68 to 69. For workers nearing retirement, the additional year can provide more time to earn and save, or allow a move into work that is less physically or mentally demanding.

The Ministry of Manpower’s Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release 2025 showed that the employment rate for people aged 65 and above increased from 24.7% in 2015 to 31.5% in 2025. NTUC’s survey similarly identified staying mentally and physically active as a leading motivation, followed closely by the need to meet living expenses.

Sun Life Singapore chief executive Christopher Albrecht said the company’s findings showed contrasting retirement experiences. “What we are seeing is not a single retirement experience, but two very different realities. For those who are prepared, working longer can be a choice that offers flexibility and freedom. For others, it reflects financial pressure.

“Planning early, and planning holistically, is what determines which path people are on.”

Experience and purpose in later-life work

Paulin Straughan, director of the Centre for Research on Successful Ageing at the Singapore Management University, said the broader issue was how to engage seniors who need to work as well as those who want to remain employed.

Angelique Chan, director of the Centre for Ageing Research & Education at Duke-NUS Medical School, described the changing profile of older workers by saying that “60 is the new 40”. She said people in their mid-60s and even their 70s are often healthier, better educated and more familiar with technology than those in the same age group a generation earlier.

“Our healthy life expectancy today is so high that we have actually pushed out the time in which we become disabled,” Chan said.

Straughan said better education and longer lives have also shaped older people’s expectations. “Being a lot more educated, we want to remain socially relevant to apply our skills and play our part to make this world a better place,” she said.

She added that longer lifespans can make people concerned about whether an early retirement would leave them financially unprepared. Some also do not have grandchildren to care for, she said.

As a result, retirement is increasingly seen as a transition rather than an abrupt end to work, combining part-time employment, lifestyle choices, active mental engagement, personal development and community involvement.

Chan said employers can help experienced employees remain in the workforce through flexible hours, remote-work opportunities and part-time arrangements. Straughan said companies operating in Singapore should redesign work to engage employees in their 50s, 60s and 70s meaningfully, including by assigning tasks that make use of their experience and allowing them to contribute on suitable terms.

Chan said workers over 60 possess “crystallised intelligence”, referring to the facts, skills and knowledge accumulated through education and experience. “You can’t teach it. It has to be lived,” she said, warning that undervaluing such knowledge could erode institutional memory and loyalty as younger staff move more frequently between employers.

Said’s knowledge of plant care has made him a resource for younger colleagues. Mandai Wildlife Group assistant vice-president for horticulture June Foo, who has worked with him for 20 years, told The Straits Times that he had been her mentor.

Foo said Said continues to impress colleagues during inspections of shrubs and trees at the reserve. “He would be telling us both the native and biological names of the plants and what they are good for as herbs to treat certain ailments,” she said. “We would want to have Said around as long as we can keep him.”

In healthcare, Gleneagles Hospital assistant director of nursing Susan Kok, 70, has also stayed on beyond retirement age. She began working as a nurse in 1976 and said, “Old nurses never really go away.”

Kok said she remains in her role to help prepare younger nurses, as older colleagues once mentored her. “Like how I was mentored by my older colleagues at the hospitals where I started, I now choose to stay to help groom the next generation of nurses by passing clinical knowledge and judgment, teaching them to overcome challenges and support planning and policies,” she said.

After 50 years in nursing, including patient care and assisting doctors, Kok said healthcare has remained the focus of her life. She said she might volunteer as a nurse in the community after she eventually retires.

Moving into a new role

For some older workers, continuing after retirement means changing roles rather than staying in the same job. Phuah Gaik Kheng, 73, was formerly a nurse manager at Singapore General Hospital and is now one of its senior patient experience managers.

She trained and worked in the United Kingdom for 11 years in psychiatry, critical care and emergency medicine before returning to continue her nursing career in Singapore. She later retired from SGH as a senior nurse manager in its emergency department, after 54 years in nursing, and became a senior patient experience manager in 2020 when she was 67.

Phuah remained attached to the emergency department, where she said emotions and tensions can be high and employees may face abuse. Her background allows her to advocate for both patients and healthcare staff, she said.

“Most of the time, the problem is simply from miscommunication, or a wrong choice of words. Even poor bedside manners, like spending more time on the screen than speaking to the patient, can set them off. Having been trained, I now help in changing mindsets at both ends,” she said.

Chan said post-retirement pivots often involve joining an entirely new sector or starting a business. Although such shifts are increasingly common, she said they can present “non-linear challenges”, including difficult questions about an older worker’s motivation and ability to perform in a new field.

“However, ‘Can you do it?’ is more problematic. Here, the person would have to show the energy and enough education in the new area to be able to be convincing,” Chan said.

She said success should depend on merit rather than age, including whether a person is committed, has learned about the field and can think laterally. Older workers who remain in their established professions also have a responsibility to keep up with technology, including artificial intelligence, she added.

Chan said mixed-age teams can draw on complementary strengths. Younger staff may carry more of the workload involving artificial intelligence, while older colleagues can offer institutional memory, calmness, experience and practical shortcuts developed over years of work.