Forum: Factor in mental health when deciding on when to retire

In general, I agree there are many reasons to consider in retirement, early retirement or even resignation (Retirement depends on many decisions and not just money, Feb 7).

I am surprised, though, that mental well-being is not being cited as a key factor to consider.

The mental well-being of seniors is linked closely to their physical health.

With the retirement age to be raised to 64 and the re-employment age to 69 in 2026, more seniors will remain in the workforce for longer.

The workload has to be fairly distributed according to their job descriptions and responsibilities to serve the true intent and purpose of this policy. However, this may not always be carried out objectively and equitably.

I resigned from the education field a year before the end of my re-employment contract for a simple reason: undue mental stress. 

Let me explain by citing one scenario. 

For example, 25 teaching or class hours per week are allotted to all teachers and lecturers in a given semester. On the surface, this seems to be a fair practice. 

However, the hidden differentiating factor is the number of students assigned to this across-the-board 25-hour week.

There is a big difference between teaching 85 students and teaching 150 students within a standard timeframe.

In addition to the scheduled class interaction time, the time required to meet students for discussion and project monitoring, for instance, outside scheduled hours, and marking of progressive assignments within a given deadline is evidently different for different numbers of students across three or four subjects or modules. 

This uneven distribution of student numbers might result in marking assignments, reports and project work till 3am or 4am for weeks to provide timely feedback to students before the next progressive assignment.

In short, retirement or early retirement is often not by choice if mental well-being is to be valued, since Singaporeans deem mental health as the biggest health problem.

To me, this is also a workplace fairness issue even if it is not outright or obvious discrimination based on age, gender, race or nationality.  

Soh Yew Peng