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's 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.'

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times

ameltan@sph.com.sg