r/sgfreelancers

Last month, my office had around 4 people resign and leave on the same day.

Then last week, this new staff joined. Her role is basically replacing those people who left, while the company is still hiring. LOL

At first I didn’t think much. New colleague, NORMAL.

But when she walked in, I was shocked. She looked much older than what I expected for this role. Full white/grey hair, petite, wearing specs, very quiet kind of vibe. In my head I was like… wait, is she in her 40s? 50s? 60s?

The role is client-facing corporate secretarial work. Not exactly the most relaxing job. Clients chasing, deadlines, documents, calls, meetings, all the usual bla bla bla nonsense.

I Teams my colleague like, “eh how old do you think she is ah?”
My colleague said she also not sure and didn’t dare to ask during lunch.

Then a few days later, my colleague told me she accidentally saw her IC labelling S1XXXXXX then she went to chatgpt and check it out then found out that the new staff is around her 60s.

UNBELIEVABLE! We always talk like the job market is young adult vs young adult.

But now it feels like we are also competing with the OLDER GENERATION who are coming back into the workforce because retirement is apparently not retirement anymore.

… even uncle & auntie also cannot rest.

My colleague said the boss is smart because hiring older workers can possibly get g@v support/grants. I don’t know how much, but the thought itself is quite depressing.

Because from company POV, it’s just “cost effective hiring”.

From worker POV, it’s like everyone is fighting for the same seat on a bus that is already full.

And honestly I don’t even blame the new staff. She’s probably just trying to survive too. Maybe she still has bills, family, rent, medical stuff, who knows.

But it made me feel damn sian.

Now I’m thinking… Compete for 40 years, then come back and compete again? !!!!!

Anyone else seeing more older workers returning to office jobs lately? O.O