<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Traitors Act Blur On Low Pay!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>pJUDGE2009 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>9:22 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ÎÚÅ« (KUNTAKINTE) <NOBR></NOBR>unread</TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (29 of 31) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>23559.29 in reply to 23559.21 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>That's very common nowadays. The general quality of workers have dropped very drastically compared to 20 years ago - not so much their skill set but more their attitude and commitment. These would be your botoom-of-the-barrel workers.
Your only answer would be to pay a salary higher than general market practice for their level, or a bonus component.
The guy who kept postponing his start work date - it's a classic case of the worker securing his job with you first and still attending interviews hoping to get better pay and working conditions. If he got no better choice after a few days, he will turn up at your job. But he wont be hanging around too long either.
Forgive me for saying this, I also have a secret thought which I hardly share with anyone. And that is that, another reason why bosses (I also employ workers to work for me, both locals and "FT"s) face employee attitude and availability problems is that bosses always squeeze their pay budget down to the bare minimum even though they can afford to pay a bit more. Seriously, look at all the huge Mercs and BMs driven by SME bosses. They do rake in more than enough profits but they're very kiam-siap with workers' salaries. I myself know many of these towkays, they live in good class bungalows with Venetian-style architecture, drive BM7s and are worth $100million and more but they would refuse a $50 increment to a worker, and these positions at that level are always having turnover like 24 new faces in a year, and my boss-friends can kpkb about worker attitude every time we met for makan.
We take a look at some companies operating in S'pore that do not see such manpower problems, for example....Bloomberg. Not only they pay their staff generously compared to other similar companies, their perks are really good, for example, their staff pantry probably cost more than an SME boss's office, and is decked wall-to-wall with all kinds of food 24 hrs a day, like a mini 7-eleven store. You'll never see a S'pore company - not even a UOB-type company - offering such perks.
I hate to say this, our local bosses' mentality is still typically kiam-siap - prosper at the expense of workers. I have worked for others before, and I know when I'm exploited and when I'm given my fair wage for my contribution to the company.
For myself personally, I found that a 2-way strategy works wonders:
1. Pay slightly more than they would get anywhere else.
2. Hire one more additional staff to cover sudden attitude and disapperances. For example, if one department needs 4 workers to handle comfortably, I'll have 5 instead. Either full-time or regular part-time. This way, you never face down time or disruption problems because you always have backup. The cost of having that extra man is less than the cost of production down time, sudden hiring, and repeated training of new staff, not to mention enhanced job quality, staff morale and performance.
3. Let them sell back their leave days to you. You will find that most of them would rather accumulate and sell back at the end of the year then to take leave! This has been my most effective weapon over the years.
Having said all that, of course, it's not always boss's fault. It's true, our workers today are also very spoilt and very poor on work commitment, always looking out for that extra dollar - not just locals but also Msians as well. We bosses have to respond accordingly as we need to keep going strong, otherwise NTUC or Temasek will step into our business and we all have to become cleaners.
My attitude is: If I squeeze my workers, I make $500,000. If I'm pay them better than others, with better perks, profit less 5%. It's still not that bad. Less headache, better staff retention, better customer satisfaction, better repeat business and referrals, less work, less heart attack, enjoy life better.
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Your only answer would be to pay a salary higher than general market practice for their level, or a bonus component.
The guy who kept postponing his start work date - it's a classic case of the worker securing his job with you first and still attending interviews hoping to get better pay and working conditions. If he got no better choice after a few days, he will turn up at your job. But he wont be hanging around too long either.
Forgive me for saying this, I also have a secret thought which I hardly share with anyone. And that is that, another reason why bosses (I also employ workers to work for me, both locals and "FT"s) face employee attitude and availability problems is that bosses always squeeze their pay budget down to the bare minimum even though they can afford to pay a bit more. Seriously, look at all the huge Mercs and BMs driven by SME bosses. They do rake in more than enough profits but they're very kiam-siap with workers' salaries. I myself know many of these towkays, they live in good class bungalows with Venetian-style architecture, drive BM7s and are worth $100million and more but they would refuse a $50 increment to a worker, and these positions at that level are always having turnover like 24 new faces in a year, and my boss-friends can kpkb about worker attitude every time we met for makan.
We take a look at some companies operating in S'pore that do not see such manpower problems, for example....Bloomberg. Not only they pay their staff generously compared to other similar companies, their perks are really good, for example, their staff pantry probably cost more than an SME boss's office, and is decked wall-to-wall with all kinds of food 24 hrs a day, like a mini 7-eleven store. You'll never see a S'pore company - not even a UOB-type company - offering such perks.
I hate to say this, our local bosses' mentality is still typically kiam-siap - prosper at the expense of workers. I have worked for others before, and I know when I'm exploited and when I'm given my fair wage for my contribution to the company.
For myself personally, I found that a 2-way strategy works wonders:
1. Pay slightly more than they would get anywhere else.
2. Hire one more additional staff to cover sudden attitude and disapperances. For example, if one department needs 4 workers to handle comfortably, I'll have 5 instead. Either full-time or regular part-time. This way, you never face down time or disruption problems because you always have backup. The cost of having that extra man is less than the cost of production down time, sudden hiring, and repeated training of new staff, not to mention enhanced job quality, staff morale and performance.
3. Let them sell back their leave days to you. You will find that most of them would rather accumulate and sell back at the end of the year then to take leave! This has been my most effective weapon over the years.
Having said all that, of course, it's not always boss's fault. It's true, our workers today are also very spoilt and very poor on work commitment, always looking out for that extra dollar - not just locals but also Msians as well. We bosses have to respond accordingly as we need to keep going strong, otherwise NTUC or Temasek will step into our business and we all have to become cleaners.
My attitude is: If I squeeze my workers, I make $500,000. If I'm pay them better than others, with better perks, profit less 5%. It's still not that bad. Less headache, better staff retention, better customer satisfaction, better repeat business and referrals, less work, less heart attack, enjoy life better.
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