• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

Now it's PAP's old angmor FT's turn to tell off sinkies

Rogue Trader

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
'More Singaporeans feel that they are owed a living!'

Monday, January 26, 2015 - 09:00
Walter Sim
The Straits Times

20150126_st_victormills.jpg


From "overfussiness" and complacency to an inability to accept criticism, many things about Singaporeans' attitudes to work irk Mr Victor Mills. The Northern Ireland-born Singapore citizen, 55, who took over as chief executive of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) last June, speaks his mind to Walter Sim.

What was your first impression of Singapore when you arrived 30 years ago?


When I graduated (with a master's in East European Political Science from the University of London), it was during a major recession and there were no jobs.

So I joined an international bank and was first posted to Hong Kong, and then Singapore in 1985.


What really impressed me about Singapore was that it preached good race relations - and actually had them.


This was different when compared to Northern Ireland (which had a lot of political violence at the time due to the Protestant and Catholic conflict) and it was the first thing that struck me about Singapore.


What also struck me, which we have since lost, is that Singapore was much more egalitarian and relaxed back then.


People didn't wear suits. They certainly didn't wear ties - even the Government or businessmen. Anybody could talk to anybody.


How have things changed?


We're now going through a period I saw in Hong Kong in the 1980s.


The level of materialism - what you wear, where you live, what you drive, what you wear on your wrist - has become a key determinant of the value of human life. This is absolute nonsense.


But it's the unintended consequence of the fantastic economic success which we have enjoyed. In our headlong rush for more money, a lot of values seem to have been lost.


The ability to communicate with anybody else is less evident, and people now, generally, want to interact only with people of their own perceived social group.


So we're now a more stratified and polarised society, which is why you hear people longing for the return of the kampung spirit.


What impact does Singapore's success have on workplace attitudes?


There are lots and lots of people - more than before - who feel that life, their employer and the Government owe them a living.


This has manifest itself in an overfussiness or a sense of entitlement which businesses, whether large or small, foreign or local, have been telling me about.


They all say the same thing. The problem may vary in degrees in different sectors, but it exists across all sectors.


But please don't get me wrong. There are hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens who do a fabulous job, day in and day out.


One issue that has become a challenge for many businesses is excessive job-hopping. This has come about only because of our economic success and a very tight labour market.


I have seen one extreme example in the SICC. We had employed an assistant finance manager who had a lovely personality with all the right experience and skills.


We thought we hit gold. But she turned up for work for just one day and then disappeared.


When we tracked her down a few days later - she was not answering her phone - she said: "It just wasn't for me."


But my response was: "How could you possibly know after just one day? You are not giving yourself or the organisation a chance."


It's an extreme case, but there are just too many stories of people leaving their jobs after a couple of months. I've not seen so many morose people in the workforce.


All this job-hopping is stressful, and it doesn't produce a lot of happiness. Yes, it may give $50 to $100 more in the pay packet but it doesn't produce satisfaction.


It is fine to say: "Look, I've given this 18 months, two years and it's not for me. I've tried everything and raised issues. But it's time to move on."


That's healthy. What is unhealthy is not turning up for work because you don't like it.


It's bad for businesses because it increases costs unnecessarily.
The churn is just constant, and they have less time to focus on executing their business strategies.


What other issues have you observed?


Another problem is the unwillingness to accept feedback, even when given constructively.


The attitude now is that if you don't like me, I'll go. People think they are great and are unwilling to believe that they can learn something as an employee.

Distance is also another issue.

I know of an industrial fragrance company which invested $25 million in Singapore. But they could not get a Singaporean to do the job. No matter what they paid, there were no takers because there was no direct bus or train. Also, nobody could tahan (Malay for tolerate) the smell at the plant.


I think all this is very disappointing. This was not the case 30 years ago. People then were very hungry for a job, and so they were willing to work. And worked hard.


So all this suggests that people have a misplaced sense of entitlement, but not necessarily retained a sense of responsibility.


Instead of a two-way street, the employer has to do all the walking. Some employees are not prepared to even meet their employers halfway.


It's only because we are so successful that we have a prevalence of these attitudes. People are no longer hungry enough.


But now, if we have - God forbid - a dreadful recession or some cataclysmic event that curtails employment opportunities, I have every confidence in the pragmatism of my fellow Singaporeans that they will change tack and attitudes.


How is Singapore unique in the workplace issues that you have observed? Don't most, if not all, mature cities face such problems?


There are those who say we have to accept this as a way of life and that we cannot do anything, that a tight labour market produces this sort of behaviour.

I do not agree with that.

We are a city-state and cannot behave like another developed country, which can rely on something else happening in a different sector or a different part of the country.


There is a school of thought that the days of Singapore's vulnerability are over. But my contention is that Singapore will always be vulnerable. This is because of our size and the geopolitical space where we are located. It will not take much to upset the very delicate balance we have spent 50 years building.


So we have to be careful in order to sustain our society and way of life. Singapore is an incredibly special place, and not enough of my fellow Singaporeans realise that. We cannot afford complacency because, without a vibrant economy, we can't exist as a society.


What repercussions will Singapore face if the negative workplace attitudes persist?


Our neighbours have not only caught up with us, but are now much more nimble than before.


They're capable of producing good-quality talent who can produce good output consistently. They also have a more realistic assessment of remuneration.


I met a 29-year-old US Silicon Valley technopreneur last year who first came to Singapore in 2012 to launch a start-up.


But when he arrived, he discovered many problems - among them was a shortage of good IT developers, unrealistic remuneration expectations. He was also disappointed with the quality and quantity of output.


He cut his losses within one year and moved to Jakarta after having tried everything, including counselling his staff.


So how can the Economic Development Board say "Come to Singapore, we've got the right workers" when companies will very quickly find out that, in large numbers, we do not?


We need to watch our attitudes because it is indicative of our attractiveness as an investment opportunity on a sustainable basis.


On salary expectations, Singapore has much higher standards of living than its immediate neighbours. Is it really unfair to expect more?


That is a fair point. Of course, we have a more expensive lifestyle and the cost of living is higher, but we must make sure it does not get to the point where it undermines our competitiveness.


This is why the Government has been putting in so much energy to communicate, and facilitate an increase in productivity.


We need to sit down and talk about how to help people make that mindset change.


It's not meant to be some kind of highfalutin, ivory-tower academic debate. These are real rice-bowl issues!


You have also been a passionate champion against workplace ageism. How big of a problem is it?


Many talented people above 40, especially PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) who lose their jobs due to economic restructuring, cannot find jobs due to an extraordinary degree of ageism here.


HR managers would look at their CVs and think they are too senior and probably stuck in their ways. But age is not the issue here. Rather, it is their skills, experience, capabilities and, above all, their potential.


Admittedly among this group are people who do not want to take a pay cut because they think they are going to lose face. Or they do not believe in continual learning because they think that's for young folk. That is wrong. Those attitudes must change too.


How do you think Singapore could do better in the way it crafts its manpower or workplace policies?


I don't think we are lacking in policies, though I sometimes think we are lacking in their execution.


Our manpower policy is a classic example, because it is a one-size-fits-all blunt instrument. What we need is a much more focused sectoral approach, and an honest assessment of which sectors Singaporeans want to work in and which sectors they do not want to work in.


The policy itself is clever because it tries to wean businesses off a 30-year addiction to foreign labour, and a real effort to force companies to think about how to improve their processes.


We cannot just hire an extra body anymore. But we must realise we are in danger of wage inflation if we keep the mistaken belief that if you pay more, Singaporeans will do these jobs.


That may be so for some jobs, but for the vast majority that Singaporeans are not doing today, it's because people have taken the conscious decision not to do those jobs.


So it becomes a double whammy for businesses.



[email protected]

This article was first published on Jan 24, 2015.
 

Rogue Trader

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
"They don't listen to me now..."
05slide1.jpg


"Ya lor. They also always everytimes laughs at me now.."
lim_swee_say.jpg


"Ah! I know
already!
Get one angmor to scold them they sure believe..!"

leehsienloongpointingfingers_zpsefb36004.jpg


"Because angmor is the best!"

 

Asterix

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Should ask this mother farker if he and/or his son got served NS first.

I prefer to ask this Chao Ang Mor another more important question :biggrin:

[video=youtube;pDJflQfNUE8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJflQfNUE8[/video]
 

xpo2015

Alfrescian
Loyal
I dun see the relations between job hopping and being owed a living? If you don't like the job you should move on.

MNCs can go to cheaper countries why not workers can job hop to move to real companies who pay higher salaries?

SICC is not really a company. What is there to learn?
 
Last edited:

Rogue Trader

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
SICC is not really a company. What is there to learn?

That's right.. the Sinkapore International chamber of commerce is a pro business outfit. Of course this guy will stand on the side of business and slam sinkie employees.

And I bet when he came during the 80s this guy have been worshipped like a god. Must have poked so many SPG pussies in his day.... :rolleyes:
 

xpo2015

Alfrescian
Loyal
We are not being owed a living that is why we need to work until we die man!! CPF min sums keep going up cannot withdraw where got money to retire? There is no such thing as welfare in Singapore. Only party members are entitled social welfare. Like that eight dollars heart ops man. He is talking rubbish.
 

Asterix

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset

This Chao Ang Mor should stop reading the Shit Times
And graduate to more intelligent publications
Like the Washington Post or maybe there is a good reason
Why Fucktard is in the Far East and not London
Another thing employers and kings must get into their thick skulls
Is that loyalty is to be earned and not demanded
Now Mister Mills I will be much obliged if you fark back to Ireland


Millennials job-hop to flee lowly rewards for employee loyalty
Staying put with an employer comes at a cost as wages stagnate and benefits like pensions are cut across the economy

Amanda Healy has worked for three companies in the last three years.

She's had her present job as a marketing manager for TIBCO Software for about eight months. Her stint at her previous employer lasted only 10 months.

The 26-year-old says she isn't a habitual job-hopper. (She was with her first employer for 31/2 years.) But she thinks the moves she made between employers were vital to advancing her career - and increasing her pay, 25 per cent every time. Each move came with more responsibility.

"There was a gap in my skill set, and the next role really helped to fill that gap," Healy says.

Other American workers her age haven't been so lucky. For all the stereotypes that millennials are entitled, noncommittal job-hoppers, younger workers are staying in their jobs longer than previous generations did. In the late 1980s, about half of 20- to 25-year-olds changed jobs each year, but that dropped to 35 per cent after the recession, analysis by The Washington Post showed.

It's not clear if millennials are holding on to those jobs by choice or if they are struggling to find better opportunities. But it is clear that staying put has a cost, mostly because of the kinds of jobs millennials are likely to land these days: lower-paying positions that often don't require a college degree.

Median wages in the US have stagnated or fallen over the past decade in four of the five sectors hiring the most millennials today, according to a report last week. Pay cuts were particularly significant for people working in retail, where annual pay was US$2,000 less than what it would have been 10 years ago.

Job-hopping, when it's possible, has emerged as one of the few ways to escape those lower wages, especially since the rewards that companies have historically offered for employee loyalty - pensions and pay raises - continue to diminish.

And traditional pensions, once a bastion of retirement security offered to long-term employees, are now only offered to new hires by 7 per cent of Fortune 500 companies, down from about half in 1998, according to benefits consulting firm Towers Watson. All of that means that employees don't get as much for staying with the same company for long.

"In the baby boomer generation, everybody had pensions, and that really facilitated lifelong commitments to a company," says Melissa Murray Bailey, a president with research and consulting company Universum.

"As companies have done less and less of that there really is less of a mutual expectation that people will make that commitment."

And since pay is actually worse for them than it was for similar workers years ago, millennials are at risk of being worse off financially than their parents were.

Young workers today are more educated than previous generations were. But they're also less likely to have a job and more prone to living in poverty. The typical 18- to 34-year-old makes US$2,000 less annually when compared to younger workers in 1980, a recent study found.

Millennials have developed a reputation for caring more than previous generations about finding a job that matches their passions. But pay is becoming more important as young workers look to move out of their parents' homes or pay off their student loan debt, says Dan Schawbel, founder of the research and consulting firm Millennial Branding.

"The economy has forced millennials to focus more on money than things they used to prioritise, like work flexibility," he says.

Things may be looking up. Hiring is on the rise, and millennials are benefiting from some of those job gains, with the unemployment rate for 25 to 34-year-olds dropping to 6.1 per cent in November from 7.4 per cent a year earlier. And more people are changing jobs, according to a report last month, which is usually seen as a sign of optimism in the job market.

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight...s-job-hop-flee-lowly-rewards-employee-loyalty
 

Unrepented

Alfrescian
Loyal
Yes.......... Singaporeans thinks they are owed a living........it started when the ministers need million dollars salaries to consider "sacrificing" to join the civil service.....

And no.....the government don't owe her citizens a living...... the citizens owe them a living and existence.........therefore have to pay them millions of dollars in annual salary....


Read what mills said below.... this guy's mental construct is in self conflict............


...........

I have seen one extreme example in the SICC. We had employed an assistant finance manager who had a lovely personality with all the right experience and skills.

.........................

But my response was: "How could you possibly know after just one day? .......................
 

danielsim

Alfrescian
Loyal
The young kids now are certainly more self-centered. Those who belong to Gen Y are brought up in a comfortable environment with little or no worries throughout their entire life, simply because everyone is well taken care of with their needs addressed. Likewise, they bring this mentality to the workforce, where they feel that the senior people (us) owe them their promotions, bonus, benefits, everything. A load of rubbish!
 

ginfreely

Alfrescian
Loyal
Very strange the elite and rich keep saying no Singaporeans want to work hard, but that day I read in the newspapers about now people are doing two jobs to keep up with high costs of living.

There is one example given of a 36 year old man working two jobs and sacrificing his evenings away from his family & children in order to earn more. He is a graduate and working in contruction line earning 5 to 6k from his day job and property agent in the evenings with average 2 to 3k per month income from there.
 

Cerebral

Alfrescian (InfP) [Comp]
Generous Asset
We are not being owed a living that is why we need to work until we die man!! CPF min sums keep going up cannot withdraw where got money to retire? There is no such thing as welfare in Singapore. Only party members are entitled social welfare. Like that eight dollars heart ops man. He is talking rubbish.

Actually, I think the key reason why Singaporeans Job Hop so much is because of our very biased employment laws. The laws favour employers so much that they can literally terminate an employee for stupid reasons with almost no compensation. Employees knows this and will never give loyalty to companies, because they know eventually these companies may turn around and play them out. Hence, the moment the grass is greener, they will move on.
 

master

Alfrescian
Loyal
Wait until his car kena summon, his daughter kena 3 some by keleng, his prc neighbor spread bed bugs to his house, his son died in army, then he will start to kpkb!!!!!!!!
 

mojito

Alfrescian
Loyal
Ang moh is right. Sinkies need to be more realistic. Can't expect to shake legs and roll in the moola like our ministers la. You must know, high and low, decided long ago, at birth you follow?
 

Asterix

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset

I bet you this useless Mister Mills from Ireland
Does not speak Mandarin or any other dialect
In which case he is most welcome
To fark back to where he came from


[video=youtube;lIhs2rIN4Ek]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIhs2rIN4Ek[/video]
 

Papsmearer

Alfrescian (InfP) - Comp
Generous Asset

I bet you this useless Mister Mills from Ireland
Does not speak Mandarin or any other dialect
In which case he is most welcome
To fark back to where he came from


[video=youtube;lIhs2rIN4Ek]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIhs2rIN4Ek[/video]

Many sinkies donch speak mandarin either, eg. Indians and Mats. He should be able to speak singlish courtesy of his sarong party sinkie wife.
 

Asterix

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset

This Mabubani can speak Cantonese
Wonder if our Malu-money can or not
Hokkien or Mandarin also acceptable lah
Not lifting a finger to procure signature
And ratification of UN Covenant on Rights
Well that is inexcusable off with his head


[video=youtube;XlNT5FKPelQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlNT5FKPelQ[/video]
 
Top