Retirement programmes are still considered a low priority by most companies in Malaysia, according to a recent survey by JobStreet.com.

The survey had 45 per cent of human resource personnel in organisations answering that they did not maintain such programmes for retiring staff, while 18 percent indicated assigning low priority.

Meanwhile, only 12 per cent said they placed a high precedence on retirement programmes with 24 per cent giving it moderate importance.

Asked whether companies had a compensation plan that supported retention of staff over 55 years old, 84 per cent of respondents answered in the negative.

"Pre-retirement preparation programmes are apparently not the norm for retiring employees in Malaysia, with 92 per cent of companies here not maintaining any," JobStreet said in a statement today.

Most companies (75 per cent) also said they prefered to hire men, as opposed to women, should they want to recruit staff who are beyond the retirement age.

The survey was conducted in conjunction with the Retirement Transformation Conference 2010 on August 3.

– Bernama