Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Number of Retired Officers the Home Team Has Helped to Transition to New Careers in the Past Five Years

Question:

Mr Desmond Choo : To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how many retired officers have the law enforcement agencies (Home Team) helped to transition to new careers in the last five years; (b) what are the top five industries and jobs that these officers have transitioned to; and (c) what are the future plans to enhance the career transition for retiring officers.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1. In the last five years, an average of 135 uniformed officers retired each year and 36% of them were re-employed by the Home Team. Another 40% were not re-employed but assisted to transition to new careers. Overall, our surveys show that 83% of retirees who were seeking a second career outside the Home Team secured employment within a year.

2. The top five industries that retired officers have transitioned to are the Security, Public Service, Healthcare, Land Transport and Logistics sectors. Examples of the jobs taken up by our retirees are security assessor, firearms instructor, enforcement officer, admin manager and operations executive.

3. The Ministry of Home Affairs is committed to supporting our uniformed officers’ career transition. We set up the Home Team Career Transition Office in 2016 to prepare and facilitate the career transition of retiring uniformed officers.

4. We have a structured 5-year career transition programme that focuses on preparing our officers psychologically for transition, supporting their retraining and development, as well as facilitating their job search. Some key initiatives include:

(a) Dedicated days off for training and the provision of training subsidies for officers to attend upskilling courses to enhance their employability when they retire;

(b) Facilitated secondments or job attachments with potential employers;

(c) One-on-one career coaching sessions; and

(d) A career transition resource portal that provides updated information on job opportunities, career workshops and networking events with prospective employers.

5. We plan to further enhance our support in three areas:

(a) Provide every retiring officer with a personalised career guide that contains recommendations on courses and certification programmes that match their interests and skills. This was piloted in 2023 and will be fully rolled out this year.

(b) Develop more career pathways for our officers by developing new partnerships under the SkillsFuture train-and-place programmes. For instance, we are piloting a Facility & Operations Management Programme with Singapore Polytechnic in Feb 2024 for 17 officers.

(c) Enhance job prospects and opportunities for our officers by strengthening our engagement with alumni and employer networks to provide job referrals and introductions.